Preventing Unwanted Fruit on Apple Tree

[ajm91]

I have a large apple tree which dumps hundreds of pounds of mostly unwanted apples on our property every year. I'd like to spray the tree with Florel Fruit Eliminator this year to eliminate most of the fruit. My questions is: Will any fruit that sets and ripens despite my application of Florel fruit eliminator be safe to eat? The product safety sheet only mentions Florel in the context of ornamental trees and there avoids the whole edibility question but it's clear from perusing usenet that many people are using it on edible fruit producing trees. Does anyone have any experience with this product on apple trees?

Thanks

[Adam]

I think this is a question best left to the manufacturer....

[Persephone]

Couldn't you get a local food bank to send an unemployed person to collect/pick the unwanted apples? Or simply invite neighbors to pick?

[simy1]

or prune the thing and thin by hand (thin in June, leave one fruit for every 25 leaves, for best production)? And do what I do with my pears, rake those that fall and give them to my neighbor, who has chickens who gobble them up?

[FragileWarrior]

Persephone wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Or find someone with horses who wants treats. My neighbor has two apple trees that keep my horses in apples from mid-summer to fall. I go over every day and pick up the apples that have fallen overnight. He hasn't had to pick up a single one in two years.

[beecrofter]

You think spray regimen is easier than just raking them up?

Perhaps a single pruning cut an inch or two from the ground:)

[sherwindu]

Sounds like the best solution for you is to take that tree out and replace it with a dwarf tree. It will be easier to maintain, pick fruit, and should not produce as much fruit as a full size tree on standard rootstock. If there is something special about the fruit you have now, you can propagate it by cutting off a piece of branch (scion) and graft it to a dwarfing rootstock.

Sherw> > > I have a large apple tree which dumps hundreds of pounds of mostly