Why is my apple tree dropping small fruit in June?

The natural early-summer shedding that alarms people every year, how to tell it from the drops that are a real problem, and what to do afterwards.

Difficulty: beginner
Time: 15 min
Read: 4 min

Short answer

It is the June drop: a normal self-thinning where the tree sheds fruitlets it cannot carry, usually between late May and early July. Cut a few open — if there is no grub inside and the fruitlets are simply small and pale, the tree is doing its job. Do nothing except thin what is left once it has finished.

A fruit tree sets far more fruit than it can ripen, because pollination is uncertain and setting heavily is good insurance. Once the fruitlets are a couple of centimetres across, the tree assesses what it can actually support given its leaf area, water and reserves, and aborts the rest. Losing a hundred fruitlets in a week looks like disaster and is usually the tree being sensible.

Step by step

Check the timing.The June drop runs from late May to early July depending on season and location. A drop in that window, of small fruitlets across the whole tree, is almost certainly natural.
Cut a dozen fallen fruitlets open.Clean flesh with no tunnel and no grub means natural drop. A tunnel to the core with brown crumbly frass means sawfly or codling moth. A blackened, distorted pear fruitlet full of tiny white maggots is pear midge.
Look at what is still on the tree.After the drop there should still be a reasonable crop, in clusters. If the tree has shed almost everything, the cause is something else — frost at blossom, poor pollination, drought stress or a shortage of leaves.
Rule out drought and waterlogging.A tree short of water sheds fruit to survive, and so does one standing in wet ground with damaged roots. Dig down 15cm and see which you have before deciding it was natural.
Rule out a very young or very heavily set tree.A young tree drops more because it has few leaves to support fruit. A tree that set enormously after a perfect blossom season also drops more, and both are fine.
Wait until the drop has clearly stopped.A week with nothing new on the ground means it is over. Now is when thinning is done, and not before.
Thin the survivors.Even after the drop, most trees carry more than they can fill. Reduce to one or two fruits per cluster and space them along the branch.
Clear up the fallen fruitlets.Rake them up rather than leaving them to rot under the tree, particularly if any contained grubs, since that breaks the pest's cycle for next year.

Tips

Some varieties drop far more heavily than others. Bramley in particular can shed dramatically and still carry a full crop.
A dry spell in late May or June makes the drop heavier. Watering a young or potted tree well through that period reduces it.
The drop is a useful signal: a tree that sheds almost everything every year has a pollination or frost problem it is worth diagnosing properly.
Fruitlets shed naturally come away easily with the stalk. Grub-damaged ones often have a hole and a smear of frass at the eye end.

Common mistakes

Feeding or spraying in response to the June drop — It is a physiological process, not a disease. Feeding at that point produces soft late growth and does nothing for the crop.
Thinning the crop before the drop has finished — The tree is about to remove a proportion for you. Thin early and you can be left with almost nothing.
Assuming any early fruit fall is the June drop — Codling moth, apple sawfly and pear midge all drop fruit at a similar time. Cutting a few open takes a minute and settles it.

If it doesn't work

Small clean fruitlets falling in late June, plenty left on the tree

Cause: Normal June drop — Fix: Nothing. Wait for it to stop, then thin what remains to one or two per cluster.

Fallen fruitlets with a tunnel and brown frass

Cause: Apple sawfly early in the season, codling moth later — Fix: Collect and destroy every fallen fruitlet, and hang pheromone traps in May for codling moth.

Black, distorted pear fruitlets full of white maggots

Cause: Pear midge — Fix: Pick off affected fruitlets before they fall, destroy them, and cultivate the soil beneath the tree in winter.

Almost the entire crop drops, leaves also wilting

Cause: Drought stress or waterlogged roots — Fix: Dig down and check. Water deeply and mulch if dry; improve drainage and stop watering if wet.

Nothing set at all, so nothing to drop

Cause: Frost at blossom or no pollination — Fix: Check the blossom for blackened centres next spring, and confirm a compatible pollinator is within range.

Questions people ask

Is the June drop normal?

Yes. It is the tree shedding fruit it cannot support, and it happens on healthy well-fed trees every year. Losing a large proportion of the set fruitlets is expected.

Should I do anything about the June drop?

Only after it finishes: thin the remaining fruit to one or two per cluster, and rake up the fallen fruitlets so any grubs inside are not left to complete their life cycle.

Does the June drop happen to pears and plums too?

Yes, all top fruit sheds surplus fruitlets at a similar stage. Plums often drop after the stones have formed, which is a little later.

My tree dropped everything — is that still the June drop?

Probably not. Total loss usually means frost at blossom, no compatible pollination, drought, waterlogging, or a pest such as pear midge. Cut open some of the fallen fruit and look.