Liberty apple tree has apples right away?

I planted about 30 more fruit trees this year, all from 4-6' tall including the bucket, normal caliper.

The odd thing is the liberty apple tree I got like this has three apples on it right now!  

I have apple trees that are a lot bigger and older that aren't producing yet.  

Is this normal for liberty apple?  Or just a lucky specimen?  

From what I've learned about other fruiting plants, you need to remove the fruit before it ripens for the health of the tree. That energy needs to go into producing a good root system. You will probably get bigger, better harvests in the future.

I agree with Liz. It's best to remove the fruit on those new transplants so all its energy goes into growing healthy roots and tree. It will rebound faster from transplant and do better overall much sooner.

I agree with everyones opinion. I grafted many apple trees this year (march) and had several different varieties bloom ( not all but some ) and had to go around and pinch the blooms off. You want all the energy that is being produced to go right into the growth of the whole tree. If you leave the apple on then you are allowing the trees energy to be used into producing apple in which the branches can not support and will eventually break off anyways.

I also concure with removing these first year fruit,but that's because I never do it and my trees seem to take so long to produce!
If yah aint a role model,you mightbe a cautionary tale...

I understand the concept, but it's tough to take off good looking fruit when you don't have any other trees producing yet for apples. My orchard is still in its infancy.  Good thing is that I have around 100 fruit trees, so I can play around a bit.

The big question I guess was, does this particular type of apple produce earlier than others?  Or is it this particular tree?

M Johnson wrote:I understand the concept, but it's tough to take off good looking fruit when you don't have any other trees producing yet for apples. My orchard is still in its infancy.  Good thing is that I have around 100 fruit trees, so I can play around a bit.

The big question I guess was, does this particular type of apple produce earlier than others?  Or is it this particular tree?

It is tough to take off fruit but the general recommendation is to remove it on a young tree.  In my experience if you leave an apple or two on it, it's not going to have a major long term impact on the tree.  Besides, my attitude is that single Liberty apple you leave will be your reward for digging all those holes to plant your trees!  

Liberty is not necessarily an early producer.  What rootstock is it on?  Some of the true dwarfing rootstocks are precocious and promote early cropping.  That may be the reason.

I have seen this happen with transplants and have a theory for it.  Granted it is a theory and I have nothing to back it up except observations.  I think the plants respond to transplant shock by putting on fruit to propagate themselves before they die from the shock they are suffering.  I have seen these same transplants not bear fruit again for years when they are fully established.  Some of these transplants I have thought would never bear again but eventually do if all their requirements are being met.

Liberty flowers early -- I even get flowers on new cleft grafts.

I have a single Liberty that I planted at least 15 years ago. It was supposedly a dwarf, but I have to head it back each year to keep it under 15 feet. Anyway, it didn't fruit for the first 3 years as I recall. (I haven't kept records unfortunately.) I'm in Ottawa, Ontario, which may account for slower maturity, but the apples are among the best I've ever tasted. I only wish I could get them without so many blemishes.

I was hoping to graft a Liberty into my prairie fire crabapple tree. Would I have to do the same pinching?  I wanted it on the side. Not to replace the entire crabapple stems.

I would totally leave the apples. If the tree has enough energy to produce fruit, then it has enough energy to produce fruit. I can't see how producing a few apples this year will have any detrimental effect on the decades long lifespan of an apple tree.