Topic: Fruit tree questions

[SpeedyMango]

Hello there.

As this is my first season with an allotment I have been enjoying a modest harvest from my half plot (I planted a little of a range of things to see what would grow and how much I might get). I am now thinking about what to do next year - and I've been thinking about getting a few fruit trees for the end of the plot that's currently under weed control fabric. Possibly apple and pear, but I know nothing about fruit trees and so thought I'd ask you knowledgeable lot...

1) Do I need more than one tree of each type or are they self-pollinating?

2) When do I plant - autumn or spring?

3) Could I expect fruit next year? I've seen "two year old" trees advertised - are these the ones to go for?

4) What varieties of (eating) apples and pears would people recommend for a fair crop from a couple of trees, probably trained as free-standing "spikes" (cordons?) as I don't have a handy fence to train them along, and they aren't allowed to grow too tall on our allotments.

5) What should I look for in a tree when buying it?

Thanks in advance. Apologies if these questions are all answered elsewhere - just point me to the thread, if you would be so kind!

SpeedyMango

[Moggle]

Speedy, I got interested in growing apples and pears a couple of months ago, and found www.kenmuir.co.uk to be a wealth of free information, there's details on there about how to grow and prune cordons.

There's also plenty of other web sites on cordons if you google.

The kenmuir site also has reccomendations for varieties of apples and pears too.

Most apples seem to need a pollinator, but a few are self-fertile.

[eileen]

Drat!! Beat me to it Moggle!!  :D

Eileen.

[derbex]

I bought mine from Ken Muir last year -now I want more  :D If you do buy from him you get a free fruit growing book which is quite good (for the price) -otherwise the 'Fruit Garden Displayed' by Harry Baker, I think, is very good. You've still got time to read it before doing anything this year.

You should plant during winter, you shouldn't get any fruit the next year -because you are supposed to take all the buds off to let the tree establish. After that how soon you get fruit depends on the variety, rootstock, the form you're growing in, whether you've been a good boy/girl all year and how many goats/virgins you sacrificed.

As to varieties -there are a lot of 'apple days' coming up in October (Ken Muir are having one if you fancy a weekend break in Clacton -no? don't blame you  ;D), google should find you loads. My tip would be to go along to one of these and try a lot of different apples out, we did this last year, and get varities suited to your situation and what you want to do -we should have done this last year.

I've got the bug and want to grow some more -but my plot doesn't have much depth of soil, about a foot over clay, so if anyone more experienced has made it thus far, can I get away with dwarf bushes/pyramids in this?

Jeremy

[Roy Bham UK]

I feel sure I read somewhere that the growing of trees on allotments was prohibited, or is this a localised ruling? :-\

Roy ???

[derbex]

Localised I think -one chap even ran a Bonsai business from ours! I was explicitly told that fruit trees are ok here -and several people have them.

Jeremy

[SpeedyMango]

Thanks all. That Ken Muir site was what I was looking for!

Cheers

Speedy M.