Fruit trees-best time to buy and from where

[MaryM]

Hi

Can anyone advise me on when is a good time to plant fruit trees on my allotment and also good sources to buy from.  Many thanks

[MaryM]

[JayGee]

I'm not sure when the best time is - it will probably depend on what type of fruit tree.  I bought 3 minarettes (space is short on my allotment for fruit trees - minarettes can be planted 3' apart and grow to about 6' tall) on-line from Ken Muir.  I got them at the end of last year.  They were packaged really well and the quality is really good - I've had some fruit on them this year (despite someone telling me that I'd never get anything from them)!

[manicscousers]

we planted all our bare rooted fruit trees between september and march..victoriana nurseries for bigger ones, aldi, netto and lidl for 'cheap ' ones..they all look healthy at the mo  :)

[Jeannine]

Buckingham nurseries mail order

[Lesley Jay]

I would have to recommend Ken Muir. All the fruit bushes we have purchased from him have been excellent quality.

[Melbourne12]

Hi

Can anyone advise me on when is a good time to plant fruit trees on my allotment and also good sources to buy from.  Many thanks

If you're in a hurry you can plant container-grown trees right now.  But your choice of varieties will be limited, and they're relatively expensive.

The best time is November onwards, planting two-year old "bare root" trees.  They're not too expensive, and will be productive within a couple of years.

My favourite supplier of the moment is Blackmoor Nurseries.  http://www.blackmoor.co.uk/index.php  Worth having a look at their site anyway, to get an idea of varieties, care, pollination, and also the different rootstocks available that affect the size of the tree when fully grown.

Ken Muir as recommended above on this thread are also good, but I switched to Blackmoor after a couple of failures with soft fruit bought from Ken Muir.

There are some amazing bargains in the supermarkets at tree-planting time, but the choice is small, they're normally only year-old plants, and you may end up with a commercial rootstock which will grow into a giant tree.  So choose with care!

[shirlton]

I contacted a nursery in Chelmsford the other day to buy some container apple trees and they said to get in touch again in October cos to plant them now would be too stressful to them. I thought how nice that was, after all I would have had them there and then, There are still some decent folks out  there. I will try to find the name of the nursery and post it. It's www.gardeningexpress.co.uk