Forum home Fruit & veg
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Dwarf fruit trees

I have recently acquired an allotment.  I would like to plant 2-3 dwarf fruit trees.  Can anyone give me some advice regarding varieties that will fruit next year.

«1

Posts

  • Thank you so much for the very informative information pansyface.  Is this also applicable to fruit bushes.

  • Many thanks pansyface.  You have been very helpful 

  • Many thanks Verdun.  I will look at the websites

  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923

    plant any tree from November onwards,

    Remember to pick the correct root stock for apples is use M26 which gets to about 12 foot if left to it or MM106 which gets to about 13 foot left to it. Obviously trained they are a lot smaller! don't be tempted to get M27 (super dwarfing) I've never found that they take very well.

    for plums I use St Julien A.

    in the first spring take ALL the blossom off, this way the plant focuses on root growth instead of fruit, this means your fruit for the years after will be better.

    research the varieties, you want something that is disease resistant and can grow in your climate well (i'm more limited than some as I live in Northern England and some apples just don't do well here!)

  • Many thanks treehugger80.  If I buy an  M26 this  November,  how do I control the growth in future years.

  • Thank you all so much for your help.  I am in the process of looking at the website

  • Steve 309Steve 309 Posts: 2,753

    Hi Sally  image

    For apples and pears, how you train a tree depends on what form you want it to take.  Probably the best for an allotment is a bush or half-standard (which is a bush on a slightly longer stem).  Which you get is determined partly by the rootstock and partly by how they're pruned.  If you want a smallish one, go for a bush, which gets about 8' high eventually so you can harvest it without a ladder.

    Plant them in rich and improved soil (compost/well-rotted manure and bonemeal over a wide area), preferably at the northern boundary so they cast minimum shade on everythig else.  Assuming that you buy a maiden (single stem, about 5' tall), give it a good stake, and after planting cut the stem with sharp secateurs just above a bud at the height you want the branches to start.  For a bush this will be about 3 - 4' up and for a half-standard 5 - 6'.  (The bit you cut off can be grafted onto another rootstock to make another tree if you have the inclination and expertise, which I don't!).

    Next spring it'll produce branches from the buds below the cut which will tend to grow out into the shape you want, which is like the fingers of a hand holding an orange up - a big space in the middle of the tree to let the wind blow through - this reduces disease.  You may need to pull them into the positions you want with string.  Remove all flowers.

    The following winter, come back and ask again image  We'll be pleased to help.

    Varieties?  Choose those that you like to eat/cook and which will pollinate each other.  There are lists of these, but if there are other apple trees within a couple of hundred yards you may be OK.  Cox's Orange Pippin is delicious and popular, but quite fussy about cultivation, susceptible to diease and available in the shops.  Ellison's Orange is a great, crisp, slightly tart eater, as is Holstein; Arthur Turner is a better cooker than Bramley's Seedling, in my humble opinion.

    Also, take account of the space they need - bearing in mind that they will grow and spread.  I'd say a minimum of 8' for bushes and 10 or 12 for half-standards.  And let nothing at all grow below them for the first few years.

    Hope that's helpful. image

Sign In or Register to comment.