Bramley - does it need a partner with other fruit trees around?

[janeyo]

Hi I have just got one of the wilkos fruit trees for a fiver. the bramley apple. It says it needs a partner. We already have an established apple in the garden (eating, earlyish fruiter) and 4 year old cherry, a new plum, new pear and new peach (mostly still indoors).

Question is will these other fruit trees be enough to do the job?

Thanks, janeyo

[Peter]

Keepers nursery website will tell you which other apples are suitable pollinators.

[fiveravens]

Bramley's Seedling is a triploid apple; its pollen is useless. You need another (compatible) apple to pollinate the Bramley, and another to pollinate the pollinator. So you actually need two more apples which will pollinate each other and the Bramley. The apple tree you already have may or may not be a suitable pollinator for the Bramley - without the name it's hard to say. The other fruit trees are useless in this respect. Any good fruit book will give you a list of suitable pollinators.

[janeyo]

Thanks, I didn't realise it was so complicated!

Hopefully the apple tree we have will help (I looked at the website and it had over 400 varieties listed to pollenate a bramley, so chances are my unknown one will be good enough)
I also think that next door has an apple against their fence so this would also therefore be sufficient. (Only about 15 metres away)

janeyo

[Down in Dorset]

The only other thing you have to bear in mind is the TIME of season that the Bramley flowers, has to co-incide with the 2 pollinators. Your tree in next door might flower too early or late to be any help to you.
Talaton plants website Talaton Plants :: Adam's apple and fruit trees has a good reference list - shows Bramley as Group 3.
Find at least 2 other group 3 trees locally (as fiveravens says above) and you are sorted.
I started in this way and now I have 12 trees - as I find they all sound so delicious on the website I couldn't just buy one or two - could I?

[fiveravens]

I started that way too; now I have 69. When I read those descriptions, I can't stop myself!

[Nicos]

I started that way too; now I have 69. When I read those descriptions, I can't stop myself!

69 fruit trees???
Gosh!! - what types of fruit trees ...and what do you do with all that fruit???

[fiveravens]

69 fruit trees???
Gosh!! - what types of fruit trees ...and what do you do with all that fruit???

Actually I have 69 apple trees - I also have a few cherries, plums, damsons and pears. A lot of the apples are not bearing fruit yet, and won't be in any quantity for a few more years, but the ones that are fruiting are keeping me up to my neck in apples! The local shops and farmers' markets are good outlets - people are finally getting fed up with insipid apples imported from God-knows-where! And of course we eat a surprisingly large number of apples - just now we're finishing off the last of the red pippins which I stored all through the winter in an oak barrell outside the front door. But the bulk of the apples goes the way of cider - all in all, not an apple gets wasted!

[Janco]

I have about 40 young fruit trees and 4 mature ones. 10 of them I bought as maidens 2 years ago and am training them as espaliers against a fence. I thought I had a lot!
My favourite is my mature Bramley and I intend getting another next year! In my opinion it is the best apple for cooking. Some years mine does really well and others aren't so good. Apparently it has a tendency to be biennual regarding fruiting. Best of luck with your Bramley.