Apple trees

[Paul_TT]

I would like a row of 4 or 5 Bramley cooking apples The ones I have seen online are referred to as triploid Phones the seller who was rather vague. If I plant 4 identical trees is that OK or so I need to mix and match the varieties.
Is it too late to plant this year Not concerned whether get fruit this year Just want to get them started

Many thanks

Paul

[nickdub]

Too late for bare root trees this year yes, but you can sometimes find pot grown ones at horrendously high prices.

The triploid stuff means in effect that Bramley will not pollinate itself or for that matter any other apple varieties. Whether you need to plant another variety of apple tree to pollinate a Bramley in your garden totally depends on where you live - if on isolated island then yes, if in a town with other gardens around then most likely no, bees fly over hedges and walls.

PS Your whole strategy of planting 5 trees of the same variety seems a little unusual - I have 2 large Bramley trees and most years I end up using about 1/2 the crop of one tree - the rest I either give away or leave on the ground to rot or for the wildlife to eat.

[ameno]

As well as triploid trees not being able to pollinate other apple varieties, as said above, it also means that they require pollen from two other varieties in order to pollinate themselves.

[Paulieb]

Each to their own of course with regards to choice of variety if you have space for 4 apple trees, but 4 Bramley's which is quite a common apple with limited use would not be top of my list.

However there are literally thousands of varieties of apple tree (cookers, eating and cider, also crab apples). I would choose perhaps 3 eating apples and 1 cooker. But other reasons for choosing a range would be to guarantee a good level of cross pollination, and a good range of harvest time. Different varieties can be harvested as early as August, and others can be picked in November for storing up until the following April.

Another consideration would be to choose varieties based on their disease resistance (canker/scab/mildew) which trust me will save you a lot of heartache.Also depending where you are in the country will make a difference too. Generally the west of the UK is wetter and so canker can be more of an issue. The dryer East is more of a problem for trees that typically suffer with mildew.

Keepers nursery have an excellent range of information and search functions (and supply excellent trees) as a first point of call.

You can buy and plant potted trees in garden centres at the moment but they will be twice the price and hugely limited compared to bare root season in November- March.