Cox’s Orange Pippin

[Holly Daze]

Hi, can someone advise me please? I’ve bought an espalier Cox’s Orange Pippin. I will be planting it out in a couple of days time. Please can anyone advise me what to spray on it to keep it healthy and when to do it. I hear that scab and mildew can be an issue. Many thanks.

[burnie]

There are no effective sprays for scab any more, it was banned a year or so back, one of the reasons I no longer have any apple trees.

[Holly Daze]

Thank you for responding. Surely there must be something that can help. I am prepared to try anything to keep the tree healthy. Anyone have ideas?

[nickdub]

I've been growing apples including coxes in my garden for almost 40 years. The main thing I'd say is don't worry, just enjoy growing trees and eating the fruit.

In terms of the diseases you mentioned they do show up and are worse in wet years, but they do not stop me growing plenty of good fruit and eating it and I never sprayed my trees, even when it was legal to do so.

First try to give your trees the right treatment to ensure they grow well, This includes removing grass from around the bases when they are young and also remember they may need watering during dry spells this year, when they are newly planted. After a few years fertilizer around the roots of the trees may be needed to encourage growth.

Another point is light and air. The more space they have, the healthier they will be, and the better they will crop.

You don't mention if there are other apple trees nearby, but remember Cox will not set fruit unless it is x-pollinated.

Finally, a lot of advice about spraying fruit you read online or in books comes from the practices of commercial growers. They target growing blemish free fruit because that is the only way they can sell it - people buy with their eyes. As an amateur grower you do not need to aim for apples with no scab on them as the fruit tastes just as good with a few blemishes on its skin.

[Peteyd]

I'm going to be putting some apple trees in my garden this year, just a little something to break it up a bit and add some nice shade... And something edible is always welcome in my garden!

I'm trying to decide on variety, so am always open to suggestions!

[Holly Daze]

Thank you Nick. You have given me hope. We have a Concorde Pear, a Grenadier cooker and a Bradley and neighbours have crab apples.

[nickdub]

Growing fruit is a lovely thing to do. It has to be said that some fruit is easier to get a crop from than others and Cox is a bit of a tricky one, but well worth it if you can get it to fruit.

As for varieties of the ones I grow I'd say George Cave is a good early ripening at the end of July in my garden. James Grieve is a good all-rounder for September and Orleans Reinette is and interesting later apple for October, and finally Ashmeads Kernel is a very good late keeping apple of real quality, but can be prone to bitter pit on some soils. The thing is though everyone's taste is different and growing apples is a long term investment of time and space so ideally you want to go somewhere to taste the fruit before you commit to trying one which is new to you.

[Holly Daze]

Nick dub, you are the oracle. ;>] I have space for one more espalier so I am thinking about James Grieve.

[nick the grief]

Katy is a superb apple and has a lot of the plus points of its parent Worcester Pearmain. it is great eaten straight off the tree and is really juicy the other one I've got is Gala for similar reasons. once the beds etc are done I'll be adding to the list but don't be worried about pests and diseases - what you read in books is the worse case scenario are very rarely do they get that bad - My neighbour has one thats been there as long as hes has ( 50 years) doesn't know the name, never prunes it its 30ft tall ( we suspect it was grown from a pip) and crops like a good un every year

[burnie]

Fruit trees are dependant on where you live, wet areas like Scotland and some areas in the North West are where many varieties will not thrive.
There are few varieties that are suitable for my region, what with late frosts as well, it is the reason why commercial growing of apples doesn't happen. There are some guides as to which type is suitable for your location, it is risky to try varieties that are better suited to certain environments, climate change is starting to have an effect on what will grow where well.

[Dave8abond]

Whey is rumoured to be good as a preventative for powdery mildew. We make our own yogurt, a litre every other day. Last year I drained off some whey, diluted it and sprayed onto the leaves. I have no idea how beneficial, if it all, it was though 😄.

As said above, look after them well, and I'd bet you'll be be feasting on coxs for years

[FB.]

I wish people would put a location in their profile because it can make a big difference to the advice given.

Cox is thought to grow and crop best in a warm, fairly dry location on chalky soil and on a big rootstock such as M25.

[nick the grief]

I wish people would put a location in their profile because it can make a big difference to the advice given.

Cox is thought to grow and crop best in a warm, fairly dry location on chalky soil and on a big rootstock such as M25.

Its there but the forum software blocks it out ... like yours isn't shown

You have to view the profile to see it

[burnie]

Sadly when the forum was upgraded, our locations vanished from view, I will ask admin again to see if anything can be done.

[nickdub]

Nick dub, you are the oracle. ;>] I have space for one more espalier so I am thinking about James Grieve.

You're very welcome Holly. Lots of good advice from others on here too. I generally write from what I know, ie my personal experience, but as others have said where you live has a big impact on what you can grow and so local knowledge is important when making decisions on tree fruit which is a long term investment.

BTW If you want other fruit which will crop sooner something like a loganberry is a good buy and is easy to propagate, so you can soon grow 3 or 4 new ones from your first plant. Fruits in the year after you plant it usually.

Happy gardening :-)