lidl trees

[bodger]

Apparently lidl are selling fruit trees at £3.99 from Feb 5th

Apples: Jonagold, cox's & bramley
Cherry stella
Pears: conferance & beurre hardy
Plums: victoria & opal.

Has anyone bought lidl fruit trees before? Any good.
Cheers

[hooraynana]

Ta for the heads up
one of my allotment neighbours has about 5 fruit tress from aldi or similar low cost operation - i think they are 2 years old and they bear a lot of fruit.
I'm going to risk it and buy 2 apples and maybe a plum ?

[SHAZSULL]

would any of these take in pots?lotti nowhere near ready & garden a disaster building work going (or not!)on
thanks

[bodger]

Not sure about pots but trees should remain dormant for several weeks if kept cool and roots kept from drying out, me thinks, but dont quote me on this, i'm no expert

[dipseydiva]

I bought two plums last year for £3.99 each. When I got home I took them out of the plastic and put them in a large pot with extra compost, I then kept them for a time in an un-heated greenhouse. I planted them out in the spring and they took well, no fruit but plenty of growth. I also bought two trees from a nursery at £23.99 each, treated them the same, one died completely and the other was very poor,[though I did get my money back] but I know where I will be on Thursday morning.

[spursboy61]

Don't know about fruit trees, but I did buy a pack of 10 bare root blackthorns. All are displaying buds.

Mikey

[Jameslovell]

Oooohhhhhh!!! Just emailed our allotment person at Didcot council asking if I need permisson for a few trees. I have a feeling that when i met the Allotment admin person that she said it isn't a prob, but need to ask permission first. Could be wrong, could have been sheds or chickens or swimming pools, lol.

Think I will get apple tree, cherry tree and plum tree. Yum Yum.

[gojiberry]

Had an opal plum last year and it is in a pot. It has grown better than a plum I paid £18 for at the same time. No fruit last year but will see which one performs best this year.


Ian

[daleclarke]

Just got 5 lidl trees for less than I paid for 1 last year, they are all about 5ft tall and where a problem on the bus, but I did it. They are in excellent fettle, packed well and will I am sure be a real asset next year. The amount of comments about the size and price was amazing and a canny few people were going to get some straight away, so I do not think they will be around for long.

[Irie Jan]

I got a Stella Cherry and a Conferance Pear late last year think was October maybe November ish, was last time they had the offer at lidl anyway!

The cherry is still bare as to be expected but looking strong anyway, the pear has been shooting new buds ever since I planted it! Some of them are quite long and green now despite all this cold weather! I do hope the poor little thing will be ok!

Most people from the thread that was about back then said that the trees were a good buy and performed well! My fingers are crossed!

[Popeye]

Pears

First I would like to introduce myself, I have had my allotment for 10 months, so I am still on a learning curve , We had a good first year last year,the plot was already laid out to raised beds, a little dilapidated and over grown, we bought a petrol strimmer and a second hand summer house, and a lot of the family worked to get things in shape,I have just taken delivery of a 3.5mtr x 2 mtr greenhouse I bought on e-bay its the type with the woven polypropylene cover. Just waiting for the snow to clear and I will be able to put it up.
We have bought a lot of fruit bushes and seed potatoes very cheap from wilkinsons and poundland, I just bought a pear tree from lidl £3.99 its a Doyenné du Comice which is not listed as one of the ones they have for sale, I wanted a couple of plum trees, but my local store had sold out. I am hoping Aldi will have a similar offer on soon, sometimes what lidl has one week Aldi has a week or two later,and vice versa. I have been repairing ships for the last 30 years mostly at sea, and still work in the ship repair business, but now I have the allotment my seagoing days are over. I am now going to try to post a couple of before and after photos of my Plot.

Ps supose I should grow some spinach

Regards
Popeye

[greendean]

hi popeye

great job on the allotment

i went to get some trees from lidl today but got soft fruit from aldi
easy mistake to make i suppose. hope they have some trees left at lidl tonight

always good bargains from these two

regards

greendean

[littlemark]

Here's my two-pennorth worth on Lidl and Aldi Trees:

Rockingham Forest Cider: Cheap Fruit Trees - Good or Bad?

Cheers, Mark

[FB.]

I agree, Mark.

Although home-grown tend to taste better than shop-bought fruits, there are many excellent apples varieties that few people have heard of. But having said that, people will go with what they know.

There are many old varieties that have much to offer the home grower.
The old varieties offer such features as:

Amazing taste.
Great winter storage potential.
Tolerance to diseases.
Tolerance to poor climate.
Tolerance of poor soil.
Stunning flower displays.


Many old varieties have what some people would term "drawbacks" though, such as:

Variable crops.
Mis-shapen fruit.
Russeted fruit.
Fruit drop.

[littlemark]

If going for older varieties it's essential to do a little homework first, that's where forums like this, and people like yourself who have some experience come in. I guess my main point is that £3.99 for something which will hopefully be productive in so many ways, over such a long period of time, seems a ridiculous price, and trading up to something which could suit your needs much better will repay the additional outlay many times over. Being restricted to such a small choice of varieties alone makes the £3.99 seem like false ecomomy to me, unless you simply must have a Bramley...

At the other end of the scale, a slightly wider choice from a garden centre may represent very poor value in the long-run, particularly if it means you can only afford one tree and it then fails to live up to it's promise for one reason or another. That's why specialist nurseries are for me the best option, reasonably priced 1 or 2 year old bare root trees are not too expensive, and the choice of varieties/rootstock combinations is huge, something for every situation. Nurseries will often replace/refund a tree on the rare occasions when they fail to establish, I'm not sure a garden centre would do this.

It doesn't have to be an old variety either, new fruit varieties are being developed constantly. The holy grail of better disease resistance as well as good crops and flavour can often be acheived if you choose your variety/roostock carefully.

Mark