Help with Choice of Apple Trees

[ugley_matt]

Hi,

I was inspired by the recent program on apples to plant one or more apple trees. We currenlty have a very large tree that is 28 years old, (i planted it from a seed from a golden delicious when i was 7) but would like to add one or more to the garden. Our local nursery has a selection of very nice looking trees and i would get one/two from them but unsure which to go for. The selections are


ashmeads kernal (m26)
Charles Ross (m27)
greensleeves (mm106)
laxton superb (m27)
lord lambourne (mm106)
tydmans early worster (mm106)

They are all the same price (£15) and all had fruit on them already so they are great trees. I don't mind having two if it will increase yields. I am learning towards the Laxtons and Charles Ross, both M27 and both victorian varieties, (our house was built in 1898 so that would be nice)

Would either of those be the best choice? Would i get much better yields by having one of each or should i go for one big mm106? I understand they will need permanent staking but thats not a problem.

Is there a better flavour/yield/storage choice in there?

Sorry for all the questions but want to make sure i get the right one.

[FB.]

Are you sure that you want apple rootstock M27?
It requires very good growing conditions to thrive.
The common apple rootstocks in the UK are:
M27 (very dwarf - about 4ft)
M9 (dwarf - about 6ft)
M26 (semi-dwarf - about 8ft)
MM106 (semi-vigorous - about 10ft)
MM111 (vigorous - about 12ft)
M25 (very vigorous - about 15ft)

The actual size of the mature tree varies with the variety grafted and the soil quality. Trees can easily be kept at two-thirds their maximum size by summer (July) pruning. A size estimator is here:
> Link <

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It must be remembered that no apple variety is perfect and that those closest to perfect tend to be widely grown, which encourages pests and diseases to evolve to specialise in attacking them. As time passes, widely-planted varieties once known for their disease resistance gradually succumb to attacks and often require spraying to remain clean, healthy and productive.

If you really want to help apples, I suggest planting one or more really rare varieties that date back centuries to a time when they had to survive without chemicals. Back then, mother nature was a cruel and efficient selector of the toughest. Those old varieties also had to contend with whatever soil they were given - often very poor - (unlike the deep, fertile soils carefully chosen for commercial orchards).
In my experience, the more modern the variety, the younger it fruits and the heavier the crop each year - to satisfy our "instant gratification" culture.
However, such a rush to fruit and such a huge energy put into fruit makes them less resilient in difficult years than the lesser-cropping and slower-to-reach-fruiting-age older varieties.
I would always go for a lesser-cropping but more resilient tree so that it won't keel over and die, or simply "runt-out" after mother nature has given it a hard time (I now grow a number of ancient and very rare varieties whose health and vigour is incredible in the poorest conditions).

I understand that your location is in Essex. I suspect that your climate is somewhat similar to mine, although with slightly more rainfall and slightly better soil.
Before selecting variety or rootstock, I suggest considering your soil quality by digging a hole to see what your soil is like at 2ft depth - is it chalk? clay? sand/gravel?

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Regarding the varieties that you list:
Firstly, note that they will all be very different sizes, due to different rootstocks.

Ashmead's Kernel/M26
Could be a good choice.

Charles Ross/M27
Could be a god choice but note the very weak rootstock.

Greensleeves/MM106
Could be a good choice, but I find that MM106's size is more variable than "the books" say, depending on soil type.

Laxton's Superb/M27
Not suitable for organic or spray-free.
It may need spraying to prevent scab splitting and rotting the fruits.
Will become a very straggly tree on dwarf rootstock and likely to need branch support.

Lord Lambourne/MM106
Has potential. Work out your soil type before planting MM106 though, or you won't know how big it might get.

Tydeman's Early Worcester.
Could be a good choice, but work out your soil type to determine how big it might get.
Early-ripening eaters tend to attract more than their fair share of insect attacks.
The variety tends to be quite vigorous and spreading/weeping.

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[ugley_matt]

Thanks for the great post, was kinda hoping you would come along

I would be planting the trees into the back lawn, which has been there for 20 or so years, previously it was my parents vegetable patch.

Now this is probably a stupid question but how do i work out the quality of the soil? Is it literally the colour and texture or is there something more "scientific" to it? Is it something that you could asses via a photo?

[FB.]

As we've recently had good rainfall, digging quite deep shouldn't be a problem.

Being a past vegetable patch could mean that the soil is deep and quite fertile - but never assume anything!

I suggest digging a hole about 2ft wide and deep - you can actually plant the tree in the hole when you're done.
If in doubt on the soil type, take a few pics of the hole as you're digging and a few pics of the pile of earth that's coming out.

Chalky soils tend to be whitish, clay soils greyish and sandy soils gingerish. Once you get a foot or two down, it should be pretty obvious what you've got because you'll probably hit patches of pure sand, clay or chalk.
An ideal soil would have at least 2ft of topsoil before you hit the less-fertile and more troublesome subsoil.

If the tree is container grown (which most will be, at this time of year) I suggest - contrary to what "the books" would say - partially breaking-up the outermost parts of the rootball, untangling any circling roots and spreading those roots out as far and deep as possible. It is better to break a few tangled roots than leave the tree pot-bound and unable to grow roots outwards into the surronding soil.
Put a hard-packed mound of soil in the middle of the hole to stand the tree on at the correct planting depth - the mound will allow you to spread roots deep and wide.


If planted in grass, any fruit tree will be slower to get going and will grow more slowly as it has to compete with the grass. Trees in grass, when mature, are considered to produce excellent quality fruit.
Remember that your existing tree is a seedling. Seedlings that manage to establish in garden or wild conditions are often much more vigorous than the MM106 rootstock. If you want your new tree to rival your existing GD Seedling, you should consider MM111 or M25 rootstock.

If you're unsure about soil type, it is also worth considering a very vigorous rootstock combined with a slow-growing variety grafted on top. This means that the roots are vigorous enough to tolerate any conditions, but the upper part of the tree will grow sufficiently slowly to not get out of control.
Kind of the mirror image of a slow-growing rootstock and fast-growing variety.
If you fiddle with the tree size estimator linked above, you'll see how a "slightly small" variety on MM111 would grow to about the same size as a "large" variety on M26.
Of course, the MM111-rooted tree would be most resilient because roots are the most important part of a tree for competing-for and extracting nutrients and water from the soil.


In some countries and in some orchards, it is common for the vigorous MM111 to be used as a rootstock, with the dwarfing M9 grafted as the upper roots/lower trunk and then the fruiting variety grafted on top of that. In other words, a three-part tree.
The result is the best of everything: the rugged roots of the MM111 combined with the dwarfing, early-fruiting and high-fruit-quality-influence of the M9 "inter-stem".
Wonderful heavy-cropping miniature trees that are virtually indestructible.

In past times, it was also known to use a variety called "Bulmer's Norman" as an interstock. This variety is massively vigorous (produces vast amounts of growth hormone) and, when grafted to become the lower trunk, it dramatically boosted the growth rate. The result was that normally slow-growing varieties were literally supercharged by the hormones spreading through the tree from the Bulmer's Norman interstock piece.

[FB.]

Further to the options available to you.....

If I had to choose just one of your shortlist, I'd go for the Tydeman's Early Worcester MM106 and accept that the early ripening apples will attract more insect damage.

But, as mentioned above, I'd much prefer a stronger rootstock than MM106, which has a considerable variation in mature size, depending on the soil.

[BUFFS]

Further to the options available to you.....

If I had to choose just one of your shortlist, I'd go for the Tydeman's Early Worcester MM106 and accept that the early ripening apples will attract more insect damage.

But, as mentioned above, I'd much prefer a stronger rootstock than MM106, which has a considerable variation in mature size, depending on the soil.

and i would dig a square hole to stop the possibly potbound roots circling and not spreading out,might be one of yours FB...

[FB.]

Yes, a smooth-sided round hole will prevent root growth because the sides are too compacted.
I prefer to loosen the soil on the sides of the planting hole with a fork.
I also prefer plantng holes that are very much larger, so that if I compact the soil by the cutting action of my spade, the soil has time to loosen-up before the roots make it that far.

I suspect that with your plentiful rainfall, the roots don't have too much problem establishing. But "down here" in drought central, it takes a lot to get a young tree growing.

Here's a link to Met Office charts which show differences in sunshine, rainfall etc:
> Link <