Best pollinator for apple 'Winter Gem'?

[legume]

Hi all

I just bought an espaliered apple Winter Gem from Blackmoor, intending to plant it with crabapple 'Golden Hornet' for pollination, as I was told this would be suitable. Having since researched a bit further though, I am now worried the crab will not pollinate the apple sufficiently.

I can, alternatively, plant the Winter Gem near an established Cox. Would that be better?

FB, you are the guru on this sort of thing: any advice?!

Thank you.

[FB.]

Cox is a parent of Winter Gem, and Golden Delicious is also probably related via WG's other parent (Grimes Golden).
So neither Cox nor Golden Delicious, nor any of their offspring, would be my choice of pollinator, although they will probably offer enough compatible pollen to give a partial crop.

But I would expect the crab apple to be an excellent pollinator for most domesticated apples.

Between the crab and the Cox (and any other apple trees the bees visit while meandering around), I would expect your Winter Gem to not have a problem with pollination.

In the unlikely event of poor pollination (if the bees don't visit, or the weather is poor at blossom time the pollination will be poor anyway) there are many varieties which would be compatible for Winter Gem.

Winter Gem may not be well-pollinated by varieties with numbers 2,3,5 or 9, but those with at least one different number will partially pollinate, and those with two different numbers should be excellent pollinators. Also try not to have the trees more than about four days (one pollination group) apart, so as to avoid missing each other's flowering.

Here's an old incompatibility list:

Beauty of Bath: 1 & 4
Belle de Boskoop: 2, 3 & 5 (triploid - no viable pollen)
Blenheim Orange: 1, 3 & 14 (triploid - no viable pollen)
Braeburn: 9 & 24
Bramley: 1, 7 & 19 (triploid - no viable pollen)
Cox: 5 & 9
Discovery: 1 & 24
Ellison's Orange: 1 & 5
Falstaff: 2 & 5
Fiesta: 3 & 5
Gala: 2 & 5
Golden Delicious: 2 & 3
Gravenstein: 4, 13 & 20 (triploid: no viable pollen)
Irish Peach: 1 & 1 (an oddball - has two copies of allele 1)
James Grieve: 5 & 8
Katy: 5 & 24
Kidd's Orange Red: 5 & 9
Laxton's Superb: 5 & 16
Lord Lambourne: 2 & 5
Meridian: 5 & 9
Red Windsor (Alkmene/Early Windsor): 5 & 22
Ribston Pippin: 1, 9 & 21 (triploid: no viable pollen)
Spartan: 9 & 10
Sturmer Pippin: 2 & 24 (some claims of triploid, so best not used as pollinator)
Tydeman's Early Worcester: 24 & 25
Tydeman's Late Orange: 9 & 16
Worcester Pearmain: 2 & 24

As you can see: many modern varieties are beginning to have complex pollination issues arising from the inbreeding which centres around Cox(5,9) and Golden Delicious(2,3).

Good pollinators for many of the Cox/GD family are the likes of Beauty of Bath, Irish Peach, Discovery and Tydeman's Early Worcester.

[orangepippin]

This page lists apple varieties that will pollinate Winter Gem. It calculates results based on flowering group, parentage, and some of the incompatibility group data which FB has mentioned:

List of pollination partners for Winter Gem apple trees

You might be OK with the Golden Hornet, and as a rule most crab apples are very good pollinators, but Golden Hornet flowers very late so the risk is that the Winter Gem blossom will be over before the Golden Hornet is in bloom. (For very early flowering apples Malus Dolgo / Pink Glow is a good choice).

[legume]

Thank you both for the great advice.

Looks like I *should* be OK with the crabapple then, weather and bees pending. Blackmoor says both trees are in flowering group 3, so fingers crossed that they will flower roughly together.

One last question: the crab arrived today and it is literally one long 'stick'. No branches or even 'nubs' at all. Having never ordered such a young tree before, I assume this is a maiden whip and it will push out branches at some point?!

Thank you again.

[FB.]

One last question: the crab arrived today and it is literally one long 'stick'. No branches or even 'nubs' at all. Having never ordered such a young tree before, I assume this is a maiden whip and it will push out branches at some point?!

Yes, it is a maiden whip. Probably grafted one year ago.
Generally speaking, maiden whips will branch naturally, or you can "force" branching by pruning last year's growth back by half - assuming that's where you want branches to start.
If you want a longer stem, leave it unpruned and next winter you can remove any side branches that you don't want.
Suitability of a longer stem will depend on the rootstock.
I see Blackmoor sell Golden Hornet on M9 and MM106.
M9 is strictly bushes and small trained forms: the roots are never likely to be strong enough to support a canopy high in the air, heavily laden with fruit and rocking in the wind; M9 will fall over under such topweight.
MM106, depending on the growing conditions, may be suitable for half-standards (4-5ft clear stem). MM106 does not cope well with soil which dries in summer and will not easily make more than small bushes in my area; it isn't actually much larger than M9 for me.

Conventional wisdom is to spend the first few winters pruning all new shoots back by half ("heading cuts") but nowadays I prefer to leave leaders mostly unpruned and simply remove shoots that I don't want ("thinning cuts").
I find this retaining of the leader give a structurally stronger tree with better branch angles. Once side branches have formed, I then remove unwanted leaders, since by that time the angle and structural strength of the side branch has been set.
The following picture shows a young apple tree on MM111 rootstock in its third leaf. Last winter I removed unwanted lower side branches (to create a 6ft clear stem) but left the leader unpruned* in order to achieve the nice, wide, strong branch angles. In recent weeks, while dormant, the single upright shoot ("the leader") was removed, so it now has a great branch structure - starting about 5ft above ground - and will become an attractive, sturdy and productive half-standard.

* Unpruned leaders produce a hormone which encourages lower branches to grow at better angles. If the leader is removed, the hormone secretion stops and so numerous shoots will grow in a tight, upwards cluster as they all compete to become the new leader. This can create structurally unsound, crowded and disease-prone trees.

[FB.]

Here's the same tree, with the central leader removed a few weeks ago.

The branches have good wide angles to the trunk and point roughly in all directions for a well-balanced crown.
The buds on the lower half of the branches will produce fruit spurs during 2013 which should flower during 2014. The buds on the upper half of the branches will form 3-4 secondary branches, again well-spaced and with structurally strong angles.
The leading buds will be allowed to grow this year (just as the leader did during 2012) and then removed in winter 2013-14.

.

[FB.]

So the story of the tree above:

Grafted in very early spring 2010 (three years ago).

Grown to about 4ft tall single-stem "maiden whip" during 2010. (its "first leaf").

Left unpruned in winter 2010-11.

Leader extended in 2011 and some side branches formed around 3ft from the ground (on the upper half of the previous season's growth). (its "second leaf")

Winter 2011-12 pruning consisted of removing the unwanted lower branches ("stembuilding") but leaving the leader unpruned to encourage wider angles on the primary branches which were expected to form at the upper half of 2011's growth, about 4-5ft above ground.

During 2012 the leader continued its growth and several side branches grew at about 5ft above ground during 2012 (as expected). (its "third leaf")

Winter 2012-13 pruning consisted of only removing the central leader, since the stem is now at the correct height, around 5ft.

Expectations for 2013:

Side branch leaders will continue growing.
Upper half of side branches should each produce a handful more side branches.
In winter 2013-14 the side branch leaders will be removed, similar to taking out the central leader recently.

[orangepippin]

One last question: the crab arrived today and it is literally one long 'stick'. No branches or even 'nubs' at all. Having never ordered such a young tree before, I assume this is a maiden whip and it will push out branches at some point?!

Most 1-year bare root trees should be cut back shortly after planting. It depends how you want the tree to grow but for most purposes a height of around 40" / 1m is a good starting point. If you don't do this the young tree may not grow away properly in the spring.

As FB notes this initial pruning is not as important on vigorous rootstocks such as M25 and MM111, and depends a bit on how the tree was raised in the nursery - your supplier will probably have included instructions with the tree.

The rationale for this is that during transplanting, some of the root system will inevitably be lost or damaged. This is not a problem for trees on vigourous rootstocks but for dwarf and semi-vigorous trees it can lead to the new tree putting too much demand on the root system in early spring. Cutting the top back restores the balance.

[legume]

Once again, thank you both! I am so grateful for your advice. Flowers and veggies I am familiar with - trees, not so much.

It is on an M9 rootstock, as I wanted it dwarfing and able to cope with fairly dry conditions. I know I will probably have to stake it all its life, but that is no problem.

The whip is about 1m high at present.

So, if I have got this straight then, I am ultimately aiming for a half-standard goblet-shape, so I should not prune the leader this year or next year in order to let the tree develop a healthy structure of lower branches, but I should prune out unwanted lower branches to create the semi-standard stem, and I should lightly prune the side branches I am keeping with 'thinning cuts' if/where needed in order to keep a neat shape. When the tree has reached its ideal height of approx 2.5m, then I should prune the leader. Is that right?

[orangepippin]

You cannot train a tree on M9 as a half-standard, the rootstock is not vigorous enough. Trees on M9 are intended to be trained as bushes (no leader) or spindle bushes (with a leader retained), and must always be supported by a vertical post. It will probably reach a maximum height of about 2m to 2.5m in good soil, probably within 2-3 years. The branches will start at about 1m from the ground.

As mentioned prevoiusly you may need to cut the tree back now to ensure it grows away properly in the spring, but check the instructions provided by the supplier - if it is only 1m high, then it is likely it has already been cut back at the nursery. Most bare-root crab apple trees are usually supplied as 125cm or 150cm plants.

Personally I think M9 trees work best as spindlebushes with the central leader retained. Grown like this the stake (which is essential) becomes an attractive feature, and makes the tree look nice and neat.

The RHS Pruning and Training book (Christopher Brickell) explains this sort of thing well.

[FB.]

orangepippin's the expert on M27 and M9.
I agree with him that M9 is only suitable for small bushes, or trained forms which are supported.
In poorer soils, M27 and M9 are not suitable at all.

I recently moved a M9 minarette and despite it having been in position for a few years, I only had to give it a modest tug to pull it completely out of the ground; no need for me to dig it out.

So clearly M9's anchorage is poor - and if it does grow any big roots they tend to be quite brittle and break easily.

In view of poor anchorage, brittle roots and its dwarf habit, M9 is not suitable for growing as long trunked-trees - neither for holding them up nor for managing to supply sufficient nutrients to the canopy of a big tree.
M26 is the smallest rootstock suitable for being unstaked, although it will not easily make a half-standard except with very vigorous varieties (e.g. Bramley) on very good soils and in favourable climates.
MM106 is the absolute minimum for half-standards (4ft clear trunk) but it is very sensitive to too little or too much water. It can become a dwarf on dry soil and may die from fungal root rots on heavy soils.
MM111 is good for half-standards (4-5ft trunk) on the very dry or very wet soils where MM106 will not thrive, but may suffer bitter pit on acidic soils (but is excellent on alkaline soils).
M25 makes a standard (5-7ft trunk) on soils with normal moisture and a half-standard on drier soils.

[legume]

Glad I checked!

OK, so it really needs to be trained as a spindle bush then. I just went and had a look at various websites and actually I like the size and shape of this form: it is ideal for the growing space and situation.

The soil is good (loam), but it is in a south-facing situation and gets hot and dry during summer. It will have a weed-supressing membrane and bark mulch around it, so this should help with water retention (and I do intend to water it, I hasten to add!)

I do not think the tree has had its leader shortened already - it comes to a sharp point, not a blunt cut. I understand I need to shorten it now to get it going strongly in spring, so as the tree is only about a metre high (possibly a bit over) I should go down just as far as the top-most strong buds and cut there?

As for instructions, it did indeed come with these, but unfortunately the delivery occurred while I was at work so HB took charge, and although he did a great job of heeling the trees in, he left the instructions in a wheelbarrow, where I found them this morning as papier mache in a pool of water.... Never mind.

I seriously owe both you guys a pint for all this excellent advice!

[orangepippin]

If the tree is about 1 metre high, I would remove an inch or so, leaving a good strong bud at the top. That will help encourage side shoots to emerge in spring, and the topmost bud should grow up to become the new leader.

Bang in a tree post, ideally on the north side of the tree, and tie the tree to it at about 50cm. Keep it well watered (but not drowning) during spring and summer. Good luck!

[legume]

Got it. I now know what I am doing.

Thank you both once again; if I ever have the fortunate to meet you in person, the drinks are definitely on me!