What New Fruit Trees To Get And When / Where From???

[Farmer_Gyles]

I want more fruit trees in my garden - and I don't want to wait years before I get fruit from them ....

I have a pear tree and an apple tree - no idea what varieties they are - the trees are ancient, well over 20ft high
I have a Victoria Plum tree - it cropped heavily this year
I have a cooking apple tree that gives me about 5 or 6 apples per year - but I also get cookers from next door's tree where that overhangs
I planted a peach tree last year - it's about 6ft tall - most of the leaves dropped from peach leaf curl, so no peaches this year
I planted a cherry tree last year too - again, about 6ft tall - had 6 cherries on it - think it's "white heart"
I have a cherry plum "tree" in the hedge at the front

So I'm thinking possibly damson and apricot - I used to have a damson tree until a "tree surgeon" killed it - pretty sure I had apricot at one time too, but think it was more of a bush and I hacked it down without realising what it was
Also thinking greengage - I've never seen them anywhere else

Any advice on where to buy these trees, when to plant them, and whether I'll get a crop next year? I'm guessing that growing from stones will take a very long time ....

[yummersetter]

What kind of situation do you have to plant your trees? Do you have south facing walls, for example, to help the peaches and apricots fruit? Are they going in bare earth, in grass or in pots?

I've planted a lot of fruit trees and in my case, mainly in a south east facing ex-orchard in South Somerset, bare-root trees in grass kept clear for about 20 inches round the tree. Only a few of the recent apples, which were 5 years old when transplanted, fruited in the year after planting.

The usual thing for me is that if the weather is favourable, I'll get nothing the year after planting, a handful of fruit the following year and can often wait six years or so for a good crop. In the case of greengages, japanese plums in a cold spot and Blenheim apples it was about ten years. I've never had an apricot in 20 years from three trees grown in front of a north border hedge but friends nearby have a great crop most years from Tomcot grown against a south facing wall.
I'm happiest to eat tree fruits that can't be bought in supermarkets - rare apples, quinces, good plums, Comice pears properly ripened. mirabelles. I'm waiting for two year old mulberries , peaches and cherries to crop. The best recent trees I've bought have come from Reads and Keepers Nurseries.
If its your own land, you intend staying there and you're not ancient I see no harm, if you have room, in planting a few trees, then the following year a few more and so on and whilst you're focusing on the new trees and thinking about next years the time will fly by till the 2013 planting have a good crop.

[Paulieb]

I reckon the quickest fix would be getting a big tree from a local GC. But best would be buying rare varieties online and waiting a few extra years.

I've just done an order with keepers for about 14 trees, all 1yr maidens. I'm planning a line of cordon apples and pears, getting a peach for the greenhouse and a smallish cherry bush for another place in the garden.

[orangepippin]

The only way to almost certainly get fruit next year is to plant a 2-year dwarf apple tree on the M27 rootstock now - these trees are so precocious that fruit is almost certain, but of course they will never get much bigger.

In practice there are very few quick fixes with fruit trees. In this day and age where you can order a DVD online today and have it delivered tomorrow, the need to plan ahead and watch and wait is perhaps one of the pleasures of growing fruit trees.

[Paulieb]

In practice there are very few quick fixes with fruit trees. In this day and age where you can order a DVD online today and have it delivered tomorrow, the need to plan ahead and watch and wait is perhaps one of the pleasures of growing fruit trees.

This is something I've come to realise since beginning my horticuture diploma. So many things require patience and planning, that when I come from todays world of 'now, next day' it takes a bit of getting used to.

[Farmer_Gyles]

What kind of situation do you have to plant your trees? Do you have south facing walls, for example, to help the peaches and apricots fruit? Are they going in bare earth, in grass or in pots?

I live on a chalk hill - garden is open, trees will get sun all day - no walls, just 5ft fences trees grow well up here - trees will go in the ground, not in pots

The best recent trees I've bought have come from Reads and Keepers Nurseries.

what make them best? biggest? best value? earliest croppers? best quality??

If its your own land, you intend staying there and you're not ancient I see no harm, if you have room, in planting a few trees, then the following year a few more and so on

our future here is undecided - we might move to france in a couple of years time, but then again, we might not .... i've been here 20 years, i'd happily live here another 20, except land is limited and the thought of starting an entirely new life (retiring early!) in france is very tempting .... we're here for 2 years because of my son being in 6th form .... no idea how long after that though .....

[Lazy Gardener]

I bought family apple and pear tree's from the garden centre, 3 varieties on one tree.

The year after planting i had some fruit. And more each year.

The cheap tree's i bought from Aldi have taken 2 years to produce one little apple which i picked
off anyway to hopefully help it put more energy into the roots.

[yummersetter]

I live on a chalk hill - garden is open, trees will get sun all day - no walls, just 5ft fences trees grow well up here - trees will go in the ground, not in pots


what make them best? biggest? best value? earliest croppers? best quality??

That chalk will make a difference when deciding which trees to plant - but not something I know much about.

Nurseries - Best as in interesting choice of stocks and varieties, competent grafts, carefully grown, labelled correctly, substantially packed, arrived when arranged, large and healthy trees most of which have gone on to grow well, and where they haven't, its been down to my mis-management or unfortunate weather rather than the tree as supplied. Early cropping isn't something I want, I think of the trees as a long-term project and they grow better if they're not stressed by fruit production soon after planting.

Best value is a tree that's producing well from 3-100 years after I planted it. A new wooden window can cost about £250, start to deteriorate the day its fitted and need replacing four times during the life of an apple tree. I think that at around £20 for a well-raised tree, if its chosen carefully its a bargain.

[FB.]

That chalk will make a difference when deciding which trees to plant - but not something I know much about.

Chalk can be nasty, although certain rootstocks and certain varieties of fruit tree cope better than others. QuinceA and Quince C really don't like chalk or alkaline soil - Pyrodwarf or P.communis/seedling will tolerate chalk.
MM106 will not do well if the chalk is prone to drying every summer but where rainfall is plentiful MM106 doesn't mind what the depth/fertility of the soil is. MM111 copes well with drought-prone chalk. M9 seems to grow anywhere and tolerates drought quite well for a dwarf.
Plums don't seem to mind chalk as long as rainfall is adequate.

Chalk (or dry alkaline soil) can make some of the tastiest fruits, so long as the rootstock and variety can tolerate the conditions.

Peculiarly, Farmer_Gyles states that he has two 20ft fruit trees, so things don't appear to be doing too badly there. However it is possible that they are "survivorship bias" (where we don't get to see how many other trees died to leave just those two still standing) or perhaps those two were carefully chosen to grow on a difficult soil - as is the case for my trees which someone else may come into possession of in decades to come.

If rainfall is normal or plentiful (higher ground often gets more rainfall - generally speaking the higher the altitude the greater the rainfall) so it's possible for quite a few trees to grow well on chalk if water isn't limiting. In lower-rainfall (usually Eastern or coastal areas) chalk can become very dry and toxic in summer.

[Farmer_Gyles]

Peculiarly, Farmer_Gyles states that he has two 20ft fruit trees, so things don't appear to be doing too badly there. However it is possible that they are "survivorship bias" (where we don't get to see how many other trees died to leave just those two still standing) or perhaps those two were carefully chosen to grow on a difficult soil - as is the case for my trees which someone else may come into possession of in decades to come.

I live in suburbia - housing built in the 1930s - guessing that's when most of the fruit trees were planted - every other house has apples / pears / damsons / plums or something, very well established - many people have cut their fruit trees down as they never use the fruit and are fed up with it making a mess on their nice neat lawns (which they never use either) - we also have ancient woodlands up here too - prior to housing, the land was good farmland - there are still some fields used as farmland (wheat / rape / etc) - almost everything grows here, especially weeds ....

I guess that back in the 30s, it was a case of plant a plum tree and let it get on with it, whereas these days there are probably loads of varieties for different soil types / conditions / disease resistances etc - so I'm feeling kind of forced into researching the right variety etc - like I can't just buy "a plum tree" ....

And there are so many places selling cheap rubbish plants and trees that take forever to grow and produce anything

[orangepippin]

- so I'm feeling kind of forced into researching the right variety etc - like I can't just buy "a plum tree" ....

Well you could try Victoria ... a bit boring maybe, but I've just had a large bowl of Victoria plum crumble and it was very pleasant!

[yummersetter]

nooooooo . . . maggot ridden, gets silverleaf and bacterial canker, and the fruit is widely available . . . . I reckon you just had a very good crumble topping.

[orangepippin]

If you want "a plum tree" Victoria is the answer.

Yes the fruit is widely available - but never remotely as good as you get from your own tree.

I agree there are lots of much better plums for eating fresh (although fully ripe Victorias are still a real pleasure). Avalon is one of my favourites.

But for cooking ... Victoria is difficult to beat, you get that hint of almond (and no, it wasn't in the topping!).

Disease ... yes, you hardly ever see a healthy Victoria tree, but on the other hand they carry on cropping regardless.

[Farmer_Gyles]

If you want "a plum tree" Victoria is the answer.

I don't want a plum tree as I already have one .... see first message ....

What I want is maybe damson, apricot, greengage, maybe something else ....

[mothhawk]

Before you choose a site to buy from, it might be worth reading the Ts & Cs to make sure there's not a clause which says they will substitute trees to a similar value or type if there are none of the chosen variety available, if you are after a specific variety. It must be very frustrating to await a named variety and have a different one arrive. This happened to my brother, but he's very laid back and said it was too much bother to send it back and demand the correct one or a refund, so he kept it. Makes me wonder how many other folk do that.