Twin fruit trees?

[Hayley]

I've just received marshalls 2014 Catalogue and there's a leaflet with it for twin fruit trees. Bramley & Braeburn, Concorde & conference, Stella & morello, Victoria & czar. (Apple, pear, cherry & plum).

I already have a Stella cherry, discovery apple and conference pear but at £24.95 I'm tempted. Has anyone tried a twin tree? Are they any good?

[orangepippin]

Are these 2 varieties grafted side by side, or cordons with 1 variety grafted on top of the other?

I think these "family" trees have a very narrow niche. If you are short of space and just want a single tree they are a perfect solution and hard to beat. In any other situation you are usually better to get individual trees.

[Hayley]

It just says two varieties grafted onto one stem

[veggiechicken]

I have a triple family pear tree bought in Woolies when they were closing down. It has Conference, Comice and Williams pears on it but the only one to fruit this year is the Williams. In fact I've just picked 7 beautiful pears

[FB.]

Not all varieties grow at the same rate - and many of the really vigorous ones such as Bramley are tip-bearers which makes growth control more difficult.
Bramley-Braeburn would be a bad combination; mis-matched. Not to mention that Braeburn (and other shop-type apples) may not ripen properly nor be easily kept healthy in the cool, dull, damp UK climate.

[orangepippin]

FB is right, the Bramley + Braeburn would certainly be a difficult combination. It's hard to understand why that pairing has been chosen. Bramley is not a good pollinator of other varieties and Braeburn is effectively self-fertile, so in that sense it works, but Bramley is also extremely vigorous whereas Braeburn is of average vigour, so inevitably the Bramley is going to take-over in the longer term.

Family trees which include Bramley usually specify the Bramley-20 form, this is a naturally weaker form of Bramley, which might be less likely to dominate the tree.

[BUFFS]

bramley,as said is rampant in growth,braeburn seems to attract desease,blackspot,canker etc,i ended up lopping the braeburn off the rootstock, and bud grafted onto it some bramley buds,which seem to have taken okay,springtime will tell,my best tree is the james greive,ripening lovely on the tree outside now,as per norm FB is spot on, and the one to really listen to..good luck with whatever you decide

[Hayley]

THREE pear trees on one, now that's just crazy

Thank you for all your replies, ill definitely give the apple combo a miss.