Braeburn Apple Tree

[4390evans]

Just got a new addition.

A braeburn apple tree, I went over to the nursery in Dec and they said they wouldn't have any in till the spring but I found one at homebase for a tenner!

It hasnt got much advice on what to do with it though, anyone know when I should plant it? Could I put it in the ground now?

Thanks

Jen x

[orangepippin]

You can plant it now. Make sure it is planted in a sheltered spot, facing south, in full sun for the entire day. If you can train it against a south-facing brick wall that would be even better. Then hope for a long hot summer and autumn. In a good year you may find you get some ripe apples in the second week of November. Ours (near York) did not ripen in 2013 which was a fairly good year. However the blossom is nice and there is usually lots of it, and it is a good pollinator for other apples!

[FB.]

Being a variety which isn't of UK origin, Braeburn needs a long, hot, sunny growing season.
The warmth and shelter of a South-ish-facing sunny wall would greatly improve the chances of "foreign" varieties producing worthwhile fruit.

Keep a watch for attacks of powdery mildew (a disease which Braeburn seems prone to) and pinch-out any mildewed shoots promptly to avoid it spreading to other parts of the tree.

[orangepippin]

Being a variety which isn't of UK origin, Braeburn needs a long, hot, sunny growing season.

It is often assumed that the place of origin of a variety is a good indicator of climate suitability, but this is not to be relied on.

Kidd's Orange Red is also from New Zealand, and does well in most parts of England.

Conversely, Cox Orange Pippin and Bramley both originated within about 100 miles of each other, so in pretty much the same climate. You might assume they would not grow in the long hot summers of southern California, and Cox certainly does not ... but Bramley does well in hot climates, arguably better than it does in England.

[FB.]

It is often assumed that the place of origin of a variety is a good indicator of climate suitability, but this is not to be relied on.

Kidd's Orange Red is also from New Zealand, and does well in most parts of England.

Conversely, Cox Orange Pippin and Bramley both originated within about 100 miles of each other, so in pretty much the same climate. You might assume they would not grow in the long hot summers of southern California, and Cox certainly does not ... but Bramley does well in hot climates, arguably better than it does in England.

Agreed. Place of origin doesn't always mean that's where a variety is at its best. However, to have been grown and selected as a seedling in its place of origin, a variety must have been acceptable in that soil and climate.

What I really meant is: Braeburn is a variety that's not widely grown by commercial orchards in the UK because the UK climate is known to usually be too cold, dull and wet for its liking. The tree shoots and leaves may grow just fine, but the fruit will need lots of sun and warmth to reach a useful size and acceptable taste.

[orangepippin]

However, to have been grown and selected as a seedling in its place of origin, a variety must have been acceptable in that soil and climate.

This would only be true of the very oldest varieties which arose as chance seedlings. From the 1800s onwards the place of origin of a variety was often simply where someone with an enthusiasm for apple breeding happened to live. Furthermore there are plenty of varieties with poor health and disease resistance - not least Cox Orange Pippin - and these were obviously selected for reasons other than soil and climate acceptability.

[FB.]

Furthermore there are plenty of varieties with poor health and disease resistance - not least Cox Orange Pippin - and these were obviously selected for reasons other than soil and climate acceptability.

When Cox is grown outside the UK, it has no worse disease resistance than an average variety.*
I believe that Cox has average disease resistance, but it has been grown so extensively for so long that all the diseases have evolved to attack it, so its resistance has been breached. Just as Bramley was immune to all disease a century ago, but nowadays has some tendency to scab and canker.

A couple of old accounts actually state Cox's (on very vigorous rootstock such as seedling, crab or M.16 back in those days) as being perfect for soils so dry, infertile or chalky that no other apple could be grown there. In my experience, the Cox offspring seem to generally be very healthy and unexpectedly vigorous on dry alkaline soil in a warm dry climate, but on cold wet acid soils they seem to be weak and sickly.

*
Yet more evidence of disease adaptation to the varieties being grown: varieties such as Gravenstein are considered to be disease-prone in countries where they have always been popular (USA, Europe) but I'm finding Gravenstein to be untouchable by the disease strains present in the UK.
It's all about the local strains of disease and whether the diseases have encountered the variety (or its relatives) before - or whether the diseases have to start from scratch to find ways to attack it.
Gravenstein's 4,13,20 incompatibility alleles confirm a very different genetic background to the common 2,3,5,9 alleles present in most varieties grown in the UK.

A number of scientific studies have shown that the "monoculture" method of growing vast blocks of trees of the same variety has caused a shift in the disease population from what used to be strains that were able to attack all varieties to a slight extent, to strains that now specialise in attacking one variety but have little or no ability to attack other unrelated varieties.
For example: scab strains isolated from James Grieve cannot attack Belle de Boskoop. Similarly: scab strains isolated from Belle de Boskoop cannot attack James Grieve.
The same happens with other varieties, which confirms a high level of cultivar-specific and related-cultivar-specific adaptation of diseases.

However, as the Vf growers are finding; if you grow a scab-resistant variety among lots of other scab-prone trees, there will be so much scab around that mutant strains arise more quickly and increase the risk of disease-resistance failure.
Which is why a newly released variety that gets adopted by commercial growers tends to lose its resistance after a few years.
Over the last decade I've seen the resistance of Egremont Russet gradually crumble because it is quite widely grown; it is no longer resistant to scab or canker. Discovery is similar.

[4390evans]

Just another quick question, it says on the tag fruit to be expected after 2 year.

Is that 2 year from the seed being sown, or 2 year from seeding?

Thanks guys
Jen x

[Shroomy]

When planting make sure you stake it well

[Snadger]

Can't be a$$ed to read right through all the replies, only to say that my Braeburn apple does tremendously well as a cordon on my plot, which I didn't think it would.
Had twenty huge tasty apples last year!

[FB.]

Just another quick question, it says on the tag fruit to be expected after 2 year.

Is that 2 year from the seed being sown, or 2 year from seeding?

Thanks guys
Jen x

When it says "fruit after two years" it means that it should being fruiting within two years of you planting the tree.
Chances are that it's 2-4 years old already, so will be 4-6 years old when it starts to fruit, which is about what you'd expect from a MM106 rootstock which is the default nursery rootstock.

But "fruit after two years" is not a guarantee; it is just a guide which will be affected by the growing conditions and other factors (e.g. Bramley apple trees can take a long time to start fruiting even on dwarf rootstocks, especially in fertile soils). Braeburn doesn't normally take too long to start fruiting, but "foreign" varieties may skip fruiting at times because they struggle to form flower buds for the following year in cool/dull summers.
I've managed to get a Golden Delicious to stop flowering for several years by planting it in a semi-shaded spot (it needs lots of sun and warmth).
The season after a cool dull summer many fruit trees won't produce as much blossom, whereas after a warm sunny summer the next year may have lots of blossom and a bumper crop......then the tree gets stuck in a biennial habit!

[yummersetter]

Its a reasonable question, Jen, but surprisingly, your apple tree won't have come from seeds at all. Simplified, the roots and the base of the stem up to the bulge will be a rooted cutting or cut away from a clump of a type of apple which has special characteristics to control the size / health / soil adaptability and that's called the rootstock. Grafted to it, at the bulge, will be twigs ( possibly buds) cut from a Braeburn tree that will grow to become what you see above ground. That's the way the grower can be sure that the apples will be that variety, apple seedlings are a bit random.
I'd say that 2 years is probably optimistic, if you get flowers this Spring, take them off when they've finished blossoming to allow the tree to put all its resources into growing. I have found that most of my young apple trees, grown in an orchard situation, have taken 4 to 10 years to produce a good crop of fruit.

[BUFFS]

Being a variety which isn't of UK origin, Braeburn needs a long, hot, sunny growing season.
The warmth and shelter of a South-ish-facing sunny wall would greatly improve the chances of "foreign" varieties producing worthwhile fruit.

Keep a watch for attacks of powdery mildew (a disease which Braeburn seems prone to) and pinch-out any mildewed shoots promptly to avoid it spreading to other parts of the tree.

I had all the usual problems with braeburn and in the end gave up and bud grafted some bramley buds onto the stem last year, as an experiment, so I am waiting to see if they really have taken well, if they have it will be grown as a double W shaped tree, so roll on spring so I can see what happens....