Fruit trees from Lidl

[NewbieLucy]

Just wondering if anyone else has bought any? Today we got a pear and a sour cherry!! Also got a 'mystery tree' that didn't have a box!! All £3.99 each, seemed like a real bargain...we will see if they come to anything!


Sent from my iPhone using Grow Your Own Forum

[KirstieSparkle]

Someone else mentioned Liddle fruit trees, I wasn't able to get to middles, but I get the impression other people have done well with them in the past

[AllInContainers]

I got an apple tree to try out a few weeks back. I only got the one though, as I have so many other trees in already, and one was all I could find space for

[FB.]

The price of the trees at discount stores are attractive but it isn't unusual for the label to be slightly inaccurate or not enough information.

They are cheap because nobody else wanted them - they are often clearance stock from big nurseries.
The labelling tends to be less rigorous than from proper nurseries; nobody cares if a cheap, unwanted tree gets the wrong label.
It's not unusual for mixed types of trees to get the same label (especially mixed-up rootstocks).
I've seen trees for sale in discounters where it was obvious that some were not correctly labelled because some had interstems but were not labelled as such.

There are many reports of a discount apple tree later turning out to be a cherry tree!

So while the discount trees are excellent value for money, the risk of not getting what you thought you were buying is greater.
But there are two 'professional' fruit tree nurseries who seem to think it's OK to substitute when they run out of stock of a certain variety. If a nursery doesn't show 'out of stock' for some of its stock, they are more likely to substitute if they go out into the field and find they don't have what you've ordered.

Nurseries I would trust to supply what I asked for, and who I'd expect to call/email me back if they didn't have what I wanted, or if what I wanted wasn't fit for sale when they inspect prior to shipping out (in rough order of preference):

Keepers (Kent)
Keepers Nursery UK | Fruit trees for sale | Buy Online | Mail order

Bernwode (Buckinghamshire)
Fruit Trees- Historic Varieties Grown and Supplied by Bernwode Fruit Trees
(specialising in very rare and/or ancient forgotten varieties)

Blackmoor (Hampshire):
Fruit Trees & Soft Fruit Plants | Buy Online | Blackmoor Nurseries UK

R.V.Roger (Yorkshire)
Buy plants by post from R.V.Roger Ltd

[Nicos]

yeh FB...my miribelle turned out to be a mid sized plum,
and my plum is looking very much like a sloe( not fruited yet 4 years on!)

I think that as FB says, you're never quite sure what you will be getting, but if you're not really botherd, then the price is brill.
The other thing is that it can take a few more years to fruit-so if you are impatient, then maybe not so good!

[AllInContainers]

Interesting insights there folks

My Lidl James Grieve apple nicely fills a spot that needed something tall this year, but as time rolls forward and all the new stuff I'm introducing this year starts to expand in all directions, I'm going to need to create more space. One option is gifting of plants, another is cut out the annuals and increase perennial spacings, and the third is just ditch anything that isn't performing. Of course if anything dies naturally, there'll be space to move into.

At £4 guess which tree will likely be at the top of the shortlist for gifting or otherwise disposing of I'll still have got my moneysworth out of it, simply by virtue of it balancing the garden aesthetically this year