Pollinating a Discovery after chopping down its neighbouring pollination partner

[rosiepumpkin]

I inherited a plot with 2 old trees right next to each other, one Discovery and one Bramley. The Bramley needs to come down next year as it is so big and because of the location nothing can be done with it.

I am in a corner with mature trees on 1 side and fruit trees/sheds blocking wind flow on another side (albeit the Discovery is tall enough to be taller than them).

When the Bramley is chopped down, will the Discovery have pollination problems?

There are apple trees on other plots but none within a few plots distance.

[Kristen]

The Bramley is Triploid I think, so if I have that right it won't have been pollinating the Discovery anyway ... so the other guys nearby must have been doing that, so I reckon you have nothing to worrk about

[Kristen]

P.S. If there is a Crab Apple nearby that is highly likely to doing a good job of pollination

[FB.]

Bramley is triploid. The value of triploids as pollinators is uncertain and they are not recommended as pollinators.
The apple trees on other plots should pollinate yours. They probably have been pollinating yours for years.

My experience of growing Discovery is that it is probably self-fertile, even though most books and nurseries list it as self-sterile. However, like the self-fertile Fiesta, Discovery seems to have better fruit and less bitter pit when pollinated by another variety.

[rosiepumpkin]

That's marvellous. The Discovery needs to be reduced in half by height and breadth but I didn't want to lose the fruit once the Bramley is gone. It fruits too early to be a parakeet feeding station

[rosiepumpkin]

While I am asking, do you have any recommendations for what I plant in place of the Bramley.

It's clay in half shade with more sun available once it gets taller. Lots of nearby mature trees so nutritients are an issue. I don't think it floods and well sheltered.

I want a plant that gets on with it once established tree, preferably a cooker that is an old variety.

I have looked on websites of suppliers but the forum here appears to have more specialist knowledge

[FB.]

While I am asking, do you have any recommendations for what I plant in place of the Bramley.

It's clay in half shade with more sun available once it gets taller. Lots of nearby mature trees so nutritients are an issue. I don't think it floods and well sheltered.

I want a plant that gets on with it once established tree, preferably a cooker that is an old variety.

I have looked on websites of suppliers but the forum here appears to have more specialist knowledge

Bramley does well in clay and half shade, as you've discovered.

Most cookers are OK in shade. A lot of cookers are fairly vigorous trees though, so they may get large eventually.

Grenadier or Annie Elizabeth should do well but while maybe not easily found in garden centres, they are not the rarest varieties. Personally, I suspect they might be triploid but officially they are classed as diploid and self-fertile.

Where are you likely to buy/acquire your tree from?

There are rarer varieties with potential, but you might have to graft yourself - or search far and wide for one and possibly pay a lot of money for it.

As it's on a veg plot, I wouldn't spend much money on such a tree because the next owner of the plot (after you're done with it) may chop it down like you did with the Bramley, which is a bit of a waste of a rare variety.

[rosiepumpkin]

The Bramley has a trunk a foot wide and is covered with ivy and not well.

I'll root around for a supplier that has good reviews and I like. We intend on being around a good while and that's all any of use can say as we can move house after all.

What's paying a lot? More than £30?

[Bigmallly]

Would it not be an easier solution to remove the Ivy & prune the Bramley?

[veggiechicken]

What make you think the Bramley is "not well"?
Put some photos up and let some of the fruit experts here have a look first, before you chop it down.

[rosiepumpkin]

Rosie's Secret Garden

The issue is that the trunk is only a foot away from 3 neighbouring plots and most of the spread is overhanging plots which aren't mine. If it's cut back to the border then it will need to be severely pruned and kept that way which doesn't seem healthy.

The trunk is 2 feet away from the old Discovery next to it and both trees are badly intermingled.

The photo is taken from the perspective of neighbouring plots. There are 3 apples that can be seen in the middle. The one on the left is on a neighbouring plot, the Bramley is the middle one, and the Discovery is mostly hidden by the Bramley even though it's a big tree. You can just see it on the right.

This photo below is when we first got the plot. The Bramley is on the right and the Discovery on the left. Th shed on the right is on a neightbouring plot and the posts you can see n the background are what remains of a neighbour's fruit cage after too many Bramleys crashed onto it.

Rosie's Secret Garden

Only a severe pruning will bring it within my plot line and unless I can reach the apples and it's healthy to keep a vigourous tree restricted enough to stay within my plot line (only a foot from the trunk), I can't see what else I can do. It's not like the other old trees on the plit which I know I can sort out.

[FB.]

It's hard to see where one tree ends and another begins, but I can't see any major health problems with the larger tree which I presume is the alleged Bramley (I don't always trust what people call their trees because mis-naming is very common).

When the leaves have fallen it will be easier to see what can be done.

If you try to grow a young tree in the same place as an older tree of the same type, you can have problems with 'replant disease' where the new tree struggles due to all the fungi, bacteria, nematodes and other creatures in the soil which have accumulated to attack the old tree. And depletion of certain essential trace nutrients which synthetic fertilisers may not contain.

[Kristen]

What's paying a lot? More than £30?

Yes, I would say so. Bare root trees £15.49 from Ashridge Trees, for example. (Carriage will probably be prohibitive for just a single tree, I would think it would be better to buy locally if you can, so this just for example)

Buy Apple Trees Online from the huge Ashridge Trees rabge

[rosiepumpkin]

Thanks. The replanting issue is a good one. I'll take more photos in winter. It's not an easy area to get photos of as there are 7 other fruit trees and 3 sheds very close too!

I was told it was a Bramley from the former owner'sbest buddy (who is an Italian old boy) and it looks and cooks like a Bramley.

[FB.]

I was told it was a Bramley from the former owner'sbest buddy (who is an Italian old boy) and it looks and cooks like a Bramley.

You're probably right - Bramley is a fairly distinctive tree.

It's just that I've known people to say things such as 'it's a Cox' or 'it's a Worcester' but when actually asked for more detail they reveal that it's not strictly a Cox or Worcester but actually one of Cox's or Worcester's offspring that somewhat resemble the mother variety.