Family apple tree - choosing variety and where to plant

[IndigoElectron]

Or maybe I could get one of these collections, plus one extra cordon if there's room:

Cordon Apple & Pear Collection (3 Trees) : Pomona Fruits, Buy Fruit Trees, Soft Fruit Bushes, Apple Trees, Raspberry Canes, Grape Vines, Strawberry Plants
Cordon Apple & Pear Collection (3 Trees) : Pomona Fruits, Buy Fruit Trees, Soft Fruit Bushes, Apple Trees, Raspberry Canes, Grape Vines, Strawberry Plants
Cordon Apple Collection (3 Trees) : Pomona Fruits, Buy Fruit Trees, Soft Fruit Bushes, Apple Trees, Raspberry Canes, Grape Vines, Strawberry Plants
Cordon Apple, Pear & Plum Collection (3 Trees) : Pomona Fruits, Buy Fruit Trees, Soft Fruit Bushes, Apple Trees, Raspberry Canes, Grape Vines, Strawberry Plants
Cordon Apple, Plum & Cherry Collection (3 Trees) : Pomona Fruits, Buy Fruit Trees, Soft Fruit Bushes, Apple Trees, Raspberry Canes, Grape Vines, Strawberry Plants
Cordon Plum & Gage Collection (3 Trees) : Pomona Fruits, Buy Fruit Trees, Soft Fruit Bushes, Apple Trees, Raspberry Canes, Grape Vines, Strawberry Plants

[IndigoElectron]

A couple of other things I should mention:

I don't want to do too much pruning, and I'm short so won't be able to prune a tall tree, especially if part of it hangs over into our neighbour's garden

We're a small family so would prefer not to have big windfalls of the same type of fruit. That's what we'll end up with if we get a family apple tree, isn't it?

I'm starting to think three or four cordons of different types of fruit (e.g. apple, pear, plum, cherry) would be better for our needs, even if they wouldn't look as nice as one tree. I know I would need to choose self-fertile varieties, or go for a duo cordon.

What are the pros and cons of this idea?

[Kirk]

Would these things be any better ?

Minarette Fruit Trees (Bare-rooted)

[Nurseygreen]

We have a Falstaff apple tree from Blackmoor nurseries on M27 rootstock which will only get about 1.8m tall. It lives in a (big) pot on the patio. It has good disease resistance and crisp, sweet apples (can't guarantee that as we only bought it last year so no apples yet!). Good luck choosing, there's so much choice!

[chrisdb]

I'm starting to think three or four cordons of different types of fruit (e.g. apple, pear, plum, cherry) would be better for our needs, even if they wouldn't look as nice as one tree. I know I would need to choose self-fertile varieties, or go for a duo cordon.

What are the pros and cons of this idea?

Cordons are a good idea if you don't want a glut, and have the advantage that you get to try more varieties in the same amount of space. The downside is maintenance: you do need to prune and maintain them, and if they're on very dwarfing rootstocks or planted densely they'll probably require more coddling and watering than a bigger tree would.

In general cordons will require more pruning than the minimum you could get away with for a normal bush pruned tree, but probably less than for a family tree (family trees = extra work to try to balance out the various bits). Despite what the books recommend, it's possible and common to let bush trees just get on with it, while if you try this with a cordon it will rapidly stop being a cordon.

I'd avoid stone fruit (plum/cherry) cordons, since they can get infections from wounds, and you'd need to prune regularly to keep them as cordons. The common shapes for plums and cherries are bushes, pyramids or fans. If you had a wall or fence then a fan could be an option.

[chrisdb]

The other thing about stone fruit is that they mostly flower on new growth, so if you cut it off to kerp them as a cordon then yield will be very low

[IndigoElectron]

Thanks everyone.

I did a bit more searching about cordon/minarette trees and have read the same thing about stone fruits. Why on earth do nurseries sell them as cordons then?

[Kristen]

We're a small family so would prefer not to have big windfalls of the same type of fruit. That's what we'll end up with if we get a family apple tree, isn't it?

The apple varieties I have chosen (6 varieties, grown as an espalier row) were on the basis of:

Tasting (at an Apple Day in the autumn)
Range of harvest dates - some early, some late, to spread the "glut"
Varieties that will pollinate each other (I also have a Crab Apple nearby, so that will probably take care of that job anyway )
Varieties that the nurseryman thought would do well in my location / soil

I don't know anything about family trees, but when I was planning my Espalier I asked Orangepippin about grafting trees for me that had one-variety-per-limb and his view was that the different growth rates would mean that it was a disaster ... I am sure the 6 varieties I have will be plenty enough variety, but back then I was thinking "6 plants, 4 limbs on each side of the espalier = 48 different varieties" ... now relegated to my Pipe-Dream dustbin, along with a number of other, completely hopeless!, ideas that I have had over the years which, mercifully, someone managed to talk me out of

[IndigoElectron]

Just realised I never replied to this!

Thanks Kristen. Your comment about your Pipe-Dream dustbin made me laugh - that sounds very much like me! Lots of grand ideas but not much space, or money for that matter :-D

Anyway, I think I will check out the Kent apple festival, and see what they recommend.