Recommendations for where to buy fruit trees

[boundtothesoil]

Personally I prefer to buy from specialist nurseries and would never buy from a supermarket for two reasons: firstly if you don't support them the specialists will cease to exist and secondly i think you are less likely to have an issues with disease from a specialist vs a stack em high and sell em cheap merchant.

I agree. However, I've received a few mis-labelled trees from the specialists over the years, only discovering they were imposters when they began fruiting. Watch out for D****NS in this respect.

[BUFFS]

Those russet apples look so unappetising! Do they taste nice?

They have a great nutty flavour,at least our one has and its the same taste as my grandads' fruit from the Egremont russet he had, for me it is the best tasting of all apples I have tried..

[d000hg]

A large tree has a pro of potentially looking really great in a large garden, a feature... but as said then you get a zillion apples at once and you CAN have too many. Multiple small trees give more variety but I want to balance a nice looking garden with one that makes fruit - I don't want a small-holding or to turn it into an allotment

Waiting a year is a good advice I'm sure. I'm torn between wanting to wait, and not wanting to lose a whole year due to the fact we'll just be in early enough to plant this year up north. Similarly with currants and similar, if we rushed we could get fruit next summer but then, I might plant them in the wrong place once we've figured out how we want to lay the garden out.

[chrisdb]

If you have the space; it sounds like you do and your growing for fruit rather than looks, I'd go for a greater number of smaller trees rather than a few large ones, spread the season out so you have a few apples regularly rather than a glut mid season.

On the other hand, the smaller the tree the more cossetting it needs and the greater the chance it drops dead. The trees I've had the biggest problems with have all been ones on the most dwarfing rootstocks. I'd avoid:

Anything smaller than mm106 for apples (m26 is borderline OK)
Quince rootstock for pears (not too bad for medlar, but in my experience even QA makes pears fussy about everything)
Gisela for cherries (they're naturally very large trees, and dwarfing them that much means the first disease that comes along and they pop their clogs)

Just my personal opinion. Of course dwarf rootstocks have their place when there really is no more space avaiable or in densely planted, intensive, heavy spraying, watered agricultural settings, but if I had half an acre I'd go for the traditional semi-vigorous mm106 (or maybe mm111), st julien, colt and swap out quince a for pyrodwarf for the pears.

[Lardman]

On the other hand, the smaller the tree the more cossetting it needs and the greater the chance it drops dead. The trees I've had the biggest problems with have all been ones on the most dwarfing rootstocks. .

Small trees doesn't necessary mean using a dwarf rootstock.

[flynch]

I have many dwarf root stock trees in a heavy planting system. They do require support and watering in dry spells but I don't spray heavily, only as a last resort. I've lost 3 trees due to the roots getting eaten one on M106 and 2 on m27. But this root eating pest is the only major problem I've had so far.

I'd like to add that I have over 60 Apple trees so not as bad a figure as it sounds.

[flynch]

I'd get an layout and garden plan before buying anything. Most nurseries have stopped selling bare-roots now. You can always planted potted fruit plants later in the year once you've got a better idea of what you want and where you want them. You can get potted fruit trees as well but the variety is more limited, but if you decide the most popular cultivars that might not be a problem. Trust me, it's far worse to rush and then have to correct it later, and likely sacrifice a years or two years crop anyway (and moving a fruit tree is no small feat) than to wait and get it right first time. Remember a fruit garden, especially one that needs to be relatively ornamental and act as a functioning garden as well, is a long term plan and it does pay to plan.

If I was you here's what I'd do:
1. Move in
2. Measure you space, how much light each area receives.
Decide on what you want to grow, apples, plums, raspberries, ext. Plan your bigger plants first and the smaller plants around that.
2. Decide on your rootstock, this will give you the size of the trees
3. Work out how many trees you can fit in and where you want them.
4. Now you know the number pick the varieties, take season and flowering times and disease resistance into account. The national fruit collection has very useful tools you can use to help you with this
5. Order and plant.

If you have shady areas morello cherry does well there, I've mine in a the most shaded part of my garden. They'd prefer full Sun but they will still fruit and rippen is shade.

Some companies will plan out a full orchard/fruit garden and it's layout based on your requirements for you, that can be a very good thing if you're New to it and don't want to wait until you have all the information and research to do it. It does cost money though.

[bario1]

Small trees doesn't necessary mean using a dwarf rootstock.

This is something I've always wondered... can you prune a non-dwarfing tree to dwarf size without killing it or affecting yields?

[flynch]

This is something I've always wondered... can you prune a non-dwarfing tree to dwarf size without killing it or affecting yields?

Depends on the fruiting habbits of the tree. If it is a tip bearer or only fruits on 1 year old wood, pruning will effect yields. You'd have to use a similar pruning method used for fan trained plum, i.e. pruning 2x in summer and always leaving a nod or 2 of the new growth. Spur bearers that fruit on older wood are much easier just prune off new growth once it's got to the desired size, twice in summer and ( for apple/pears only) winter

However there is a trade off between new growth and fruit yield. If you want a non-dwarf root stock and get a dwarf tree, you'd be better off restricting the roots. You will have to root prune on occasions at least every 2-4 years depending on the vigour of the stock. I've got some m106 root stock trees in a pot and using this method I've easily kept them the same size as M9 in the ground.

With both methods use low nitrogen, high potash fertilizer with micronutrients.

Obviously a smaller tree produces less.

[bario1]

What about a cherry on colt rootstock in the ground?

[flynch]

What about a cherry on colt rootstock in the ground?

Is this an already established tree or one you're thinking/just planted?

The first fruit tree I ever planted was a cherry on colt rootstock. I made the mistake of not pruning it early on ending up with a large tree with most fruit out of reach (and I hate heights). In the end I cut it back hard to about 1/4 of its size. It survived but no fruit for three years and still looks a little odd but fruit is now within reach.

If it's a new tree prune it to desired shape and height most cherries are spur bearing. You can also reduce height by tying branches down to create an weeping tree. The branches will hold their shape but new ones will need pruning or tying.

If you look up Dave Wilson nurseries on YouTube they have lots of videos about backyard orchards, including keeping trees small with pruning rather than stock. They've done a whole demo with the yearly pruning for several years now.

[bario1]

Thanks for the advice. It's a newly (Feb) planted two year old bush, it came with the central leader cut off at about 2' and the branches pruned to about 3' long.

[GBax]

Cherries are naturally very vigorous and you will struggle to keep it too small without heavy pruning

[chrisdb]

Cherries are naturally very vigorous and you will struggle to keep it too small without heavy pruning

I'm currently trying Celeste on Colt. Celeste is supposed to be a naturally dwarf variety, and if true it would be the best of both worlds: roots capable of taking care of themselves without a big tree on top of them.

The tree is in its third year now and flowering for the first time. So far it doesn't seem vigorous (current height is probably about 1.3m - 1.5m, I'm guessing without measuring), but it's probably too early to tell what its final size with limited pruning will be.

[fishpond]

I have recently purchased 2 x cherry (cinderella) on Gisella rootstock, supposedly top out at 6 foot ish.
Very strong trees at the moment, showing plenty of potential (2 year, bare root).
Interesting to see what happens in the next few years as one is next to a greenhouse.