New Fruit Plants Question

[Runtpuppy]

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum and mainly joined because I want to grow my own fruit. I have a question about my fruit trees. I planted them out a couple of weeks ago, and they seemed to be doing okay initially. However, I'm now seeing a few young leaves turning brown. I may be overreacting, and it might not be anything at all, but just wanted to get some expert opinions.

Here's the background:

I bought a patio fruit tree collection from Thompson & Morgan (dwarf trees: 2 apple trees (gala, golden delicious), 1 cherry, 1 pear, 1 plum). They arrived just before the Beast from the East hit us, so I kept them inside in the 9cm pots they came in. About 2 weeks ago, I planted them out in larger pots (50ltrs).

I used the soil from my garden that my husband and I have been trying to amend. It was heavy clay and we added horse manure compost, chicken manure compost, some top soil, and a bit of ericaceous compost.

The horse manure compost was well-rotted when we got it. Moreover, it was kept in a bag for quite a few months before we put it in the soil.

Similarly, the chicken manure compost was also sitting in bags for a few months before we added it to the soil. It was, however, slightly stinky. I am not sure if this is normal or if it means it wasn't completely composted.

We added both of these to the soil in February and mixed it all up quite well. So it had a month to settle in.

I am getting worried that the compost might not have been very well-rotted. Can it hurt the trees, if it isn't? Should I leave the trees in that soil or should I move them out?

Thanks!

[nickdub]

Happy to help if I can.

A couple of photos would be handy to see what the problem leaves look like.

I might be wrong but the compost mix you describe sounds as though it could be too rich - chicken manure in particular is v strong and I'm not sure how a tree would cope with that near the roots.

BTW although I do grow things in containers and I know a lot of others have had great success with them, I do think for most types of fruit, its a whole lot easier if the trees are planted in the ground .

[veggiechicken]

Hi and welcome.
Just wondering whether you've had any cold nights or strong winds where you are. If you've moved them from under cover in little pots to outdoors in big pots and new compost they've had a lot of changes to cope with.

[devonuk]

These are tiny plants, they don't want to be in pots that size nor in a growing medium that rich. You should put them back into their 9cm pots or, if they have lots of roots, into pots a few centimeters bigger, and if you need to add compost, just use normal multi purpose with no additional manure or whatever. And keep sizing up in small steps - I would think it would be a couple of years at least before they will be happy in 50 litre pots.

[veggiechicken]

I'm guessing its these https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/mi...n/tcb56849pcTM They were probably very small when delivered and won't look like the photos for a long time!

[Bluenowhere]

Difficult to tell. My first thought is that the pot upsize might have been too much and therefore the small and probably delicate roots have been rather waterlogged and possibly started to rot given all the rain we have had since the beasts from the east.

If they were mine I would probably get one out of the pot and have a look at the roots. I would be tempted to pot them in pots a max of a few cm bigger than they started in with multipurpose compost. When I saw roots at the bottom then pot up to a slightly larger pot and so on and so forth a couple of times. I would then use John innis or shrub compost but carry on using larger pots but 5 to 10cm or so bigger each time. Only when pretty big, probably about 3 years if they started in 9cm pots, would I put them in garden soil and not as enriched as you initially did.

[Runtpuppy]

Thanks for all the replies! I'll try and address all the questions you've asked.

@nickdub: I'll attach the pics here. I am worried about the chicken manure being too rich as well. However, I have been known to panic, so wanted to get the opinion of someone more experienced than I am.






(It's not letting me upload the rest of the images so maybe this will help:

https://imgur.com/a/Qg4fW

I haven't put any pear tree pics coz that one seems to be doing. The leaves are fine with no signs of anything being off.)

I would love to grow fruit trees in the ground, but unfortunately, we don't have a lot of space. I figured these patio fruit trees could be a nice (space saving) alternative.

@Veggiechicken: Thanks for the welcome! It has been slightly 'breezy' as the BBC weather app calls it, but not very. They were sitting on my sunny kitchen window, which does get cold at night, but obviously not windy.

I waited for a warm day and put them out in the morning so they could have all day of sunshine to get used to being out. But you're right... It may have been too much of a shock with too many changes.

I'm trying to upload the pics so you can see how big they are, and the relative size of the pots. You are also right about the product link. That was the collection I bought.

@devonuk: Thanks! Yeah, after reading all the responses, I am considering moving them to smaller pots.

@Bluenowhere: I think I'll do what you suggested. I moved them because a couple of them had roots sticking out of their original pots. One of them, I can't remember which one, had a good 8"-10" bit sticking out.

[Kirk]

If they are planted then I would say just leave them. If you disturb them now they will possibly just give up.

Ground mix sounds reasonable, depending on exactly how much of everything was used but soil is soil and plants have been growing in the stuff for several million years.

I would say that the disturbance of going from pot A to pot B is the main problem. You "moved" them and are a little confused.

I assume that at a later time (November-Jan) you are intending to plant outside in a garden?
Otherwise you will need a big pot.

[Jungle Jane]

Sap sucking insects like aphids can cause brown patches,do the worst affected leaves have any aphids on the undersides,you could make a garlic water spray to spray them with in the evening so they smell unattractive to them?

[Runtpuppy]

If they are planted then I would say just leave them. If you disturb them now they will possibly just give up.

Ground mix sounds reasonable, depending on exactly how much of everything was used but soil is soil and plants have been growing in the stuff for several million years.

I would say that the disturbance of going from pot A to pot B is the main problem. You "moved" them and are a little confused.

I assume that at a later time (November-Jan) you are intending to plant outside in a garden?
Otherwise you will need a big pot.

That is partly why I asked here. If it's just normal reaction to change, then I should leave them to deal with it. However, if it's the soil/compost, I don't want to leave it too late. If they can be saved by repotting, I'll do it.

Well, the T&M site recommended planting them in 70ltr pots (final size) in order to keep them small enough. I figured that size would be too large for them right away. I thought I'd keep them in 50ltr pots for a year, and then see.

I tried to put up pics in an earlier post, but that's waiting for a moderator to approve it, I think. I hope the pictures will help...

[veggiechicken]

I tried to put up pics in an earlier post, but that's waiting for a moderator to approve it, I think. I hope the pictures will help...

There's a limit of 5 images per post - and there may be an overall size limit (not sure).
You did well to post any photos, as a new member.

[Runtpuppy]

Sap sucking insects like aphids can cause brown patches,do the worst affected leaves have any aphids on the undersides,you could make a garlic water spray to spray them with in the evening so they smell unattractive to them?

I was going to reply to you and say I cleaned off all the aphids as soon as I saw them... but decided to double-check first. I just washed off a metric ****-tonne of aphids off the plum plant! Thank You!

However, the apple tree, which has been the worst affected, only had one or two. Is it possible that the leaves are reacting to the infestation from a couple of weeks ago?

[Runtpuppy]

There's a limit of 5 images per post - and there may be an overall size limit (not sure).
You did well to post any photos, as a new member.

Oh oops, I did not know that!

To be honest, I was wondering if I'd be allowed to put up a link to an image sharing site, but apparently that's been okayed and all the images are there!

[Jungle Jane]

Yes it sounds like the aphids,they like the new growth of everything,good you’re on the case with getting rid of them

[nickdub]

They look pretty well OK to me. Be a bit odd to have an aphid problem this time of year - that's generally a June or later thing.

My best guess is that the new leaves came out earlier than they would outside because of the warmth where they were kept, then at some point the temperature dropped and so they got a bit of cold damage. Shouldn't be any problem for them to grow on now.

BTW keep an eye on the weather forecast and if night time frosts are predicted they either need protection or bringing on.