Grower’s Corner – tree fruit
While tree fruit can seem like a ‘no brainer’ – plant the tree and pick the fruit - you need to remember that all trees need staking early in their lives, may be prone to cankers and blights, nearly all will need pruning, and apples and plums need fruit thinning. You should also remember that some fruit is prone to frost damage, such as plums and cherries.
Apples
Apples like a sunny, sheltered site. Pollination can be a problem and you need to take advice about varieties that will cross pollinate when you make your purchase because apples react differently in different parts of the country. In addition, apple trees are grafted on to a number of different rootstocks, which result in different sized trees ranging from varieties small enough to be grown in a container on the patio through to orchard sized trees.
Plums
As with apples, there are different rootstocks so select the one that fits your space. All plums flower early in spring, so frosts can jeopardise your crop, meaning you need to plant your tree in a warm site that’s as frost-free as possible, but you must also ensure it's sheltered from the wind to protect the blossom and encourage pollinating insects to visit, even in a secluded area, it’s a good idea to protect the tree with horticultural fleece if heavy frost is likely. Prune plums only in summer to reduce the risk of silver leaf disease.
Cherries
There are sweet or sour cherries. Sweet cherries are for eating, sour ones are much better than sweet ones for cooking and jam-making. Sweet cherries need an open, sunny and sheltered spot and you need to have two trees which must be cultivars that will pollinate one another. Cherries are insanely popular with birds, so harvest as soon as fruit ripens. Look for varieties grown on dwarfing rootstock because these will produce a smaller tree that is easier to net – crows and starlings can strip a cherry tree in two hours!
Top tips:
- All fruit trees should be given an annual mulch of well-rotted, bulky, organic manure, and a dose of fertiliser in spring
- Consider how you prune – fan, espalier and cordon are all ways of making your fruit tree productive and beautiful.
- Think about more unusual fruit to add interest to your green space: pear, fig, apricot and medlar trees can produce good results and all look superb
- Different varieties produce fruit at different times of year: the fruit of early ripening trees tends not to keep well whereas later ripening varieties are suitable for storing over winter
Cherry and apricot tree photographs by veganstraightedge and Sam UL, used under a creative commons attribution licence