Apples, pears, cherries and plums

[Carl Fimble 11,634]

I've seen a bunch of fruit trees outside Tesco, and wondered if they'd be any good, quite like the idea of actually getting fruit from them but not sure how it works, they look about 5 foot tall. 

They seem to have quite a few varieties- Victoria Plum, Stella Cherry, Cox's Orange Pippin Apple, Jonalgo Apple, Discovery Apple, etc- £6 each or 2 for a tenner. 

Shite- wrong thread- @spunko!

Sorry!

 

Edited February 7 by Carl Fimble
Idiocy

[sarahbell 19,416]

Email shop and ask what rootstock they're on. 

 

 

 

[jamanda 731]

I've bought cheap trees from Wilkos several times and they have thrived, even the last, lonely, sad one in the container that looked like they needed the kiss of life.

In fact, one of the best trees I have is a Cox's Orange Pippin, courtesy of Wilko, which is lovely.

[apples 1,026]

@apples are great!

Think about how trees are going to grow when you decide where to plant them.

I got given a small apple tree once. Five foot sounds about right. It yielded a few ok fruit the year after it was planted, then only very small, not very nice fruit after that. If I could have eaten the aphids on it, that would have been a different story! I didn't take much care of it, mind. I bet a proper gardener could have done better with it. Whoever owns my old house now may be reaping a good harvest.

I also rented a place with a mature apple tree in the back garden. It yielded more fruit than I could ever use! Windfalls used to go rotten and attract wasps if they weren't disposed of. When you see "free apples" in boxes outside people's houses, that's why.

Can't tell you anything about the important stage(s) inbetween, mind

Edited February 7 by apples
foot not food

[spunko 26,798]

Best bet is to have a look around at what grows locally. Realistically you won't be able to grow many plums or cherries in Scotland I don't think....

I'm lucky in that I can grow apricots and figs down here in the extreme SE, cherries are child's play

The quality in Tesco can be very hit and miss. For 6 quid it's worth the gamble. I wouldn't bother with rootstock information, for the amateur it'll just confuse you. They're probably grafted with some zany cultivar that nobody has heard of anyway.

[jamanda 731]

1 minute ago, spunko said:

Best bet is to have a look around at what grows locally. Realistically you won't be able to grow many plums or cherries in Scotland I don't think....

I'm lucky in that I can grow apricots and figs down here in the extreme SE, cherries are child's play

Cherries are child's play if you can run fast enough to beat the birds.

[spunko 26,798]

3 minutes ago, jamanda said:

Cherries are child's play if you can run fast enough to beat the birds.

I don't know, cherries won't grow in damp wet conditions like you get in the NW for example. They'll just rot. Apples and pears can grow pretty much anywhere depending on the variety.

If you live in the city then your choices are going to be more open of course. You can grow fruiting bananas in central London 

[Ash4781b 1,643]

I got some decent olive trees from Tesco about five years ago. Had a few mini olives on them at purchase and actually gave a couple of decent sized olives this year! 
 

edit: sorry I just assumed olives were a fruit ?

Edited February 7 by Ash4781b

[spunko 26,798]

Also, I would suggest growing what you enjoy. No point in me growing Granny Smith as I think they're a pointless, offensively bland apple.

Jonagold are a good shout IMO from the selection you've mentioned, but managing to find one in the supermarket will be hard.

 

[sarahbell 19,416]

The trees at Aldi the other year were on:
 

Apples, – These will be budded onto a “M9 Dwarf” rootstock, which will fruit earlier.

Cherry, – These are budded on to “Colt” rootstock which has uniformed growth pattern, it is semi vigorous and will not grow too large.

Pear, – These are budded on to a “Quince A” rootstock which is a virus free example.

Plums, – Will be budded onto a “St Julian A” root stock or a “Myrobolane” root stock these are virus free and semi vigorous growing.

The plum is massive and needs chopping down. 

The pears are sensible sizes still.
The apples are all really sensible sized too.
The cherry is much bigger than the apples but tiny compared to the plum.

Well worth asking. 

[Bricormortis 387]

I bought a pear tree and a cherry tree from Morrisons last year, they have done OK. The pear tree fruited producing 1 pear which is surprising. Both seem to be surviving the winter in a cold place. They are growing in pots as I dont want them to get to0 big, For me they are basically ornamental to provide a little screening.

[Carl Fimble 11,634]

12 hours ago, sarahbell said:

Email shop and ask what rootstock they're on. 

 

 

 

No time, I'm busy trying to get a big job finished, and miles behind with admin. If I'm sending an email it'll be one of my work ones.

They're running out too, loads less at Tesco than the other day. 

I take it that means they're grafted onto some other plant? I'm not too fussed, just like the idea of putting a few productive trees in the ground, I'm planning raised bed and a bunch of veggie growing too. I'll try and take a photo of the back of a label there was quite a bit of info there. 

 

[Carl Fimble 11,634]

12 hours ago, jamanda said:

I've bought cheap trees from Wilkos several times and they have thrived, even the last, lonely, sad one in the container that looked like they needed the kiss of life.

In fact, one of the best trees I have is a Cox's Orange Pippin, courtesy of Wilko, which is lovely.

We only got a Wilko in Edinburgh a few years ago, I quite like it. 

 

[Carl Fimble 11,634]

 

I made my first sir or, and loads of air sauce

12 hours ago, apples said:

@apples are great!

Think about how trees are going to grow when you decide where to plant them.

I got given a small apple tree once. Five foot sounds about right. It yielded a few ok fruit the year after it was planted, then only very small, not very nice fruit after that. If I could have eaten the aphids on it, that would have been a different story! I didn't take much care of it, mind. I bet a proper gardener could have done better with it. Whoever owns my old house now may be reaping a good harvest.

I also rented a place with a mature apple tree in the back garden. It yielded more fruit than I could ever use! Windfalls used to go rotten and attract wasps if they weren't disposed of. When you see "free apples" in boxes outside people's houses, that's why.

Can't tell you anything about the important stage(s) inbetween, mind

Yeah, I suppose they can end up with big, me to watch I don't put them somewhere shit.

I got loads of free apples from customers last year and my mother in law has a tree which produces loads of apples, I made my first ever apple pie and loads of sauce.

[jamanda 731]

I didn't know you were ooop North that far.  Apparently berries grow really well, particularly raspberries.

[Happy Renting 17,448]

21 hours ago, Carl Fimble said:

I've seen a bunch of fruit trees outside Tesco, and wondered if they'd be any good, quite like the idea of actually getting fruit from them but not sure how it works, they look about 5 foot tall. 

They seem to have quite a few varieties- Victoria Plum, Stella Cherry, Cox's Orange Pippin Apple, Jonalgo Apple, Discovery Apple, etc- £6 each or 2 for a tenner. 

Shite- wrong thread- @spunko!

Sorry!

 

Er.. that's somebody's garden.

[Hopeful 24,788]

9 hours ago, Carl Fimble said:

 

I made my first sir or, and loads of air sauce

Yeah, I suppose they can end up with big, me to watch I don't put them somewhere shit.

I got loads of free apples from customers last year and my mother in law has a tree which produces loads of apples, I made my first ever apple pie and loads of sauce.

 

Blooming heck

You've just had time to write 6 paragraphs across 3 consecutive posts, but you've no time to write a two sentence e-mail to Tesco ???

How much do you write in your e-mails, do you include videos as well ?

 

Edited February 8 by Hopeful

[Carl Fimble 11,634]

5 minutes ago, Hopeful said:

 

Blooming heck

You've just had time to write 6 paragraphs across 3 consecutive posts, but you've no time to write a two sentence e-mail to Tesco ???

How much do you write in your e-mails, do you include videos as well ?

 

That occurred to me too, look at the state of that post I wrote though!

[spunko 26,798]

A couple of other things @Carl Fimble

How long are planning on living there? You'll need to wait 4+ years or so for a decent crop.

If you're prepared to wait that long, then, I'd probably pay £20 for one tree that you can know the provenance of.

And get it from somewhere decent - no offence to Tesco - like for example Victoriana Nurseries near me (they do online). You could spend 20 mins researching old Scottish cultivars for example, and if they're still available as 'heirlooms', you will then have something to be proud of, rather than a generic Braeburn, which are a) available widely in supermarkets for fuck all, b) okay but nothing special and c) actually from the other side of the world (NZ).

This is where I'd look personally: https://www.scottishfruittrees.com/

The other thing is, one apple tree on its own will not do well. Cross pollination is needed, even for "self fertile" ones (mostly). You might get a few but you'll get loads more if there is >1 other apple tree cultivar nearby. For that reason alone, I would avoid Cox at all costs. It requires 2+ different varieties nearby in order to pollinate. It's a greedy, selfish cultivar of apple

Edited February 8 by spunko
cultivar / variety / whatever

[Carl Fimble 11,634]

On 07/02/2021 at 10:52, spunko said:

Best bet is to have a look around at what grows locally. Realistically you won't be able to grow many plums or cherries in Scotland I don't think....

I'm lucky in that I can grow apricots and figs down here in the extreme SE, cherries are child's play

The quality in Tesco can be very hit and miss. For 6 quid it's worth the gamble. I wouldn't bother with rootstock information, for the amateur it'll just confuse you. They're probably grafted with some zany cultivar that nobody has heard of anyway.

Thanks.

We did actually have cherries and plums in Edinburgh, both trees producing fruit too. 

The birds did go for the cherries though, if I was planning a cherry tree I'd do it against a wall, so I could easily throw a net over it, that way I might get to eat more of the cherries than the birds!

[One percent 54,328]

13 minutes ago, Carl Fimble said:

Thanks.

We did actually have cherries and plums in Edinburgh, both trees producing fruit too. 

The birds did go for the cherries though, if I was planning a cherry tree I'd do it against a wall, so I could easily throw a net over it, that way I might get to eat more of the cherries than the birds!

You’ve also got to think about pollination. I’ll leave it there as I know nothing other than some self pollinate and others need another tree. 

[Andersen 1,408]

Do we have any easy recipes for oranges? I’ve got the ok to take as many as I want, all look healthy but are from elderly trees and are all too tart / bitter to eat. I don’t have the equipment for wine so cooking is the obvious choice. Marmalade?