Rooting for you: Prepare to plant apple trees now and you’ll be a winner next year
If you plan on adding fruit trees to your garden then autumn is the time to start making preparations. Bare root trees are much less expensive than those grown in containers, but they are only available during the dormant season, from late autumn until early spring.
Bare-root trees don’t look very promising, but they will grow away very successfully if planted into a large hole, are watered thoroughly and then mulched with organic matter. Honey fungus can be a problem in gardens where there are mature trees and shrubs and if you have found it on your plot the containergrown fruit trees are a better choice as these won’t have the tiny tears in their roots that could allow the disease to gain access.
Apple trees are grafted on to different rootstocks and which you choose will determine the height and vigour of your tree. The dwarf rootstock, ‘M29’ is a favourite but if you have indifferent soil, ‘M26’ may give better results.
Scotland has many old varieties of apple, including the ‘Bloody Ploughman’ and the ‘Galloway Pippin’ and in places such as the Carse of Gowrie and the Clyde Valley, heritage orchards are being revived. One charity, Orchard Revival, is attempting to map the location and condition of all of Scotland’s old orchards, many of which are now cared for by a network of Trusts and volunteers who are helping conserve heritage varieties and are often pressing the fruit to make cider with a distinctive local taste.
From planting it takes three years to get fruit, so if you are adding apple trees this year you won’t be self-sufficient in cider for quite some time, but you can ensure the health and quantity of your crop by pruning regularly.
Formative pruning is carried out after planting in order to shape the tree and then once the tree has become established the winter pruning regime should involve cutting back the previous year’s growth by a third and removing cross branches to prevent the centre of the tree from becoming congested.
It all sounds more complicated than it actually is and once you get into the habit of it, pruning your orchard – and you only need five trees to actually establish one – will become second nature.