The Herald - The Herald Magazine
Apple of our eye There is a tree for every space and place
THERE’S space for an apple tree in any garden, whatever its size, from orchard to patio. Dwarf forms need little space, little maintenance and reward you with a little fresh fruit.
Although it’s only the beginning of October, I’d suggest placing an order for one over the next few weeks to be sure you get exactly what you want. I’d recommend the best Scottish nursery, Appletreeman in Perthshire run by Andrew Lear and his wife.
Lear carries a good range of traditional Scottish varieties and ones suitable for this country. [www. plantsandapples.com].
Further south, Chris Bowers [www. chrisbowers.co.uk] carries one of the widest selection of fruit trees.
If you’ve room, you’d want to grow both cookers and eaters. For me, the prolifically cropping White Melrose, a very early cooker and the equally generous, but later cooker, Tower of Glamis are a must. But with limited space, you’ll probably go for eaters.
I confess the munching season must start with Discovery and end with Sunset, the Cox-type best suited to Scotland.
Others could also appeal to you. Cambusnethan Pippin, originally from the Clyde Valley, is a compromise variety: it works both as a cooker and eater. But the Angus variety, Hood’s Supreme, is too sweet to cook – just enjoy!
Taste is obviously paramount, but so is the size and height of the tree and that’s controlled by its rootstock. Hood’s Supreme could be grafted onto a dwarfing rootstock or one producing a large orchard tree.
The East Malling Research
Station is a horticultural research organisation that has developed many different rootstocks; labelled M for Malling.
So when choosing an apple variety at a garden centre or nursery, ask what rootstocks are available for your preferred variety. For a pot on the patio or a small garden you need an M9 or M27.
Many growers use M9 trees to make hand picking easy and M27 sits nicely in a pot.
M106 produces larger free-standing trees, around 3m tall, and works well as a small espalier or cordon. For larger free-standing or trained fruit, select M116. Growing to between 4 and 5 metres, M25 needs a bit of space becoming the traditional 8m tall orchard tree. So choosing the right rootstock for your tree is critical.
Finally, bear pollination in mind. Pollinators, bees and other flying insects carry pollen from the anther, the male part of flower to the stigma, the female one on a different flower. But many modern varieties are selffertile, so this happens on a single tree, giving you a fruit set.
Self infertile trees, the majority, are harder because they must cross-pollinate with a tree of another variety for a viable fruit set. Individual flowers will bloom
for around a week to ten days so a neighbouring tree must flower at roughly the same time.
Apple varieties have been divided into 6 or 7 pollination groups, with most in groups 3 or 4. So when
choosing two trees, ensure they are in the same or neighbouring group. A few nurseries divide flowering into four groups, in that case, choose from the same group.
Pollination works well most years, but late frosts during blossom time damages a flower’s stigma resulting in little or no fruit set, as happened in my garden this year. I can count my total apple crop on my fingers and toes. The sole survivors are lurking in sheltered neuks.
Air temperature is always higher in a town or city and close to a house, so I hope you fared better than me. And if growing in a container, you could cover the tree with fleece, keeping frost off the blossom, or pull the pot close to a house wall.