Apple Cultivation

Although we usually only find a dozen or so varieties of apples for sale and easily obtainable, there are at least a staggering 7500 cultivated varieties of apple in the world.

Most cultivated apples cannot be fertilised by their own pollen, because they are self-sterile. They need to be planted with another variety, so the trees can cross-fertilise each other to set fruit. One of the few exceptions to this general rule is the wonderful cooking apple ‘Bramley seedling’. The ability of Apple trees to cross-fertilise one another depends largely on whether they blossom at the same time or not.

This need of most apples to cross-fertilise means that the resulting seed is a product of two different sort of apples (a hybrid). So every pip can potentially establish its own new variety! But it also means of course that you are never able to predict just what sort of tree and apples you’ll end up with.

Moreover, the seed of the cultivars has a tendency to revert to the growing habits of its wild ancestors.

Apple growing is naturally a long term project and so the most reliable way of growing apples of our choice is by purchasing young trees from professional growers, unless you learn the tricks of trade yourself and learn how to graft branches of the variety you desire unto appropriate root system.

Grafting means that you take a sapling of a particular Apple tree; cut off its little trunk and carefully attach a cutting to it from a variety of apples you wish to grow. This way it has always been possible to create designer fruit trees. Your choice of the stock (the bottom part of the tree) will determine the growing habits of the tree, its size, the vigour of its roots system, the age at which it starts bearing fruit, its suitability for different types of soil and so on. Your choice of the graft (the top part of the tree) is based on the characteristics of the apple you want to grow: its taste, texture, looks, the time when it ripens, keeping qualities and so on.

All cultivated apples are grafted unto carefully chosen stock, which in Great Britain was classified by the East Malling Research Station and so the different types of stock are known as Malling I to XVI, etc.

Shapes & Sizes

Nurseries produce trees in different sizes and shapes and enable us to grow apples, even if we have no more space than a wall and a couple of square feet of soil. Here are the most common types of tree available:

Standard trees have trunks 6 to 7 feet high and a horizontal spread in maturity of 20 to 40 feet depending on what strains and stock has been used to produce the tree.

Half-standard trees have trunks 4 to 6 feet high and a spread of up to 20 to 30 feet once mature.

Bush or Dwarf trees (and so-called ‘pyramid’ trees) have a clear trunk of 2 to 2½ feet and a horizontal spread of 8 to 20 feet, according to habit.

Fan or Espalier trees have a clear trunk of just 1½ foot. The trees are trained to grow flat against walls or fences. They have branches that grow to the left and the right of the trunk, rather than all round it. If several are grown along walls or fences, they are planted about 16 feet apart, for this is the approximate span they will eventually reach.

Cordons are ‘trees’ with only a single or a forked stem. They can be planted as close as 2 feet apart and are usually supported by a wall or trained on a wire frame, very much like grape vines. If planted in rows, they need to be 6 to 7 feet apart. The purpose of gordons is to enable a householder to grow many different varieties in a limited space. They are usually trained at a diagonal angle to make it easier to reach the tops of the trees when the apples are picked. Gordons with a forked stem are sometimes trained to make a low, apple-bearing edge along a path.

‘Family trees’ can be any of the above with branches from different varieties of apples all grafted onto the same trunk. This makes it possible for people, who only have space for one fruit tree in their garden to enjoy a harvest of different apple varieties.

Nursery men have made great efforts to make apple growing as easy as possible and there are now more self-pollinating varieties available. Do make a point of checking what the tree you buy needs in order to be pollinated. Most varieties are divided into 7 groups of apples, which will cross-pollinate. This means that, if your tree is not self-pollinating, you will need to purchase another tree from a group that is compatible, unless there are apple trees in your neighbour’s gardens, which will fulfill this function.

Tips For Choosing Your Trees

Maybe the most difficult thing about growing apples is to find the right stock and variety that suits your individual need. The best advice one can give on cultivation is therefore to shop around and ask many questions. If you cannot find what you want locally, it may be a good idea to look on the Internet or in a self-service newsagent through the advertisements of gardening magazines for addresses of specialist nurseries.

It is well worth considering your options carefully, as the right choice will give you a lifetime of pleasure. Her is a summary of questions you may want to consider before you make a purchase:

1. Taste and texture and purpose of the fruit. Do I want an eating apple, a cooking apple or a dual-purpose variety or an old-fashioned variety for making cider?

2. When does the tree start to produce apples? A dwarf tree or a Gordon for example, may produce small quantities of fruit almost right away. A standard tree may take several years before it starts fruiting and will then produce a heavy crop every year if the weather is favourable. If you have the funds and the space, you may want to combine both options, so you can enjoy some home produced, organic apples from the first year onwards, as well as planting for a heavier crop for the future.

3. What are the keeping qualities of the apple? Some can be stored throughout the winter, others need to be eaten within a few weeks or alternatively be preserved in some way, for example as dried apple rings, bottled fruit and so on. If you want to freeze your excess apples, you will also need to check if your chosen apple is suitable for this purpose.

4. When does the apple ripen? This may be anywhere from the end of July to the end of October. If you buy more than one variety, it will be useful if they ripen at different times to ensure a succession of fresh apples.

5. Is the variety self-fertile? If it is not, what other varieties will cross-fertilise with it? The answer usually depends on when the tree produces flowers; hence there are seven different pollination groups of varieties, which are compatible, because they blossom at similar times.

6. What size and shape of tree is the most suitable for the space I have once it matures? Keep also in mind that half-standard and dwarf trees are easier to look after and to harvest the fruit from without ladders. This is especially important if you are disabled in any way.

Rough Guide To Space Required & Expected Harvest

Please remember that the mature span of trees is also depended on rootstock and pruning. The harvest will obviously depend on many factors: age of the tree, growing conditions, weather, etc.

Handy Hints For Growing Apples Successfully

Once you’ve made your choice, there are a few more common-sense tips to help you grow your tree(s) successfully:

Beware of frost and wind damage.
The apple tree will not produce fruit if its flowers are damaged by frost or harsh cold destructive winds and this means that it is generally not possible to grow apples reliably over 500 feet altitude, in exposed places or in valleys, which are known frost pockets. Strong winds will prevent insect visitors from doing their pollination work and cause apples to fall off trees prematurely, hence the term: “windfalls”. Frost will damage the fragile blossoms. If in doubt, explore your neighbourhood and see if other people have been able to grow apples with good results.

It may help to choose your trees carefully. Enquire about late-flowering varieties, those with a long flowering season or varieties with a reputation for blossom hardiness. Late flowering examples are ‘Edward VII’, ‘Crawley Beauty’ and ‘Royal Jubilee’. Frost-resistant examples: ‘Worcester Permain’ and ‘Lane’s Prince Albert’.

If you’re determined to grow apples in exposed areas, look into the possibility of creating a windbreak or even better: planting a break or hedge of fast growing trees around dwarf apple trees. Planning and maintenance of such a project will create extra work, but if you give due consideration to the various factors involved, you can enhance your plot tremendously!

Pollination.
The trees are dependant for pollination on bees and other insects. Many of these creatures are extremely sensitive to the large amounts of pesticides used in agriculture. This is something, which you have alas little control over, although we can all do our bit to encourage a new blossoming of organic agriculture.

If you are lucky enough to have enough land to plan a small or large orchard, you could consider the possibility of purchasing a beehive complete with its busy inhabitants. My husband and I did this after planting a small orchard on a Welsh hillside at about 500 ft high, extreme borderline country for growing apples. Although we were not interested in harvesting the honey, the bees were an enormous asset. Not only did it enhance the pollination of our apple-trees, but all the flowers around us benefited greatly. For example: The clover in our little paddock was a joy to behold!

Soil.
The most important consideration for the soil is, that is well drained. Waterlogged land causes nothing but trouble for fruit trees. So if you want to grow apple trees on boggy land, you may have to use your ingenuity to improve conditions. For example: You can dig a soak-away filled with stones or rubble and dig out the area where the tree is to be planted and refill the hole whilst mixing in some rubble or other suitable material to improve drainage.

Mulching the tree with well-rotted manure or compost can encourage vigorous growth and this will also help to keep weeds down, which will compete for nutrients with the relatively shallow roots of a young tree. A depth of about 2 inches and a radius of about 18 inches should do the job. Keep the mulch just clear of the stem to allow the bark to breathe.

Planting.
Pot-grown plants can be planted at any time of the year. Any others need to be planted in the dormant season from November to March. The earlier you do this, the better it can be, as the soil may still be relatively warm. Do not plant when the soil is very wet or frozen. Dig a hole deep and wide enough to spread the roots out comfortably. Loosening the bottom of the hole by forking it over and pricking some holes with your fork in the sides will help the young roots to get established quickly. A bucket of well-rotted manure or compost spread below and around the roots is also excellent and will help the soil to retain moisture in dry conditions.

Staking the trees.
It is wise to support a young tree with a stake, because the wind may loosen its immature root system, which will often have been trimmed regularly in the nursery to facilitate transplanting. Rather than putting a stake into the ground in an upright position, it is a good idea to hammer it in diagonally with its top facing the direction of the prevailing wind. This way any wind pressure on the tree will tend to push your stake further into the ground, rather than loosening the stake. All the stake needs to do is protect the roots, so it does not need to be too high up the trunk. It does not matter if the top of the tree sways in the wind. In fact this will only encourage it to become stronger by growing thicker wood. When you tie your tree to the stake, take care to use materials that will not damage the bark. Use your inventive powers. Old bicycle tyres or old nylon tights are great. Creating a ‘figure 8’ tie will help preventing the bark from being chafed by the stake.

Water.
Drought can be a problem, particularly for sheltered trees growing against a wall. Make sure the roots have enough to drink, especially before and during flowering, as the flowers may fail to set due to lack of moisture. When planting the tree you can put an old bit of hosepipe into the soil, which will deliver water straight to the roots of a young tree. The reason why this can help is as follows: When you water a young tree in very dry, warm conditions, you need to give it huge amounts of water, because the soil itself can soak up a lot of the fluid. And if it is warm, it may even evaporate a substantial amount of it, before the roots can utilise it. If you water a young tree a little bit every day in dry warm weather, it is even possible that the roots start growing upwards to reach that small damp patch above it! This is of course the opposite of what you want to achieve.

The opposite of drought is too much rain! It is difficult to grow high quality desert apples in areas of high rain fall, say above 32-35 inches per annum, however cooking apples are on the whole more able to cope with such conditions.

Pruning.
Apple trees are often pruned in the winter, with the object of forming an open tree, so light and air can get to all places, which will help the fruit to ripen and colour evenly. The aim is to cut out weak growth and be left with strong growing, evenly spread branches, which bear fruit evenly along their branches. Good access of air can also help to reduce disease. However, a note of caution: It may be better to under-prune than over-prune, since a hard-cut tree will be shocked into producing more wood, rather than settling down to producing fruit. So bad pruning can often be the cause for low fruit yields.

Crab apples.
Crabapples can be grown from seed. Store the crabs in a dark, cool dry place for the winter and plant in the spring. It can also be good fun to experiment with pips from long-keeping varieties in the spring, which will generally germinate in 3 to 8 weeks.

Propagating your own fruit trees.
Learning to graft your own trees can be an interesting and pleasing way to obtain a cheap supply of trees. All you need is a sharp knife and some grafting wax to protect the joints against infections. You can use pip-grown stock as your base or buy a little tree with the characteristics you are looking for and multiply it by ‘Stooling’, ‘Layering’ or Hardwood cuttings. Ask friends and neighbours with successful trees full of juicy apples, if you can take a few cuttings from their trees for your grafting material.

Web Links

www.the-tree.org.uk

The-Tree is a website for tree lovers. Inspiration, information, skills, resources, action, preservation.

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