Planting a fruit tree - happy result?

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Sat 3 Apr 2010 08:45
Planting a fruit tree - happy result? - oilrag

Or did it turn out the apples were sour, small, fell off, or got riddled with little grubs?

We had an apple tree years ago, (inherited from as previous gardener) from memory - it needed spraying with systemic insecticide at, bud opening, flower finished, then every so often until a few weeks before picking. Then there was the fungicide at regular intervals to prevent scab.

You used a big brass double action sprayer with the end of the tube immersed in a bucket of solution - AKA death to all living things.

Powerful, it was. Plumes of spray went 20ft into the air (I used to weight train as a teenager) - then drifted on the wind to peoples bed sheets and other washing 300 yards away.

"I`m itching a bit tonight Ethel, but the bedbugs seem strangely subdued"

That`s the thing with apples, hard work. And when you know what goes onto them to get that gleaming perfect fruit, you would rather not bother, let them fall off the tree corrupted and unsprayed, for the birds in winter.Surprising how they can clear 50lbs of apples laying on the lawn in November.

It was with the apple scenario of youth in mind - that I decided to plant a cherry. Having had a Morrello at yet another house I decided to go for a sweet self fertile type this time. A Prunus Avium Sunburst, grafted onto a Colt rootstock (can`t remember which - semi dwarfing, perhaps `M`)

Problem is they flower early (unlike the sour, Morrello) and late frosts can damage the flowers.

Time will tell. It will get just one season to prove fruit is possible - as it cost little. Only £13 at 8` tall.

Bare rooted too. I like that - too many bad experiences of rootballed trees not developing a sufficient root system.

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Wed 7 Apr 2010 04:48
Planting a fruit tree - happy result? - billy25

Allotment holder next to me has an old apple tree that his dad planted when he returned from America about end of last war,(probably as a memento) it`s obviously a "man-made" one, as it grows three different types of apples. Theres two eating varieties and a "cooking" apple, i`ve no idea of the names of the varieties, but it makes me happy because i can have as many as i can use!! and even after 60yrs its still laden!

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Wed 7 Apr 2010 10:00
Planting a fruit tree - happy result? - oilrag

I know a house that has a huge apple tree growing right by the front garden wall, over-arching the pavement. It`s grown tall too and is over gutter height and the occupant could actually pluck fruit from their bedroom windows - also from buses (If they still have windows) struggling past too on the estate road where it is.

It`s too big though, been there as long as the house- perhaps 60yrs.

I got into a conversation with the current owner of the house one Morning, in passing and enquired about it`s origins.

He said it had been planted so that "passers by could have a free apple" - ,made me gulp that.

Perhaps it was planted just after the second world war by someone who had recent memories of shortages - which makes the his generosity to others all the more intense.

Because he could surely have planted it all for himself in his large back garden.

A small act over 60yrs ago - or was it? Because along with the apple tree that "no-one has had the heart to remove" (current owner) it`s a legacy of kindness to others that is being passed by example and word of mouth to later generations, friends family and so on - over 60yrs.

I wonder how much that one mans kind act has influenced others for the better?

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Thu 8 Apr 2010 01:27
Planting a fruit tree - happy result? - Avant

What a lovely story. Sadly this sort of thing rarely makes the news. There's so much good in the world - yet to read the papers or listen to the news you'd think it was outnumbered by the bad. I'm optimistic enough about human nature to think that it isn't.

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Sat 5 Jun 2010 08:04
Planting a fruit tree - happy result? - oilrag

Just to update. Sadly the cherry tree failed no flowers and seething with ants.

It`s been replaced by a Viburnum

www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_...l

Has anyone got one of these?

I sometimes think about the excitement plant breeds must get when the create a new hybrid. In this case it seems to be 1930 -- although a Charles Lamont was first - but didn`t propogate thinking it no better than the `parent` plants.

What heartache he must have had as it took off commercially after being created again by someone else, shortly after..... Although it seems after Lamont`s death they named another hybrid with paler flowers after him..

Edited by oilrag on 05/06/2010 at 08:17

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