Best time to plant an Apple Tree?

[megaphone]

When? Noticed my local council have been putting in some new trees recently, is now the best time?

I want to plant a small apple tree, it must not grow too big as I have limited space and have had subsidence issues in the past due to trees, any recommendations?


Also I planted a plum tree two years ago, first year I got 3 plums, last year none, am I doing something wrong? Should I be doing something to encourage more plums? It is currently about 6 feet tall.

[megaphone]

Why did this post 3 times?

[vixen1700]

This thread has made me go all dizzy.

[megaphone]

vixen1700 said:

This thread has made me go all dizzy.

[jas xjr]

i am not a gardener but our plum tree only crops every other year . it is a pain , there is so much fruit we have to give it away , not really that much of a problem i suppose

[Bonefish Blues]

Here you go:

http://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/resources.aspx

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

megaphone said:

Why did this post 3 times?

I screwed up once by posting in the wrong forum, so I reported my own thread by clicking the "report" link in the top right, and asked the mods to sort it out. They did, very quickly. Might be worth doing that and asking them to delete the duplicates.

[netherfield]

Now is the time to plant while the tree is dormant.

Plums can take 3 to 4 years to get established, they need to grow roots before producing a lot of fruit, this year has been bad for a lot of fruit , our plums flowered and set fruit this time around and I thought we would have a decent crop, but the rains came rather heavy and knocked off the embryo fruits, the Apples and Pears flowered well but the frost killed them before they could set fruit.

And as above plums do have good and bad years, usually after a very heavy crop one year they will be poor the next.

[LooneyTunes]

megaphone said:

I want to plant a small apple tree, it must not grow too big as I have limited space and have had subsidence issues in the past due to trees, any recommendations?

It's the rootstock that determines tree size - I think I have a list somewhere if you have rough heights in mind. Decent garden centre will supply various variety/rootstock combinations.

If you want to confuse people, you can also graft additional varieties onto a single root.

Don't forget to consider pollination as well.

[Bonefish Blues]

There's a rootstock etc selector on the linky I posted earlier to make sure OP gets the right tree (or at least knows what to ask for @ his local centre)

[megaphone]

Thanks for all the ideas, interesting points on the plum tree, lets hope for a better result next year.

[astroarcadia]

Short answer- last month.

[littlegreenfairy]

Mine is still in its pot but will survive the winter apparently with some fleece around it.

Some garden centres still have them in and are reduced to next to nothing. Give it a go you'll either need a self fertilising one or have a tree within 200m.

We've gone for a James Grieve as its a nice mix of cooking and eating (I think)