Fruit Tree??????

arse..biscuits

Hi, I'd love to plant some fruit trees, plum, apple etc. Also berries of any sort.
The ground is crap though, basically rubble and dirt (its an inner city site where some flats were demolished), so everything is in raised beds.
So how deep would I need to make a bed for fruit trees??? What types would be best?? Where can I buy these (Dublin city)?? When should I plant??
I don't have much experience so any advice is welcome.
Thanks.

luckyfrank

arse..biscuits wrote: »

Hi, I'd love to plant some fruit trees, plum, apple etc. Also berries of any sort.
The ground is crap though, basically rubble and dirt (its an inner city site where some flats were demolished), so everything is in raised beds.
So how deep would I need to make a bed for fruit trees??? What types would be best?? Where can I buy these (Dublin city)?? When should I plant??
I don't have much experience so any advice is welcome.
Thanks.

They are selling fruit trees in lidl at the moment they were 6.99 but now reduced to 3.99 euro i bought a pear tree last week and planted it out the back garden and yesterday i bought a cherry tree i will plant it tommorow

There is instructions on the tree packaging it tells you all you need to know about planting them

The Sweeper

Dig into the ground if you can. The guide for most plantings is "dig hole twice the size of the root ball, line with rich compost, place root ball in hole, back fill with soil, firm down, water in well".

You could use large pots - 35-50 litres - to plant fruit trees and keep them in those containers. However I would see if you can dig a large hole, say four to five times the size of the root ball. Line with plenty of organic material. Water it in well before you put the tree in the hole (will also be a good indication of how quickly water will drain away). Plant tree, backfill with more soil, firm down very well, water in well.

Then I'd go a step further and mulch around the tree, either with straw or a few inches of bark chippings - it'll keep the soil moist but it also creates a good environment for organisms that are good for the soil - worms and such like. The tree will use the nutrients in the mix you plant it in the short term. Medium to long term, it will send questing roots off into the soil around it. It may discover nutrients below the earth that you can see as being poor quality, but to tide it over, read up on the nutrients required by your particular tree, and buy a suitable fertilser. Use as indicated for your particular tree.

[edited to remove confusing use of 'compost' as a term - fruit trees shouldn't be fed when dormant]

luckyfrank

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Dig into the ground if you can. The guide for most plantings is "dig hole twice the size of the root ball, line with rich compost, place root ball in hole, back fill with compost, firm down, water in well".

You could use large pots - 35-50 litres - to plant fruit trees and keep them in those containers. However I would see if you can dig a large hole, say four to five times the size of the root ball. Line with plenty of rich, organic material. Water it in well before you put the tree in the hole (will also be a good indication of how quickly water will drain away). Plant tree, backfill with more compost, firm down very well, water in well.

Then I'd go a step further and mulch around the tree, either with straw or a few inches of bark chippings - it'll keep the compost moist but it also creates a good environment for organisms that are good for the soil - worms and such like. The tree will use the nutrients in the compost in the short term. Medium to long term, it will send questing roots off into the soil around it. It may discover nutrients below the earth that you can see as being poor quality, but to tide it over, read up on the nutrients required by your particular tree, and buy a suitable fertilser. Use as indicated for your particular tree.

I was told not to put compost in with it this time of year as any growth
of the buds would get frost damaged

I bought fertiliser today again i was told by a person at the garden centre to leave the tree alone until march that there would be enough nutriants in the soil until then is this right?

The Sweeper

Yep, you don't feed deciduous trees while they're dormant. Generally you should fertilise them at the end of February to encourage bud growth into the spring when the weather warms up.

Sorry - when I said 'compost' to plant the tree into, I meant any organic material - the same sort of soil that the tree is in already if it's in a container. I don't mean the sort of rich fertiliser compost you use to feed a plant. /me goes back to edit own post to read 'soil'.

If the soil in the OP's region is rubble, he will need to buy something to backfill the hole that he plants the tree into. Bare root trees should be planted in autumn or winter, because they are dormant over this time and they'll come back to life in the spring time.

luckyfrank

Thanks i was getting a bit worried id done something wrong

Will i have to prune the tree in its first year or should i leave it alone aswell i believe i have to pollonate the pear tree how do i do this ?

arse..biscuits

Right, I'm going to see how much of a hole(s) I can dig tomorrow and see if lidl has any trees left.

The Sweeper

Fruit tree pruning - depends on the tree. The best thing to do, honestly, is get your Google mojo on and look up the specific tree you have because it can be different for all trees.

For instance, you shouldn't prune citrus, but apple benefits from pruning, but you shouldn't prune damson and so on.

I will say you can really mess things up by pruning a tree badly, so treat your tree with the "measure twice, cut once" approach - look at it, look at it again, walk around it, look at it again, go away and have a cup of tea, then come back and look again before you start pruning.

Pollination - you can cross pollinate flowers using a soft, dry paintbrush, but what sort of pear tree do you have and how many trees do you have?

Another note on these things - I find some of the most useful resources on tree care are the government factsheets produced for professional growers. I found a few Aussie ones on growing citrus and avocados for instance, which had some excellent tips on yield, production and storage.

Never use just one resource either - read up three or four of them, compare, contrast and take the best of each resource.

niall_walsh

luckyfrank wrote: »

They are selling fruit trees in lidl at the moment they were 6.99 but now reduced to 3.99 euro i bought a pear tree last week and planted it out the back garden and yesterday i bought a cherry tree i will plant it tommorow

There is instructions on the tree packaging it tells you all you need to know about planting them

The quality of any fruit tree is measured by the quality of it's grafted rootstock. At these lidl prices you will be buying duds produced only to feed mass marketing campaigns for purposes of gaining fast bucks! Lidl have no interest in whether or not these will either survive let alone produce fruit! In it for the quick euro. If you only have a small space and one oportunity to grow a tree....think of quality and seek proper qualified advice from your local garden centre.

Rant Over!!

arse..biscuits

They had no trees left anyway. I got raspberry and blackberry thingys though. I put them into pots out on the balcony.
I'm going to try the gardening shop on Capel street tomorrow

luckyfrank

arse..biscuits wrote: »

They had no trees left anyway. I got raspberry and blackberry thingys though. I put them into pots out on the balcony.
I'm going to try the gardening shop on Capel street tomorrow

They still have some in lidl in coolock

arse..biscuits

Lidl on Thomas Street had trees again today. I got a plum tree. Plant it tomorrow when this rotten hangover is gone.

Sonnenblumen

A very good tree for balcony/container/patio growing is the Coronet which comes in a number of varieties including apple, pear and combo. A little annual pruning is all that is required but otherwise Coronets growing to 1800mm/6' 0" are a reliable heavy cropper.

OldGoat

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Dig into the ground if you can. The guide for most plantings is "dig hole twice the size of the root ball, line with rich compost, place root ball in hole, back fill with soil, firm down, water in well".

You could use large pots - 35-50 litres - to plant fruit trees and keep them in those containers. However I would see if you can dig a large hole, say four to five times the size of the root ball. Line with plenty of organic material. Water it in well before you put the tree in the hole (will also be a good indication of how quickly water will drain away). Plant tree, backfill with more soil, firm down very well, water in well.

Then I'd go a step further and mulch around the tree, either with straw or a few inches of bark chippings - it'll keep the soil moist but it also creates a good environment for organisms that are good for the soil - worms and such like. The tree will use the nutrients in the mix you plant it in the short term. Medium to long term, it will send questing roots off into the soil around it. It may discover nutrients below the earth that you can see as being poor quality, but to tide it over, read up on the nutrients required by your particular tree, and buy a suitable fertilser. Use as indicated for your particular tree.

[edited to remove confusing use of 'compost' as a term - fruit trees shouldn't be fed when dormant]

Minesajackdaniels missed something! (very unusual, you feeling OK Minsa? )
Stake the tree to give the young new roots a chance to take hold.

The Sweeper

Ha, good point. I actually find that I get confused by some of the differences in gardening down here and up in Ireland. For instance, I didn't recommend that you include a deep watering system with your tree (vital down here to encourage roots to go deep as opposed to spreading out shallow to find water).

Plus I'm really not a gardening expert of any kind - more a very interested bumbling amateur who has some research skillz.

luckyfrank

I didnt stake my trees i buried them quite deep and they dont rock should still be ok right ?