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Recommendation for apple tree please

  • 05-02-2025 11:58AM
    #1
    Hi Ho
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 248 ✭✭


    Hello. I would appreciate a recommendation for apple trees please.

    I just want two that will cross-pollinate.

    They will be planted against a wooden wall and trained - but I don't need a specialist 'espalier' type.

    I would like an eating type that will also be decorative (i.e. somewhat red at least) and that will last into Sept. (or even Oct).

    As regards taste and texture - a soft type preferable and not too bitter.

    If possible, a variety that I can just order from Future Forests

    I know …. it sound like I am very particular but it's a small garden and I'd like to get it right.

    Thanks … in anticipatoin

    https://futureforests.ie/collections/eating-apples


Comments

  • #2
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 53,842 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    i'd recommend looking at irish seed savers too - they rescue heritage irish varieties. we have one from them - a cooker, but you could eat it straight off the tree. i'd suggest emailing or ringing either future forests or irish seed savers and tell them what you're looking for - they would probably know best what they have in stock which matches your preference.

    https://irishseedsavers.ie/product-category/irish-heritage-trees/eaters/


  • #3
    looksee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 30,198 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    I would like an eating type that will also be decorative (i.e. somewhat red at least) and that will last into Sept. (or even Oct).

    You can be sure that if you don't harvest the apples when they are ready the birds will get them. They will get them even before they are ready. They are a bit fussy - in my garden they don't take the cookers (Bramleys) and they were not interested in one tree that had the most boring, flavourless apples ever produced, that tree is now gone. They can clear the other trees overnight.

    Maybe put in some crab apples for colour, they don't seem too enthusiastic about them, and you can get some lovely red varieties.



  • #4
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 53,842 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    We've only ever lost a few apples to the birds. Maybe because they were feasting on our damsons and cherries...



  • #5
    looksee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 30,198 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    I suppose a lot of it is down to the colony of crows that lives 100 yards down the road 🙄



  • #6
    Hi Ho
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 248 ✭✭Hi Ho


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123137097#Comment_123137097

    Thanks - I can put up netting to deter the crows.



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  • #7
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 53,842 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    i'd avoid any sort of netting as it might deter crows, but trap other birds.



  • #8
    MacDanger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 3,731 ✭✭✭MacDanger


    I have 10-12 apple trees to plant, is it okay to put them down now with the frosty weather or would I be better waiting a couple of weeks?

    Edit: they're ~1.2m tall and they currently just have thin bamboo stakes, is that okay for now or what thicknesses of stakes should I use?

    Post edited by MacDanger on


  • #9
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 53,842 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    have they been stored outside at ambient temp? i don't think you'd need to worry if so.



  • #10
    MacDanger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 3,731 ✭✭✭MacDanger


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123147808#Comment_123147808

    Yeah, they've been stored outside 👍



  • #11
    looksee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 30,198 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    At 1.2m you probably don't need stakes provided we don't get a gale in the next month. I reckon they are better with as little staking as possible if they are small. In a windy situation the best bet is an H support low down, just to stop rocking. You can make one very easily with a couple of bits of 2x2 and a bit of 2x1 across held with cable ties. Use proper tree ties and put the bar on the windward side of the tree so it does not bind on it.



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  • #12
    looksee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 30,198 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Do put some protective collars (I use wire netting held in place with a cane) to keep rabbits off, they won't be long eating a young apple tree.



  • #13
    OwlEye
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 113 ✭✭OwlEye


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058393846/recommendation-for-apple-tree-please

    Give these guys a ring, great selection of trees and very helpful.

    https://www.englishsfruitnursery.ie/



  • #14
    MacDanger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 3,731 ✭✭✭MacDanger


    I have some young apple trees (just planted in spring) and they're starting to flower - should I leave the flowers or would it help the tree grow better if I nip them off? I'm thinking that a young tree like this will waste a lot of energy trying to produce fruit when it's not really ready yet?

    IMG_20250430_205930.jpg

    Also, they came attached to stakes as per the attached photo, should I remove / replace these as they look pretty tight?

    IMG_20250430_205920.jpg


  • #15
    looksee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 30,198 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    I csn only speak from experience, but I did not take off the flowers and the apple is growing fine and while still small is making a good sturdy tree, though the three or four lovely apples it bore the first year in did tend to bow the tree over temporarily. Yes, take off the cane, it is not serving any purpose except to make the stem less sturdy. I personally think that if you plant them very small they do not need staking and by the time they get big enough to be blown around they will be well established in the ground.



  • #16
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 53,842 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    definitely thin the apples out anyway - leave the flowers for now, they won't tax the tree, and you'll be able to see in a few weeks which have started to form fruit.



  • #17
    standardg60
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,876 ✭✭✭standardg60


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123406927#Comment_123406927

    The purpose of the cane is to support the main stem to keep it growing straight. If you want a taller trunk before the trees branch you can replace the current ones with taller canes and tie the leader to it as it grows.

    As above the flowers are fine but I would be tempted to remove any fruit that forms on such a young tree to help it establish. Plenty of time for fruit in years to come.



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