Lidl Fruit Trees

[GrowAndRun]

On a whim (& because they hadn't many left, so I didn't have time to do much research!) I bought 3 cheap fruit trees from Lidl today.

They are approx 1 m high stems in pots.

Varieties: Apple - Malus domestica "Cox's Orange Pippin"
Cherry - Purunus avium "Regina"
Pear - Pyrus communis "Doyenne du Comice"

Was it a mistake? Do I need to spend a lot more to buy some fruit trees from a garden centre?

How do I tell whether these are suitable to cordon?

We have a new "blank canvas" of a garden and really want to get going with making it more interesting. But we don't have much of a clue what we are doing!

Marking place as I saw thaw in store today

I think the cheaper trees are usually cheaper because they're younger so take longer to get to proper fruit bearing stage.

I got an Opal plum from Lidl in 2010, have had loads of fruit off it, the past 3 years in particular have been fab - can't move for plum jam!

I got a Comice pear at the same time which has been healthy and grown well but not as productive.

Obviously there's a huge number of variables in the location/climate etc

The only mistake you might have made is that most apples need another apple tree to produce apples - does it say which ones are suitable on the label?

I just bought a couple from Asda for £5 each and then saw some cheaper ones in Aldi. I have put them in and they look OK so far...

I wondered about that Tranquility - but I know that there are a lot of apple trees around here so hoping the neighbours trees will do for pollination - or do they need to be really close?

I'm thinking the apple might be more of a mistake than the others - although not sure why (apart from the cross pollination thing - might that also apply to pears?)

For some reason I am keen to have apples in the garden - although I'm not sure it is necessary - loads of people around here were giving them away for free last season, in boxes at the ends of their drives etc, so we don't really "need" our own!!

Perhaps we should add a properly researched / more expensive apple tree to the mix, just to reduce the chance of disappointment when we still have no fruit in a few years?!

Where do you live ?

Eg 500ft up in Northumbria , in a sheltered inland garden in Surrey , on the coast in east Anglia

I have loads of fruit trees on my allotment that I bought in Aldi. They're terrific! I can't see any reason why the Lidl ones wouldn't also be very good indeed.

The main issue with cordons is the rootstock: you want something quite dwarfing, like M26 or M27. Have a look on the label and see what variety they've used. If it doesn't say, I'd assume it's something reasonably vigorous and that they're probably not suitable for cordoning. You could, however, espalier the apple and pear instead, as this is good for trees on stronger rootstocks and fan train the cherry.

The other issue is whether the fruit is actually spur-bearing. Cox's orange pippin is fine, as is Doyenne du comice. I wouldn't worry too much about pollination groups for the apple, as unless you are in the middle of absolutely nowhere, there will probably be another apple tree close by that will work. Your variety is group three, so will cross-pollinate with most other types.

Thanks shove, that is really useful. They don't say what rootstock they are. From what I had looked at so far, I have assumed cordoning and espalier are the same thing !

We are in southeast England. Nowhere near the sea. All fairly flat. Over chalk, but with a fairly decent amount if clayey topsoil.

I am pleased to hear you are in the south east , as your Coxs Orange pippin will be happy . They don't fruit so well in the north and Scotland , because they need higher light levels and summer temperatures to set fruit and ripen.

Also you will get much less scab than further north as its not so wet.

The neighbours trees will be fine for cross pollination of the apples as long as they are within 100m or so and of course they need to be group 3 , as holly says . Also they X pollinate with crab apples.

Your pear is said to have the best flavour of all varieties but it needs a warm sheltered site ( which you probably have ) and a pollinator , so fingers crossed that the neighbours have some .

Remember you will need to prune them and also thin the fruit when the tree is young .

I bought two 1m high fruit trees from lidl 3 years ago , a pear and a plum. Neither have fruited as yet, they were about £2 each as I recall.
But then I have a very shady garden so expecting any fruit trees to fruit is probably a bit optimistic.

Perhaps I should just dig them up and pot them into a pot in the sun
I'll wait one more year......

My dad bought a spindly twig of a cherry tree from Woolworths about 20 years ago, now every summer the neighbours and all the birds help themselves to the fruit and there's still some left. Must be five metres high and just as wide. I think it only cost a few quid!

Now it's stories like that that make gardeners like funny person give it " just another year "

Neighbour bought some a few years back k from Aldi, said they were great buy totally mislabelled. Maybe just a wrong batch overall she said great value if you aren't too fussy about what type you get.

Last year I bought a fig tree and some pumpkins (Aldi)

The fig grew pretty well (I need to check on it, it's potted, lives at the far end of the garden where it's sunny) but you couldn't eat the first harvest.

Pumpkins grew about 5 billiard ball sized fruits, rotted and died .

Has anyone had a tree from asda? They've got a few varieties I just now and the cherry looks tempting!

I've had some from Tesco, they were £5 each and they're 5 feet high. I got 4 kinds of apple, one pear and one plum. Went back for more but they'd gone.

We've planted them outside in a sunny place with bonemeal in the hole and cow muck on the top. And we've tied them to stakes. They still haven't got any buds though - should they have?

How are everyone else's doing?