Please help me with fruit trees!

[Herecomethehotstepper]

I would like to plant 3 or 4 fruit trees in my garden. I had a look on the RHS website and my head almost exploded trying to work out chromosomes, cross pollination and self pollination. I would like an apple tree, cherry and another type but do I have to plant 2 of each so they can pollinate each other? I was hoping to just pick up a few trees from b and m and then sit back and wait for a harvest of fruit but it seems to be far more complicated.

Specialist fruit tree growers like Chris Bowers (the are others if you google specialist nurseries) have lots of info and advice on their sites.

Fruit trees are an investment that it's worth getting right, because if you plant a random tree from b and m you may not like the fruit, or it may not be right for your conditions and then you'd have wasted the time and effort and space in your garden.

www.chrisbowers.co.uk

Unless you buy fully self fertile trees then you will need pairs to cross pollinate, and you will need to be aware of the pollination group each tree is in, to get a compatible partner.

Specialist growers will also have some 'family trees' where several different varieties are grafted onto one trunk, which might be of interest.

Good luck!

Some more good specialist fruit nurseries:

https://www.deaconsnurseryfruits.co.uk

https://www.pomonafruits.co.uk/fruit-nut-trees/family-fruit-trees

https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/family-fruit-trees

I warn you, their sites are VERY inspiring...! You may accidentally end up with an orchard.

I'd suggest waiting for the autumn so you can buy bare root trees. How much space do you have? It's worth considering getting a few trees on smaller rootstock (giving you different varieties and an extended season) rather than getting one full size tree. www.orangepippintrees.co.uk have a useful tree finder so you can put in what you want. Pollination is important unless you buy a self-fertile tree but have a look around your area - if your neighbours have lots of fruit trees they will probably pollinate yours.

But the most important thing is to choose a type of fruit you like to eat - do you prefer cooking vs eating, tart vs sweet etc. I'm not sure if they will be happening this year but apple festivals can be great places to try different apples and buy trees in the knowledge that you will really like the apples!

Think cherries maybe are self-fertile, but I've never grown them.

Apple trees -either
a) plant two different varieties that flower at the same time, ie have the same "flowering group". It's not a disadvantage because there's such a range of taste.
b) grow a "family tree - but you'll have a lot less choice of variety
c) Rely on there being a tree in a neighbour's garden for pollination.

Other possibilities - pear (although they tend to all ripen at once then go rotten within a fortnight), apricot (look for cold weather varieties), peach/nectarine (susceptible to peach leaf curl), plum/damson/greengage, fig if you have a warm spot (I grow Brown Turkey in Yorkshire and get a good crop over a couple of months), Madlars can either be eaten with cream (bit of an acquired taste) or made into jelly, but they're a remarkably trouble free tree.

I would strongly advise against getting fruit trees from somewhere like B&M. They sell fruit trees that people recognise the names of, BUT those are not necessarily the best trees for you to grow in your garden.

It really pays to do your research and pay a few pounds more, if necessary. A happy Apple tree will produce so many apples that you’ll soon get your money back!

You don’t necessarily need to buy more than one of the same type of tree if your neighbours grow fruit trees. Apple trees can also be cross fertilised with crab able, which grows wild in hedgerows. Some cherry trees are self fertile.

If your garden is sunny enough, a pear tree would be lovely to grow alongside the Apple and cherry trees. I grow one called Invincible which flowers over a very long time. The fruit keeps well, and because it doesn’t all get pollinated at the same time, the fruit also doesn’t all ripen at the same time

Some brilliant advice here, thank you. My garden is about 30 metres long and 8 metres wide. It's a council flat so will be here 10 years maximum as dc will eventually need their own rooms. No other fruit trees around that I know of.

It's a council flat so will be here 10 years maximum Fruit trees can take 2 or 3 years to start producing a good crop. In your position I would be considering soft fruit - rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries. loganberries or tayberries, blackberries would supply you in succession from spring to autumn, and all except the strawberries can be frozen.

I agree about soft fruit - you could also get smallish trees on dwarfing stock and keep in pots so they can move with you.

Morello cherry (sour) and Stella cherry (sweet) are self fertile so you only need one.

I have discovery apple and cox orange pippin which pollinate each other as they are in the same group.
I don’t think either is self fertile but quite a lot of apples are self fertile and some, like Bramley, are Triploid which means they need two others in the same pollination group to make apples.

Main thing with apples imo to get a spur fruiting variety, not a tip bearing variety.
You can prune spur fruiters but not too bearers as the apples are on the end of each branch.

My morello cherry is from B&M!
This is its first summer and it’s providing me with 12 ripening cherries currently
Usually trees take 2 or 3 years though to crop.

Pears are not reliably self fertile though Concorde and conference come close.
You should plant two different pears in the same pollination group really.

Don’t recommend peaches or nectarines due to leaf curl disease

By far the easiest fruit for me has been my ‘elliott’ blueberry.
They can grow up to 6 foot high so practically a tree..

like Bramley, are Triploid which means they need two others in the same pollination group to make apples. It's not that they need two others. It's that they don't produce viable pollen, so can't return the favour, so you need a second pollinator to pollinate the tree you bought to pollinate the bramley.