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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Dwarf apple tree experts

4 replies

Vintageroses · 03/03/2026 06:17

Ive had it about 4 years, produced lots last year.
what do I feed it ? When and how often ?
do I need to prune it ?
thanks

OP posts:
MsWilmottsGhost · 03/03/2026 10:06

Not an expert, but didn't want to leave unanswered....

Is it in a pot or in the ground? If it has been in a pot for 4 years then you may need to feed it. But if it produced loads of fruit last year it may not need fed. I'm not sure of the best feed for pots as my apples are in the ground and I don't give them anything,. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable about pots will answer.

As for pruning, I wouldn't do any this time of year as you may cause the tree to produce long "water shoots", which make it look misshapen and don't produce any fruit. Best time for pruning is later in the summer.Do you feel it has outgrown it's space?

onelumporthree · 03/03/2026 17:27

If there are any dead or diseased bits you could prune those off, but unless it is getting too big, then don't bother to prune it, as @MsWilmottsGhost says.

Maybe just sling it some multi-purpose granular fertiliser for the spring, and you can use the occasional tomato feed from July onwards as that promotes fruiting and flowering.

Don't feed it anything too high in nitrogen or it will take off like a rocket.

Vintageroses · 03/03/2026 18:50

Thanks, no it’s not in a pot it’s in the ground and quite big now but other than leaning backwards a bit from the wind it looks ok.

OP posts:
AlwaysGardening · 03/03/2026 19:57

Focus your pruning on removing anything that is dead, diseased or displaced. Branches growing across the centre or rubbing on other branches. If it is a spur fruiting variety ( most are) you can reduce last year's growth by half. Don't take off more than a quarter of the canopy. Winter pruning encourages growth, summer pruning is mainly used on trained fruit where you need to control the growth.
Last year was a bumper year for fruit and I expect trees are a bit depleted this year. I'd use a high potash feed such as sulphate of potash or tomato feed.

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