Aldi fruit trees - 6th Feb

Just a heads up - Cheap fruit trees in Aldi this week.

I might pop by after work & see if theres anything worth having ; I don’t think there’s any detail on what rootstock they use & I wouldn't necessarily trust the labels anyway but at that price Im tempted !

 

Aww... couldn't you sneak in a little patio fruit tree and say it was a dahlia?

I'd like a James Grieve and a Kordia cherry from the above selection.

 

I got a cherry tree last year and it had a dozen fruits in the first year, there are usually some decent sized trees amongst them but you do have to sort through the weedy and damaged ones.

Wilkos also have fruit trees in now for 7 pound and ornamental trees for 5 pound

 

Oh Ta for this, i hadn't noticed. I have an empty raised bed that did have a ornamental grass in it . I did have it earmarked for some Rhubarb but possibly a nice fruit tree would be better.

 

I was given a Confrerence Pear a few years back which came from Poundstretchers. It's put on masses of growth but I'm pretty sure conference pears are not meant to be yellow.

 

I have 2 in now for 5 years I think, Jonagold not a heavy cropper but the apples are huge and delicious, and a Coxs`which cropped very heavily last year, smaller but tasty. might get a cherry but will keep it in a pot.
Regarding the rootstock mine are at a manageable height, and I just prune back any that are getting too high.

 

Couple of thoughts:

Only buy a variety where you know you like the flavour - otherwise you are going to waste a couple of years growing it on only to find you don't like it!

As @JWK said, you need to have the right rootstock for how you want to grow it. Otherwise it may be too big for a container, or two small for training on a wall.

Pollination groups are important. Many fruit trees need a pollinator (a different variety which is either in the same pollination group, or one group either side. So an Apple Tree in Pollination Group B can be pollinated by one in Group A, B or C. Some varieties are self-fertile, but worth checking carefully as many of those are only partially self fertile, so without another pollinator you will either only get a light crop, or a crop every other year.

Some are Triploid - they need a pollinator but they won't pollinate it in return :( so you either need a self-fertile pollinator or A.N.Other variety so that those two can pollinate each other AND the Triploid.

Apples produce about £10 of fruit a year, and will do so for a couple of decades, so worth spending the time deciding on the varieties you want, even if you then wind up paying £15 getting it from a specialist nursery. A specialist nursery will also give you advice, including how well it will grow in your soil / location, and they have "Apple Days" in the Autumn where you can taste all manner of varieties to find one you like.

Of course armed with all that if you can find one which si the variety you want for a couple of quid in Aldi then Why Not?

 

What's them dark red Apples called? please

 

I've heard of Strawberry Trees, but what's a (Long Cane) Raspberry Tree?