Friut Tree Offer

Hi,

A neighbour asked for some advice on this fruit tree offer some time ago, see the link below, but at that time the advert was unclear about what type of tree form or rootstock they were on, so it was hard to know if they were the popular column type or more a typical tree shape, so suggest they ask the supplier but they have not responded.

They have again asked us for advice as the collection does include the two apples they like most, but little we could add as without knowing exactly what they are and its hard to say what plant spacing is needed as if tree shaped they will probably need about 6ft+ between plants ?

Thought we would put a post here on the off chance someone has bought them or knows more about them ?

WINTER SALE - Grow your own Fruit Trees Offer - FIVE Different Trees

 

They suggest pots on patio as acceptable, so I would think they are on very dwarfing rootstocks.

 

Looking at the site it says that the trees will arrive roughly 5ft tall and will quickly grow to 6-7ft tall heavy croppers, so 6-8ft spacing should be fine.

 

Would have been nice if that supplier had bothered to reply to our neighbours as reading the advert it did make one wonder, because they were also selling the patio types, if they were really larger trees than need lots of pruning to keep managable in a smaller garden.

We are only into soft fruit, not fruit trees, but talking to them, wonder if those plants could be trained as angled cordons against their south east facing garage wall ? which would save them a lot of ground space.

 

How did your neighbours contact this company? I can't see any contact details on the site, just a robot online chat system, there is no phone details, which would put me off making a purchase. Looking at some of the reviews, which are poor, suggests they are drop shippers, selling seconds or over produced plants that would end up at auction.

Gardening Express Reviews - Read 1,569 Genuine Customer Reviews |

Gardening Express Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of www.gardeningexpress.co.uk (trustpilot.com)

I am actually baffled at Trustpilot's review system, how can they give a 4 star rating for this company when 38% of the reviews are 1 star reviews, even a 3 star rating would be more than generous.

 

Good spotting there @gks

Afraid we feel a bit embarrassed as it was from a full page ad in the Garden News magazine that we had given to our neighbour the other week when he was not so well.

We had no reason to visit the site until they came across looking for some advice and then was more concerned about the product than checking the web site which did not really cross our minds !

Will let them know your findings and suggest they go to more well known suppliers, we have had good service over the years for soft fruit from Bowers, Ashridge , Blackmoor and Muir.

 

Both my lemon trees were from Aldi and produce nice lemons, both very different. A thin skinned deep golden coloured one and a thick skinned larger light lemon coloured one. I'm pretty sure the tags didn't have the names of them beyond "lemon", although I've long lost them.

 

Hi again,

Been asked again about buying some dwarf patio fruit trees and if being such small plants eg 1m tall if grown in pots, are they are worth growing and if the selection offered is a good one, also do they really need extra plants as pollinators?

Fruit Tree Collection (Mini Fruit Tree) | Suttons

Varieties
Apples, Gala and Golden Delicious
Plum Black Amber
Cherry Sylvia
Pear Mini Conference

 

It depends on how long they are prepared to wait for fruit? I wouldn't expect apples for at least 2 years, cherry & plums for 3, pears for 4, from trees that size and age. Being grafted onto dwarfing rootstocks, they may take longer. The plum & cherry are partially self-pollinating so don't need pollination partners, but you will get a heavier crop if you use one.
From my own experience, cherries aren't worth growing unless you net them.

 

Personally I would wait until bareroot season where you can get much better value than tiny 9cm pots. I'd also choose a variety you like rather than what they want to sell. You can buy bareroot whips very cheaply in the next few months and get a wide range of varieties.