Identify fruit trees & pruning - help

Discussion in 'NEW Gardeners !' started by gooseberry, Mar 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM.

  1. gooseberry

    gooseberry Apprentice Gardener

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    Afternoon gardeners,
    I've attached some photos to please help identify the fruit trees on a recently acquired but neglected allotment. Thought I would start with these before it gets too late to prune & I know there will be a crop of something this year. I've numbered the photos , put a piece of 18 inch wood at the bottom of each to give an indication of size. I think the first one is an apple, and I have put some marks where to cut to keep a goblet shape - but I could be wrong. The last one could be a fruit like a gooseberry rather than a mini tree . I'm only 5ft myself so would prefer the trees low to get at the fruit - at the same time don't want to destroy it. So any help much appreciated

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/zoy1rUJSxx8VbsB47
    I was able to open the photo link myself - so please give it a go.
    Thank you
     
  2. NigelJ

    NigelJ Total Gardener

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    Gooseberries are generally spikey, the buds look like a gooseberry, but I couldn't see any thorns.
    The shrivelled fruit on tree 3 look like plums remove and dispose of.
    THe others would be easier if you could hang on a couple of weeks until flowers and leaves appear and then add more photos.
     
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    • gooseberry

      gooseberry Apprentice Gardener

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      Thanks Nigel - will do those 2 things.Will it be ok to prune them in a few weeks ?
       
    • Thevictorian

      Thevictorian Gardener

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      I think picture 6 is actually a raspberry and not a gooseberry.

      The problem with waiting is you don't want to majorly prune anything when in active growth, some summer light prunning is fine but normally you want to do it when it's dormant. The other problem is that apples and pears are fine to prune now but it's not advisable to prune plums and cherries because they are susceptible to disease unless trimmed later on.
      Some closer ups of the branches might help with Id but it's perhaps easy to wait until they flower as suggested above and then stagger their pruning over a number of years.
       
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