The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Fruit => Topic started by: deepinthewoods on September 09, 2012, 06:23:47 pm
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my bramley apples that i planted 2 yrs ago from £4 bare roots from aldi havent fruited twice now, ive been told i should have planted a pollinator with them. doh. ::)
could someone advise what would be good, i want to increase my fruit this winter so a couple of varieties that would pollinate each other would be useful.
thanks. :tree:
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Hiya DItW
You'll need to get other apples that flower at the same time to pollinate it. BUT, the Bramley won't pollinate another apple, so you'll need to get at least 2 other apple trees of different types that flower around the same time - hope this makes sense :fc:
Crab apples are good pollinators of most types of apple & they make marvellous jelly too :yum:
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thanks, :) so a crab apple and one other? any reccomendations?
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I am not very knowledgable where fruit or veg growing is concerned. However, our brambley apple was planted by the previous owner more than 50 years ago. There are no other apple trees for at least a mile.
How do we get a good crop some years? ( this year all the little apples various 1 dropped off in cold wind and heavy rain :'( Some years we have had wonderful baskets of apples from our lonely tree. Apple pie, crumbles :yum:
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Bramley are Group 3 apples so you need adjacent group apples (Group 2 or 4) to get best pollination (2 of them or replace one of the others with a crab apple - if you do that you can plant closer than another apple tree and prune hard after flowers have died so doesnt take as much space as another apple),
I love the taste of Blenheim Orange apples - they are Group 4
http://www.talatonplants.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=113 (http://www.talatonplants.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=113)
And I love the name of this one - Pigs Nose - it is group 2- tho I dont know about the taste!
http://www.talatonplants.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=185 (http://www.talatonplants.co.uk/ShowDetails.asp?id=185)
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I second Blenheim Orange - a scrumptious apple :yum:
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http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/Pollination_Guide_Apples.html (http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/Pollination_Guide_Apples.html)
try to find a more local site (a spring flower in the SE may be a summer flower in Scotland) and a pollination guide which covers bramleys
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Aha - DITW - I knew there'd be others on here with more of the technical know-how than me :thumbsup:
I'd definately recommend crab apples - they withstand harsh weather better & the jelly is :yum:
Happy planting ;D