[littlelisa]

I have a bit of land that i would like to plant some mixed fruit trees on. Can someone give me the do's and don't. Can anyone point me in the direction of where to do research? Many thanks.

[HesterF]

Do you know which trees you want? I've just planted a cherry orchard, an apple and pear orchard and added plums & gages to an old Bramley apple orchard (nothing on commercial scales - about 50 trees in total). No real reason why I kept them separate except that we didn't want to put new apples in place of the old apples that had died from the old orchard and that we've put the cherries in a more sheltered position (that wasn't big enough for all of them).

I'm no expert but some things off the top of my head:

- Find out more about your soil type and the conditions - different fruit likes different conditions (things like how acid the soil is, how well drained it is, how windy it is).
- Best to plant bare root trees which now means you have to wait until next winter (normally Nov-March time)
- Think about what size trees you want and that depends on the root stock and pruning. If you get a vigorous root stock, you'll have to have full standard trees (about 1.8m of trunk before the branches begin) which makes them a pain to prune and harvest (our Bramleys are big and pruning them was hell). But it you get dwarfing root stock, you'll not make the best use of your space - they're intended for small gardens. We've gone for semi-vigorous root stock (MM106 for the apples, equivalent for other fruits) which I'll prune to half standard shape.
- Fruit tree pruning is an art in its own right. I went on a course because I had no clue where to start and it was brilliant. You can prune trees in all sorts of different shapes and many of the commercial orchards have a different approach to maximise yield compared to traditional orchards. Also things like prune apples and pears in winter when they're dormant but cherries, plums, apricots etc. should be pruned when they're growing fast to avoid silver leaf.
- Once you've thought about size and root stocks, decide what varieties you want and what you want to use them for (and I guess what balance of different fruits you want). For example, if you want to make cider, do you want some trees that a specifically cider apple trees? Sample them if you can - lots of places will have apple days in the autumn where you can try their varieties and I presume similar things exist for other fruit. Also make sure that the varieties you choose will cross polinate. Some fruit trees are self fertile but many need one that will be flowering at the same time to cross pollinate.
- Think about some unusual fruits too and nuts too - we've got a medlar that was already here (and medlar jelly is lovely and impossible to buy - hassle to make too but that's only once a year), a mulberry (big tree, needs it's own space), quince, walnut, sweet chestnut (both big trees too), hazelnuts (they can be in an orchard set up if pruned) and damson. I've also got some warm walls so I'm trying a couple of apricots, a peach, an almond and a persimmon but I guess none of those are really orchard fruits.

I got most of my fruit trees from Keepers nursery and even if you don't buy from them, their website is really helpful with lots of useful advice on root stocks and varieties/pollination partners etc. http://www.keepers-nursery.co.uk/

I did my pruning course at Brogdale, the national fruit tree collection, and they will also advise on heritage fruit varieties and specific questions (and they have special open days for when their various fruit trees are fruiting). http://www.brogdalecollections.co.uk/

I've got The Fruit Tree Handbook (http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Fruit-Tree-Handbook-Pike/dp/1900322749/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366059238&sr=8-1&keywords=the+fruit+tree+book) which I found really helpful as a general overview and for information about how to plant bare root trees etc.

Enjoy the planning! We're onto the vinyard and hop planning for next winter!

H

[YorkshireLass]

Apples are complicated...


The guys here [size=78%]http://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/pollinationchecker.aspx[/size] were very helpful when I emailed for advice, even though I hadn't bought from them, so a big thumbs up from me 


I would start out with a crazy wish-list (inspiration from Otter Farm [size=78%]http://shop.otterfarm.co.uk/product-category/fruit/[/size] ) - think about what you like, what's expensive to buy, when you'd be harvesting the different fruits etc.
Then narrow down according to soil type, time to maturity, final size.


And then I'd make it a forest garden by underplanting with shrubs and herbs 

[Bodger]

When it comes to your apples, you might find this link useful. Apple trees come into flower at different times dependant on variety.
 
http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Apple-Tree-Pollination

[denmylne]

consider heritage pears

http://denmylne.wordpress.com/about/

http://denmylne.wordpress.com/category/sources/

also consider the local orchard groups near where you live, always a good source of information, there are loads of community orchards right across the uk, with amateurs  who prune them, ask if you can help.

When considering varieties, the following should be taken into account.
1. what time the fruit is ready, eg if you plant concord, bon chretian or conference, these pears all flower and bear fruit at roughly the same time. not only giving a glut of fruit, but also succeptible to all being wiped out by a hard frost during the blooming period. a mixture of early and late fruits which flower and fruit at different times helps to avoid this. see the crawford, lindores, glasgow yelllow and craigs favourite.
2. when planting new orchards, consider planting family trees, ie a tree with 3 or more types of apple or pear types grafted onto the same rootstock, you can then decide at a later date, which ones to keep and which ones to prune away.
3. be aware that it is the rootstock that is the most important part of your trees, some of the pear trees in Newburgh are grafted onto rootstock planted in the 12-1300's and the trees them selves are perhaps the 3rd or 4th types to be grafted onto the same rootsock. you can see an example of a rootstock being regrafted in the link i gave you above. Think about how well a small graft, essentially nothing more than a small twig, will do on a 10 year old rootstock than say on a one year old
4. North, East, South or west.........some varieties can only be grown on a south facing etc, this is why family trees are a good idea, some trees will do better in one location of your field and others of the same type not as well in the same field.
5. Someone mentioned size in one of the posts above. this is a function of the rootstock and a serious consideration. just remember that any "variety" can be changed by simply grafting a different type onto the tree, eg, quince is used as a reducing rootstock for pears,onto which is grafted an interstock, usually doyenne de comice, followed by what ever pear type is required, eg conference. if you alow branches to grow from the quince part of the tree it will bear quince, the comice, comice pears,  it is normal practice to trim these branches and to only leave the concord. Consider a few full standards but remember, a dwarfed tree which is shaded by 2 full standad trees will not thrive, so consider the direction of the sun and tie this in with your rootstock, ie dwarf to the front, half standards and then full standards to the back
6. Think about the long term nature of a fruit tree, when planting, dig as big a hole as you can and fill it with the best compost you can find. in times gone by they would throw in a dead sheep for good measure. You are effectively feeding it for the next 50 years. 
7. Remember that the term pruning covers a lot of different operations, one of which is shaping. The shaping of the tree in the 1st 5 years is the most important, after which, depending on the vartiety will, they can be left to their own devices. eg, a tree which is grown in a straight or balanced manner will thrive, a tree which is growing at at steep angle will eventually topple over and die.
8. Lastly, use proper round stakes and proper ties. consider very carefully how you will protect the trees from rabbits and especially voles, I had 2x 50 year old bramleys wiped out in 24 hrs by rabbits. I have also seen several 100  5 year old james greives being ringed and killed by rabbits over a period of 2 weeks.