Fruit Tree Planting Guide

Planting Tips

Fruit Trees in general are easy to grow and require very little in the way of specialised care.  A good general purpose compost mixed with a handful of bone meal will be more than adequate to get your tree off to a good healthy start.  The only exception would be blueberries, which require a ericaceous compost.  To help benefit the early root growth of Apples, Plums and Pears we recommend staking younger trees, especially in more exposed gardens.  Fruit trees will always benefit from as much sun and shelter as possible.

Pollination Explained

Pollination is not nearly as complicated as many people believe.  Some varieties of fruit require a pollinator while some are self-fertile.  Even with the self-fertile varieties we would still recommend going with a pollinator to encourage the best possible crop of fruit.

All fruits are divided into 5 flowering groups.  1 being the earliest and 5 the latest.  As an example, if a tree is flowering group 3, it will pollinate with a 2, 3 or 4.  Put simply, they will pollinate with the group one above, below or the same.

Pollination will also be aided by fruit trees in surrounding gardens.

Pruning

Apples and Pears should be pruned in the autumn.  Remove damaged or diseased wood, prune any branches that have crossed over, and remove up to two thirds of the new seasons growth.

Plums and Cherries should be pruned in the same manor as Apples and Pears, but we would recommend pruning in the summer and not autumn to help avoid diseases.

Blueberries need just light pruning to aid the shape of the bush.  A helpful tip to grow larger fruits is to prune out any really old branches to encourage strong new growth.