dwarf fruit trees

lellypants

Hello!
I'm growing anything I can fit in my pokey little back yard and my mum has just given me some birthday money to buy some dwarf fruit trees.
Actually size doesn't matter as long as it can be planted in a pot.

Can anyone suggest a cheap place to buy them and what will grow best?

Thanks
Lesley

RAS

Hi

Can I make an alterantive suggestion?

If you buy fruit trees on fully dwarfing stock, you will need to go to a specialist nursery which will be quite expensive, and if you have a tiny back yard, you will still have to fnd room for something say 4 foot diameter for each tree.

If you buy more normal fruit trees and grow them as cordons - a single stem 6-8 foot high with fruiting spurs - you could get away with a much cheaper tree and as long as you get a large (2 foot deep) pot it will fruit in about a one foot square space. SO you get more trees in the same space.

Lidl is offering reduced trees (pears only left locally) at a £5 each and some are self -fertile. you could also see if you can get a few autumn fruiting raspberries as they are fine in pots.

lellypants

That's really helpful, thanks.
I was wondering if there was any way of using a standard tree.
Do I just keep triming it down?

RAS

have a look at these links for ideas. One shows pruning an inclined cordon

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_september_2e_apple.asp

An this is about vertical cordons http://www.deaconsnurseryfruits.co.uk/apples/ with some info on rootstocks. Cordons need a decent root stock not M27, bucause you are asking them to produce a lot of frowth and fruit and then removing most of the growth every August.

Maidens are the cheapest type of tree you can buy, there is a good range but you will have to wait a year or two for fruit. If the joint between the Lidl rootstock and scion is low on the plant, then you could train that into a cordon.

illusio

Not sure what 'cheap' is for these. Got 3 for £19.98 at Van Meuwen...
http://www.vanmeuwen.com/catalogue/fruit.html
which I figure must be OK, as Thompson and Morgan do 3 trees for £55

[Deleted User]

I got mine from here http://www.guardiangardencentre.co.uk/Index.cfm?fuseaction=category.standard&category_id=589

olly300

The Guardian site uses JParkers.
http://www.jparkers.co.uk/Index.cfm?fuseaction=product.supersaver&catno=P399

And it seems all 3 sites sell the same trees.

JimJim

illusio wrote: »

Not sure what 'cheap' is for these. Got 3 for £19.98 at Van Meuwen...
http://www.vanmeuwen.com/catalogue/fruit.html
which I figure must be OK, as Thompson and Morgan do 3 trees for £55

I bought these two and took up the offer of three Goji Berry bushes for £4.95 postage. Trees appear to be coming along nicely in their Poundland tubs ...

Money_maker

I got three of these trees last year. One produced 2 apples and the others didn't set fruit. Looking forward to this year as plenty of buds due to break soon.

I did want the 'proper' ballerina ones but they cost around £30 each. These ones seem to be very good. They do have the short spurs and keep compact.

lellypants

Thanks for the help everyone!

Rummer

I got mine from B&Q and they have been great. Also keep your eyes open for deals later in the summer and Autumn as garden centres often sell them off at reduced prices because it si the wrong time of year to plant them up.