Fruit Trees in Poundstretcher

Greenfingers3

I went to Lidl this morning to buy some fruit trees, but they were in very short supply. Later on I was in Poundstretcher and managed to get what I wanted, they have Apples, Pears, Plums and Cherries. They are £4.99 each and are nearly twice the size of the ones I saw in Lidl. Hope this is helpful to someone else.

rosie383

I got my trees in Aldi. Can any one tell me....... I know I need to soak them overnight before I plant them, but when do I do this? Anytime now? They are apple trees, and Elstar and a Bramley.

BOGOF_Queen

You should plant them now while they are dormant. However, if the ground is frozen, wait until the weather warms and the soil is no longer frozen. I put in an Apple, a Cherry and a Plum last December (2008) and they have grown quite a bit since then. Am looking forward to getting some fruit from them in a year or two.

rosie383

Thanks. I was just worried about leaving them in the bags they came in. I think it's to be quite cold again this week, so I may hold off just yet.

RAS

You could just dig a hole and put the roots in then cover the roots over (heel them in).

Alternatively, put them in the cold place you can find indoors and add a piece of damp cloth near the roots to keep them moist.

rosie383

So RAS, you're saying i should just go ahead and plant them now?

RAS

Are these in pots or bare rooted?

If the tree has been outside for ages and only just brought into the warm in the store, the sooner you get it outside again the better. If it has started to produce leaves already, be more careful.

If the ground is frozen so you would have trouble preparig the planting place properly, then it is better to make a temporary hole- move the frozen soil aside and refill with the unfrozen soil, then put the frozen soil back on the surface.

Fruit trees are designed to cope with months of cold weather; in Sognfjord, they must be under snow for 4 months and they cope admirably.

rosie383

The trees are bare root. I would imagine the ground would be too frozen now to dig. We have had heavy frosts over the past few days. The trees are in the plastic bags they came in, and I just have them out the back door. They haven't got any leaves yet. Should I bring them in, overnight at least, as they would have been in the heat of the shop for a while?

Debbie_S

Just to say the trees are in Poundstretcher again this year. Today we bought 2 Stella Cherries and a Golden Delicious.
We bought 8 last year and they have all done well. Actually had about 10 large size plums on the Opal which was a surprise.

LJM

glad to know they are coming on well i did pop in the other day to have a look and they had some raspberry canes so may go in tomorrow and pick them up

youngie

BOGOF_Queen wrote: »

You should plant them now while they are dormant. However, if the ground is frozen, wait until the weather warms and the soil is no longer frozen. I put in an Apple, a Cherry and a Plum last December (2008) and they have grown quite a bit since then. Am looking forward to getting some fruit from them in a year or two.

is your apple tree self fertilising some aren't so you may not get apples ,unless your nieghbour has an apple tree