Apple
Check pollination needs before buying — most apples need a compatible different variety flowering at the same time nearby — and stake trees on a dwarfing rootstock for their whole life, since these roots don't anchor well alone.
Care
Essential for good fruit set, flavour and ripening.
Especially important as fruit swells through summer.
Fertile, well-drained soil.
Winter-prune (Dec-Feb) bush trees to maintain an open, spur-bearing framework; summer-prune (Aug) trained forms such as cordons and espaliers to control size and encourage fruiting spurs — two distinct pruning windows with different purposes.
A high-potash feed such as sulphate of potash in late winter, spread over the root area, with a mulch of compost on top. Nitrogen-rich feeds give soft leafy growth, poor fruit and much worse scab.
Apples are grafted onto rootstocks that determine the tree's final size, so a home-raised cutting or pip seedling gives an unpredictable and usually enormous tree. Choosing the right rootstock is the propagation decision here.
Month by month
Months change with the climate: in southern Italy tomatoes go out two months earlier than in England.
- JanuaryWinter-prune bush trees to an open, spur-bearing framework. how ›
- JuneThin developing fruit clusters to improve fruit size and reduce biennial (every-other-year) cropping. how ›
- AugustSummer-prune trained forms (cordons/espaliers) to encourage fruiting spurs. how ›
- SeptemberHarvest as fruit ripens — timing varies widely by cultivar, from late summer into autumn. how ›
Months based on climate: UK. Your choice stays on this device.
- JanuaryWinter-prune bush trees to an open, spur-bearing framework. how ›
- JuneThin developing fruit clusters to improve fruit size and reduce biennial (every-other-year) cropping. how ›
- AugustSummer-prune trained forms (cordons/espaliers) to encourage fruiting spurs. how ›
- SeptemberHarvest as fruit ripens — timing varies widely by cultivar, from late summer into autumn. how ›
Months based on climate: Northern Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
- JanuaryWinter-prune bush trees to an open, spur-bearing framework. how ›
- JuneThin developing fruit clusters to improve fruit size and reduce biennial (every-other-year) cropping. how ›
- AugustSummer-prune trained forms (cordons/espaliers) to encourage fruiting spurs. how ›
- SeptemberHarvest as fruit ripens — timing varies widely by cultivar, from late summer into autumn. how ›
Months based on climate: Central Italy. Your choice stays on this device.
- JanuaryWinter-prune bush trees to an open, spur-bearing framework. how ›
- JuneThin developing fruit clusters to improve fruit size and reduce biennial (every-other-year) cropping. how ›
- AugustSummer-prune trained forms (cordons/espaliers) to encourage fruiting spurs. how ›
- OctoberHarvest as fruit ripens — timing varies widely by cultivar, from late summer into autumn. how ›
Months based on climate: Southern Italy and islands. Your choice stays on this device.
Common problems
How to spot it. Dark, scabby spots on leaves and fruit, worse in wet springs.
What to do. Rake up and dispose of fallen leaves; choose scab-resistant cultivars where possible.
How to spot it. Maggoty fruit, often with an exit hole.
What to do. Use pheromone traps, remove fallen fruit promptly.
How to spot it. White, fluffy patches on bark.
What to do. Treat if severe.
Questions
Apple: is it hardy?
H6: Hardy in the vast majority of UK gardens. It survives down to −20 °C.
Can it grow in a pot?
Dwarfing rootstocks (M27, M9) are bred specifically for container growing.
Apple: when do you prune it?
Winter-prune (Dec-Feb) bush trees to maintain an open, spur-bearing framework; summer-prune (Aug) trained forms such as cordons and espaliers to control size and encourage fruiting spurs — two distinct pruning windows with different purposes. In the calendar for UK, pruning falls in January, August.
Apple: when does it flower?
In the climate of UK it flowers in April–May.
When do you feed it?
A high-potash feed such as sulphate of potash in late winter, spread over the root area, with a mulch of compost on top. Nitrogen-rich feeds give soft leafy growth, poor fruit and much worse scab. Feeding months, UK: February–March.