Apples

Question 1

What do you need to keep in mind about pollination when it comes to choosing apple cultivars?

Answer 1

Apples are divided into pollination groups and you need at least one other tree from the same pollination group in order to get cross pollination. (Groups are compatible genetically and flower at the same time.)

Question 2

Name the three kinds of fruiting clusters on apples.

Answer 2

• Tip bearer
• Spur bearer (most varieties, eg Jonagold)
• Partial tip bearer (eg Bramley’s Seedling).

Question 3

Most apples are grafted onto rootstocks labelled M and MM. What do these stand for?

Answer 3

• Malling
• Malling Merton

These are research stations where these varieties were developed.

Question 4

Why is rootstock choice important?

Answer 4

It controls the eventual height and spread.

Question 5

What factors should you consider when choosing rootstock?

Answer 5

• Available space
• The form of the tree (restricted or unrestricted)
• The type of soil (poor soil = more vigorous rootstock)
• The vigour of the apple cultivar chosen (triploid are more vigorous than diploid).

Question 6

Name an extremely dwarfing rootstock and situations when you’d choose it.

Answer 6

M27. Good for pot grown apples. cordons, step over cordons. 3-4ft.

Question 7

Name a very dwarfing rootstock and situations when you’d choose it.

Answer 7

M9. Good for small trees, cordons, espallier. 4-5ft.

Question 8

Name a dwarfing rootstock and situations when you’d choose it.

Answer 8

M26. Good for compact tree or all restricted growth forms. 6-8ft.

Question 9

Name a semi dwarfing rootstock and situations when you’d choose it.

Answer 9

M106. All unrestricted growth forms, as well as espalliers of less vigorous varieties. 9ft.

Question 10

Name a vigorous rootstock and situations when you’d choose it.

Answer 10

MM11. Too vigorous for the average garden but suitable for traditional orchards. 12ft.

Question 11

Name 3 Dessert apple cultivars.

Answer 11

• Saturn
• Spartan
• Sunset.

Question 12

Name 3 culinary apple cultivars.

Answer 12

• Bountiful
• Bramley
• Blenheim Orange.

Question 13

Explain site and soil requirements for apples.

Answer 13

• Open sunny site
• Shelter from frost and excessive wind
• Deep fertile loam
• Moisture retentive, yet well drained
• pH 6 - 6.5.

Question 14

Explain the cultivation of apples.

Answer 14

• Protect the blossom from frost
• Keep the base of the tree weed free & mulched
• Fertilise annually:
  
  • Dessert: 20g/sqm potassium sulphate in late Jan
  • 35g/sqm ammonium sulphate in late Feb.
  • Every 3yrs, 70g/sqm superphosphate in late Jan.
  • Culinary: Double the ammonium sulphate.
• Stake if necessary, or loosen ties
• Thin the fruit (10-15cm between dessert apples/15-20cm between culinary)
• Pruning (formative and routine).

Question 15

What is the purpose of:

• Formative pruning
• Routine pruning.

Answer 15

• Formative: to develop shape and form
• Routine: to promote fruiting, general health, vigour.

Question 16

Describe formative pruning of an espalier.

Answer 16

• Purchase as a one-year-old whip of a suitable spur bearing cultivar like James Grieve, grafted onto suitable rootstock, like M26.
• Support on stout wires, 45-50cm apart
• Cut whip back to just above a bud above the first wire in first year
• Second year, tie vertical leader upright, tie two side shoots down to horizontal wires (gradually, at 45 degrees first
• Cut leader just above a bud above the second wire
• Repeat in third year, and fourth.
• Routine pruning every summer.
  
  • Cut back the laterals to three leaves from the basal cluster.

Question 17

Explain harvesting and storage of apples.

Answer 17

• Earlies - late July to early August
• Mid - mid-August to early September
• Lates - mid September and October.
• Ripening apples should be picked just before they are fully ripe
• Wrap individual fruits in greaseproof paper and store in slatted wooden boxes in a cool dark place.

Question 18

Name a pest and a disease apples, including symptoms and control methods.

Answer 18

Codling moth

• Catepillar eats into flesh of apple producing extensive tunnels within the mature fruit
• Encourage birds, use traps/barriers, contact insecticides in early summer with second treatment three weeks later

Apple Powdery Mildew

• Powdery coating on buds, leaves and stems cause leaves to become distorted and wither. Web-like patterning
• Grow less susceptible varieties like Discovery and Bramley’s Seedling. Mulch under trees to prevent from drying out. Irrigate in dry weather. Cut out infected shoots in winter. Remove infected leaves and shoots in spring.