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Advice needed regarding Minarette type fruit type

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  • #1

    Advice needed regarding Minarette type fruit type

    I am New to growing fruit trees.

    We have limited space (about 13 ft strip) against a south facing fence at a slight incline (We are North of Bristol). We want to grow some fruit but I am a bit confused about what to plant.

    We defiantly don't want a glut (there is only 3 of us) so thought that growing the columnar type fruit trees will be ideal.

    Now, we are absolutely mad about gages and plums and I see that among others Ken Muir sell the Ruby and Oullins Golden Gage which are the varieties we want.

    I read in few places that plums and cherries will defiantly have a silver leaf problem if pruned in the way Minaretts are. If so how come these are for sale and second . did anyone here have experience with plums/gages/cherry plums/cherries pruned to a minarette form. I don't know what rootstock Ken Muir use for the Minnarette as no one picks up the phone there.

    Other than that we intend to get three apple trees (Scrumptious, Herefordshire Russet and Lord Derby). Regarding the cooking apple, which apple is best suited for Apple strudle/pie that can grow in such limited space as our?

    Currently I pick Bramleys (I think) from the hedge and this look like a good verity, but not sure if I can keep it in a dwarf form. Thanks a lot in advance for any advice.

    Cima
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  • #2
    Here is some advice from a previous thread about minarettes:

    http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ail_52712.html

    I think the point is well-made, any kind of vertical cordon will want to revert to being a tree given half a chance. The only way to prevent this is to keep it well-pruned - fine with apples and pears, but not advisable for plums and cherries.

    If you want a dwarf Bramley, try the Bramley 20 clone - it is a sport of Bramley which is much less vigorous than the original form.

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    • #3
      I have a minarette apple and it isn't pruned at all. It is about 10 ft tall and has vertically pointing branches that are less then 24 inches and as these are at an angle it is sort of 15-18 inches diameter column tree

      A minerete isn't a cordon, so shouldn't revert to a bush.

      Fruiting on a minerette isn't as much as implied, they only photograph a good one.

      Bramley is a triploid so vigerous, keeping it in check will require work.

      As to apple strudle/pie no idea.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Kirk View Post
        A minerete isn't a cordon, so shouldn't revert to a bush.
        As far as I know the only kind of minarette / cordon that will not revert to being a tree if left to its own devices is a Ballarina. Those are a type of apple variety that naturally does not produce branches, in other words a genetic mutation.

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        • #5
          If you want a cooking apple that cooks to a puree and bakes well, look at Peasgood Nonsuch. If you want the slices to stay whole in your strudel, Orleans Reinette is delicious when cooked. Bramleys are easier to buy than grow.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by orangepippin View Post
            As far as I know the only kind of minarette / cordon that will not revert to being a tree if left to its own devices is a Ballarina. Those are a type of apple variety that naturally does not produce branches, in other words a genetic mutation.
            I think mine came from Ken Muir, visited there to get a specifid plum from them, and was one of two minarettes,(dug the other one up as it was a crab apple I bought for pollination purposes in a panic).

            As said never done a thing to it in 18 years, presently about 10-12ft tall and a 2ft wide "tube" like thing. Branches are about 2ft but they point up at a angle of about 30 degrees from the trunk so the whole thing is narrow. Get 8-10 reasonable sized cooker off it each year.

            The Ken Muir description:
            "Minarettes are slender, columnar fruit trees which bear their fruits on short spurs along the length of a vertical stem rather than on long spreading branches." matches how mine grows and it came from Muirs as a minarette.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Kirk View Post
              I have a minarette apple and it isn't pruned at all. It is about 10 ft tall and has vertically pointing branches that are less then 24 inches and as these are at an angle it is sort of 15-18 inches diameter column tree

              A minerete isn't a cordon, so shouldn't revert to a bush.

              Fruiting on a minerette isn't as much as implied, they only photograph a good one.

              Bramley is a triploid so vigerous, keeping it in check will require work.

              As to apple strudle/pie no idea.
              Originally posted by Kirk View Post
              I think mine came from Ken Muir, visited there to get a specifid plum from them, and was one of two minarettes,(dug the other one up as it was a crab apple I bought for pollination purposes in a panic).

              As said never done a thing to it in 18 years, presently about 10-12ft tall and a 2ft wide "tube" like thing. Branches are about 2ft but they point up at a angle of about 30 degrees from the trunk so the whole thing is narrow. Get 8-10 reasonable sized cooker off it each year.

              The Ken Muir description:
              "Minarettes are slender, columnar fruit trees which bear their fruits on short spurs along the length of a vertical stem rather than on long spreading branches." matches how mine grows and it came from Muirs as a minarette.
              Hello, I've done a fair bit of research on this and have several 'minarettes' myself. The 'no pruning' trees you refer to are normally called ballerinas. They grow naturally upright and need no pruning. They are only available in a few obscure varieties.

              Minarettes these days are just 1 or 2 year old trees of 'normal' varieities that need annual pruning to keep to shape. So don't plant one expecting it to grow magically vartically all by itself. I pruned mine in August this year to keep them to shape.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Kirk View Post
                The Ken Muir description:
                "Minarettes are slender, columnar fruit trees which bear their fruits on short spurs along the length of a vertical stem rather than on long spreading branches." matches how mine grows and it came from Muirs as a minarette.
                Do you know what variety it was, because this sort of growth habit sounds very much like a Ballarina variety, rather than a mainstream variety which happens to have been trained as a cordon?

                All Ballarinas varieties are descended from a mutant of the McIntosh apple variety, and the mutation causes shoots to remain as spurs rather than continuing to grow into normal branches. There is one of these trees at the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale.

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                • #9
                  Thanks for the replies, decided to be sensible in the end and ordered three M26 apples and two Pixy gages from Deacons for far less than KM. I will prune those myself to suit the space. Cima

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