Considering purchasing a fruit tree

How much room you have, so which root stock to go for, then how much money can you spare as some of the ones I've looked at recently are quite expensive. For me it's also disease resistance and which pollinating group do they fall in. Early ones are no good up here as we get late frosts, also is there any other apples nearby to aid pollination, I bought 3 trees together as there wasn't any other apples nearby at the time.

to my thinking the process would be

how much suitable space have you got?
why?what do you hope to achieve? decoration? shade? fruit production?
then you can shortlist species and strain, paying attention to things like pollination

Research, research and research. Hopefully you will be living with your tree a long time so it is good to get it right from the start.

Research the supplier - yes a lot of us get good ole supermarket cheapys but we accept the higher risk of incorrect variety, rootstock and poor shape. A good supplier should be only to happy to help with little risk of not getting what you thought you bought, so is worth paying the extra for.

Rootstock - will help govern the final size of tree but may also have certain disease/ condition tolerances. It will also govern when (years from planting) the tree is likely to fruit (coupled with age of tree).

Variety - as like the rootstock this will help govern the final size and resistance/ tolerance of some diseases. What are you after in regards to final fruit? There is no such thing as 'just an apple' ( yes I know a lot of people that seem to think so and it is a pet hate of mine). There is taste (sweet, sharp, juicy, citrusy etc) There is size (small, medium, large, whopper) Look (red, green, russet, round, long, knobbly etc.) Use (cider, dessert, cooking, dual purpose) lifespan of fruit (some will only last a week whilst others can store for months) when do you want the fruit (early, mid season or late) if choosing cookers do you want them to keep their shape or cook to a puree.

After that waffle now is an excellent time to be checking out apple days, farmers market and farm shops so you can taste these fruit first hand. And for those who can't decide there are family trees (more than 1 variety) or you could in years to come graft your own or onto a tree you have.

Also it is worth having in mind where you want to put it (soil conditions, weather, shade etc) and what you want the final tree like (trained or normal, if trained are you happy to start from scratch)

After all that enjoy

For me its largely a combination of the fruit I enjoy eating and ones I can grow without too much work. Luckily I like both apples and plums and they grow reasonably easily for me in my wet west country garden. It might also be mentioned that if you grow large trees you will end up with more fruit than you can eat, so I have veered towards rather more late apples, because they can be stored for a few months.

The smaller the space you have available, the more picky you need to be in terms of not being able to grow everything you might want. For example I have quite a large garden so I have a couple of cherry trees even though the birds and squirrels get most of the fruit - I'm always hopeful I may get a year when I get to eat some of the crop myself. :-)

A fruit tree is for life - not just for one year so choose your tree and its location very carefully. The cheap fruit trees that are for sale in the supermarkets may become the monster that takes over your garden in a few years time. Think about it before you pop it in your trolley with the bread and milk.

Desirability of fruit, ultimate size of tree, ability to grow healthily in your climate and with your proposed pest/disease management plan.

I have just had a catalogue from J Parker's which claims that Quince A is "the most dwarf rootstock for pears", and on the next page tries to sell you a Cox's orange tree without a word as to its choosiness as to growing conditions. Moral: buy from proper fruit tree nurseries, read the notes on their website, ring to ask their advice.

In theory there's root stock, variety vigour, pollination group, is it a triploid, harvest time, flavour, how much space you have, how are you going to train the tree, how well a variety does in your region.

In real life it's how many of these really cheap £3 trees can I pack in the back of the car.

The answer was 12.

.................and all planted in a space equivalent to the back of the car!

How is your Square Foot Orchard Jay-ell?

I was a victim of buying seven trees from Lidl some years back 3 apple two cherry and two plum. The apples got planted up against the wall with a paving slab under to inhibit the tap root, just as I had seen in the Victorian Kitchen Garden. The cherry and plum were grown in pots in the ground again to inhibit the root system.

The Cherry ended up being cooking and not eating cherry and I have donated the trees to my bother in laws fruit patch as his wife makes jams and other preserves as my wife isn't into that. Still waiting for plums to survive to maturity as something eats them early in their development. Only the Apples are doing really well, turns out they are eaters and not cookers who knew, I didn't and really should have.

So if I was to do it again, I would research and decide as the guidance given in this thread above my posting by vine members.

Had cherries off it this year and a small crop of apples on the way.

I buy the cheap trees and when they get to 4-5ft I lift them and remove the bulk of the tap root, so I have a tree that will stay under 6ft when fully grown, but not a Bramley,too thuggish. I have the pots scattered about and even with this appalling summer we had we will have a bumper crop..

I think the most important thing is what do you like to eat (or preferably cook with, most fruit trees will produce far too much to eat fresh), followed by what will actually grow in your climate and soil conditions. I put them in that order because I'm growing a bunch of fruit that aren't really suited to the climate here, I just like the challenge Also consider rootstock, variety, pollination requirements, ripening time. It always amazes me how many people choose to grow varieties you can get in the supermarket, the best commercial varieties are seldom the tastiest!