Top Fruit

Question 1

Apples - Dessert and Cooking

Answer 1

Dessert
Eg. Fiesta (AGM) - spur fruiting. Heavy crop of medium to large fruit, excellent flavour. Keeps well. Late season variety.
Cooking
Bramley’s Seedling (AGM) - partial tip fruiting. Good crop of juicy apples. Triploid. Very vigorous, needs to be on a dwarfing rootstock.

Question 2

Storage - conditions

Answer 2

Only apples and pear can be stored for any length of time in there natural form; even then only some cultivars are suitable.
Storage conditions are: Dark, temp between 5-10 degrees C, Moist, Some air circulation, Frost proof.
Later varieties tend to keep longer.

Question 3

Storing apples and pears.

Answer 3

On slatted trays, fruits not touching - maximum air circulation.
Wrapping in greaseproof paper can extend storage period.

Placed in unsealed plastic bags with holes in them.

Pears are stored in the same way but without wrapping.

Question 4

Storing other fruits

Answer 4

Most fruits can be frozen.

Some are suitable for preserving (eg. Jam or chutney)

Question 5

Apple

Pest

Answer 5

Codling moth - lays eggs in the leaves in June/July, caterpillars hatch 2 weeks later. Tunnel into fruit. Maggot holes can sometimes be seen, though sometimes in calyx and not obvious. Holes extend to core. Physical cont

Question 6

Apple Disease

Answer 6

Apple and Pear Canker
Fungal infection - wind borne spores in spring cause infection through damaged parts of plant.
Symptoms - bark cracks and dies in increasing, concentric rings leaving a marked scar. Cambium layer is killed and if it encircles the stem the stem will die.
Treatment - cut out stem and treat with canker paint or remove whole branch, cutting well below affected area.
Prefers wet, heavy and/or acid soils - check drainage and lime if necessary.
Check variety: some are resistant and some more susceptible.
No chemicals available to amateur.

Question 7

Pear varieties

Answer 7

Conference (AGM). Reliable, regular heavy crop. Juicy and sweet fruit.

Concorde (AGM) comparatively new variety; heavy yield of high quality fruit

Question 8

Pear

Pest

Answer 8

Pear leaf blister mite:
Overwinter on dormant buds, increase in summer and feed on young leaves.
Symptoms - green pustules on leaves in May, turn brown/black in summer. Premature leaf fall and severely affected young plants may die.
No pesticide control.
Hand pick and destroy affected leaves ASAP

Question 9

Pears

Disease

Answer 9

Fireblight.
Bacterial disease. Transmitted by insects, rain or wind. Enters through lesions or stomata.
Late spring/early summer time of maximum risk - when bacteria emerges from dormant period and oozing from canker is most noticeable.
Symptoms - area appeared blackened, shrunken and cracked as if scorched by fire.
Treatment - prune out and burn infected branches, prune well back from the last visible sign of disease.
No chemicals are available to amateur.

Question 10

Plum Varieties

Answer 10

Victoria (AGM) - self fertile, heavy crops, large plum. Good dessert and eating plum.
Czar (AGM) reliable, self-fertile plum. Heavy crop of medium sized plums.

Question 11

Pruning plums.

Answer 11

Plums fruit at the base of 1year old wood and on spurs of older wood.
Prune in June/July - reduces risk of silver leaf.
Little pruning is necessary, use renewal method to keep tree productive.
Prunes grown in a fan shape should be pruned as restricted apples.

Question 12

Plums pollination and fruit thinning

Answer 12

Many plums are self fertile.
Some require pollination.
Some cultivars are incompatible.

Thin fruit to 5 - 10 cm apart.

Question 13

Plum.

Pest.

Answer 13

Plum sawfly.
Females lay eggs in April/May and the larvae hatch in about a week and tunnel into fruit.

Symptoms - entry holes in fruit, may cause premature fruit fall.
Victoria and Czar are particularly vulnerable.

Treatment - spray with deltamethrin after petal fall.
Pick of affected fruits and destroy.
Mix of nematodes.

Question 14

Plum.

Disease.

Answer 14

Silver leaf.
Fungal disease.
Symptoms - Leaves have silver colour, shoots can die back to the shoots and eventually whole tree if not treated. Affected branches may be stained dark brown.
Treatment - no chemical control available.
Cut diseased branches back 50cm below the signs of infection.
Plants sometime recover spontaneously.

Question 15

Winter pruning.

Apples and Pears - spur fruiting.

Answer 15

Remove dead, diseased and crossing branches.
Remove unproductive wood and water shoots.
Reduce new growth on leaders by one third.
Prune laterals to three or four buds.
Thin Spurs if too congested.

Question 16

Winter pruning.

Apples and pears - tip fruiting.

Answer 16

Remove dead, diseased and crossing wood.
Reduce branch leaders by one third.
Leave laterals with fruit buds on tips.
Prune other laterals to three to four buds from base of new growth to encourage fruiting laterals.

Question 17

Summer pruning.

Apples and pears in restricted forms.

Answer 17

Shorten leaders to 2cm to 3 cm new growth.
Prune laterals to three buds.
Thin Spurs.
Remove misplaced shoots; for examples ones growing in to the wall.

Question 18

Top fruit.

Tree forms

Answer 18

Unrestricted - standard, half standard and bush forms. Grown on semi dwarfing or vigorous root stock, with exception of plum they are winter pruned.

Question 19

Top fruit.

Tree forms

Answer 19

Restricted - espalier, cordon, fan.
Grown on dwarf stock or semi dwarfing root stock.
Summer pruned.

Question 20

Advantages of restricted form.

Answer 20

Earlier fruiting.
More fruit/varieties in less space.
Fit in small spaces.
Easier to spray and harvest.

Question 21

Disadvantages of restricted form.

Answer 21

Grown on dwarfing stock they require better soil and are less tolerant of drought.
Pruning is a more skilled job.
Not suitable for tip bearing varieties.

Question 22

Cherries.

Sweet and Acid

Answer 22

Sweet-eaten as a dessert eg.Stella (AGM)
Acid-used for cooking and jams eg. Morello (AGM)
Both of these types are self fertile.

Question 23

Growing sweet cherries and acid cherries

Answer 23

Sweet cherries require a sunny, sheltered spot.

Acid cherries will grow in some shade and even on a north wall.

Question 24

Pruning sweet cherries

Answer 24

Fruits at the base of the previous year’s growth and older wood.
Prune in late spring to avoid the possibility of silver leaf and bacterial canker.
Remove shoots growing into wall.
Pinch out other shoots when they have made 5 to 6 leaves.
After cropping shorten shoots to 3 buds.

Question 25

Pruning acid cherries.

Answer 25

Fruits on shoots made in the previous year.
Prune in late spring to avoid shiver leaf and bacterial canker.
Remove shoots growing into wall.
Thin out previous year’s shoots to 10cm apart (approx).
After fruiting cut out shoots that have fruited.
Tie in some of the new year’s growth - this will fruit in the following year.

Question 26

Thinning harvesting cherries.

Answer 26

No need to thin- cherries drop part of crop as fruit is ripening.
Pick with stalks when ripe.

Question 27

Cherry.

Pest.

Answer 27

Winter moth; affects many trees and shrubs.
Females up trunk and lay eggs in the main section of tree.
Caterpillars feed on leaves, blossoms and young fruitlets in spring.
Symptoms - holes in leaves.
Treatment - sticky grease band around the trunk when females might be making their way up the trunk ( Oct to April)
Spray with appropriate pesticide.

Question 28

Cherry.

Disease

Answer 28

Silver leaf - see plum