Question?

I am a transition year student in Dublin. I am enquiring about native irish trees and shrubs such as apple trees that may not be used frequently. We are growing our own vegtables and trees in transition year, as we have a lot of space that we want to put to good use. We would really appreciate if you could suggest some varieties of apple or pear tree that we could plant and also if you could supply it to us. Thank you very much. Hope to hear from you soon.

Answer:

We have often supplied apple trees for schools around the country. The choice is yours, however we normally give the following advice:

- Pear trees take a long time to come to fruit so are not normally chosen as children may be adults (sending their children to primary school) before a young pear tree matures to its fruiting stage.

- Dwarf apple trees are normally chosen as the fruit is accessible to small people to pick without breaking school rules about tree climbing – therefore i recommend M26, M27 or M9 as suitable rootstock.

- Best to pick a mid to late season ripening variety as the school year only starts in September. The early fruiting varieties may be ripe in late July and August and don’t keep. The other downside to early varieties that don’t keep is that they attract wasps (who may not follow the schools code of conduct on aggressive behavior & bullying).

- General good fruit growing practices must of course be followed, so it is good to read up a little on fruit growing if you or the school caretaker do not have fruit growing experience (warm sunny location, not a frost pocket, not too exposed to gales, free draining soil, etc, etc…)

- Later knowledge of pruning would be necessary (but perhaps there may be a knowledgeable parent to help).

- NB: Dwarf fruit trees do not tolerate competition from vigorous weeds or grass, therefore they require approximately 1.5 to 2m radius around their trunks to be kept weed and grass free.

- Some suggestions (Based on other schools choices) are sweet eating apples that are a nice size for children such as Kerry Pippin, Kilkenny Pearmain, Keegans Crab (it actually isnt a crab – this is a misnomer), Bloody Butcher, cavan rose, Ard Cairn Russet, Ross Non Nonpareil, etc…). But feel free to read the descriptions on our website to make your own choice. Also you could have a cooker and use it for a jam or tart making class.

- Pollination: All apple varieties need another apple variety (or two) in the vicinity to pollinate. Most schools are in towns or villages where neighbouring back garden orchards have apple trees. Insects often cover well over a mile in their daily round, so such distances are fine. However the closer the better, and a few trees are more likely to attract good insect visitation than one on its own. When choosing trees please reference our website comparison matrix to check pollination times. Choose at least two trees from the same flowering season (i.e. 2 mid-season flowering or 2 early season flowering, etc…)

- You may make your purchase on our website and either collect the trees if you are near Clare or have them posted to you during the dormant season. However if choosing postage it may be advisable to contact our office to specify a postage date that does not fall during school holidays. Trees must be unwrapped and ‘heeled-in’ the day they are delivered. Trees may be heeled into soil or stored in a pot of compost until the school planting day. We include planting instructions with our delivery.

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