Apple Tree

Choose a sunny, sheltered site with well-drained, fertile soil. Buy trees on a rootstock suited to your space: M27 or M9 for small gardens and containers, MM106 for medium gardens, and M25 for full-sized orchard trees. Plant bare-root trees between November and March, staking firmly. Most apples need a pollination partner from the same flowering group, so plant at least two compatible varieties or a self-fertile cultivar. Water regularly during fruit development, especially in the first three years. Mulch annually with well-rotted manure in late winter. Thin fruitlets in June to one or two per cluster for better-sized fruit.

Prune free-standing trees in winter (November to February) to create an open goblet shape. Remove dead, diseased, and crossing branches. Cut back leaders by one-third and laterals to four buds. Trained forms such as espaliers and cordons are pruned in late summer (August) by cutting new side shoots to three leaves above the basal cluster.