Tree fruit
How to grow apple trees
Malus domestica
Plant a bare-root apple tree between November and March in full sun on any soil that does not sit wet. The rootstock decides the size of the tree, so choose that before the variety, and make sure a compatible apple flowers nearby for pollination. Prune trained forms in summer and free-standing trees in winter, keep a weed-free mulched circle at the base, and feed lightly: potash matters more than nitrogen.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy
- Position
- Full sun, sheltered
- Soil
- Deep, fertile, free-draining
- Ideal pH
- 6.0 to 7.0
- Water
- Moderate, young trees and container trees need regular water in summer
- Feeding
- Moderate feeder
Sowing and planting apple trees
WhenPlant bare-root Nov to Mar; blossom Apr to May; harvest Aug to Oct by variety
Starting off
Plant bare-root Nov to Mar into unfrozen ground, pot-grown any month with summer watering; stake dwarf rootstocks permanently. Named varieties are grafted, not sown, chip-bud onto a clonal rootstock in Jul to Aug or whip-and-tongue graft in Mar. Seedlings fruit after 7 to 10 years and never come true.
Spacing and planting
Spread is set by rootstock: M27 1.5 to 2 m, M9 2.5 to 3 m, M26 3 to 4.5 m, MM106 4 to 5.5 m; cordons 75 cm apart. Dig a hole 60 cm wide, no deeper than the roots, graft union 10 cm above soil. Fine in a 45 to 50 cm pot on M27, M9 or M26.
Varieties worth growing
- Discovery
- Early August dessert apple, crisp and pink-fleshed, scab-resistant; eat within a week.
- James Grieve
- September, juicy, cooks and eats, a good pollinator for others and happy in the north.
- Egremont Russet
- October, nutty russet, partly self-fertile, compact and disease-tolerant; the easiest Cox alternative.
- Fiesta (Red Pippin)
- The Cox flavour without the Cox temper; heavy, regular and healthy.
- Bramley's Seedling
- The cooker, but a triploid: it needs two other varieties nearby to pollinate and grows huge unless on M26 or smaller.
Apple trees month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Winter prune free-standing trees. Plant bare-root in open weather.
- February
Finish pruning. Late in the month, feed under the canopy.
- March
Mulch with 5 cm of compost, keeping it off the trunk. Extra potash on heavy-cropping trees.
- April
Blossom. Fleece small trees on frosty nights. Cal-Mag under the canopy.
- May
Pheromone trap for codling moth mid month. Water new trees weekly.
- June
June drop. Thin remaining fruit to one per cluster, 10 to 15 cm apart. Second Cal-Mag dose.
- July
Card band on the trunk for codling larvae. Water container trees daily.
- August
Summer prune cordons and espaliers mid month. Pick Discovery.
- September
Pick James Grieve and other mid-season varieties when they part easily with the stalk.
- October
Pick late keepers. Grease band on the trunk. Rake up leaves and mummified fruit.
- November
Plant bare-root. Start winter pruning once leaves are down.
- December
Check stores monthly; remove any rotting fruit.
Feeding apple trees
A moderate feeder once established. A balanced spring dose leaning to potash under the canopy, mulch, and calcium for the fruit on heavy-cropping trees. Too much nitrogen gives canker and bitter pit.
A balanced spring feed leaning to potassium for fruiting.
Feeding plan
Late February to March, established trees
Fruit & Vegetable Fertiliser 4-5-6
70 to 110 g/m² of the area under the canopy; for a bush on MM106 with a 3 m spread that is about 500 to 700 g, scattered from the trunk to just beyond the drip line.
March, trees that cropped heavily last year
20 to 35 g/m² under the canopy.
April and again in June
15 g/m² under the canopy, watered in; the calcium reduces bitter pit on susceptible varieties such as Bramley.
Young trees, first three springs
Fruit & Vegetable Fertiliser 4-5-6
50 g round each tree in March, plus a compost mulch, then water weekly through the first summer.
Pots
Fruit & Vegetable Fertiliser 4-5-6
2 to 4 g per litre of compost as a top-dress in March and again in June: 100 to 200 g for a 50 cm pot.
Planting
5 g per litre of root-ball volume on bare roots, once, especially where an old apple grew before.
Signs to watch
Sunken brown pits in the flesh (bitter pit)
Calcium not reaching fruit under erratic water and heavy potash
Mulch, water evenly, ease off potash
Pale leaves, growth under 20 cm
Nitrogen short
Nitrogen feed plus compost mulch
Pests, diseases and problems
A maggot and frass in the core, fruit drops early
Codling moth
Pheromone trap from mid May to catch males, corrugated card band round the trunk in July for larvae to pupate in, then remove and burn it in autumn.
Leaves and young fruit eaten in spring by small green caterpillars
Winter moth
Grease band round the trunk and stake from October to catch the wingless females climbing up.
Olive-black scabby patches on leaves and fruit, fruit cracks
Apple scab in a wet spring
Rake and compost fallen leaves, prune to open the tree, grow Discovery or Egremont Russet.
Sunken dead patches of bark with flaky rings, branch dies beyond
Canker, worst on heavy wet soil
Cut out to clean wood in summer and bin it, improve drainage, avoid high nitrogen; Cox and James Grieve are prone.
White fluffy wax on branches and pruning wounds
Woolly aphid
Scrub off with a stiff brush and soft soap; earwigs and ladybirds help.
Fruit rots brown on the tree with rings of cream spots
Brown rot entering through wounds
Remove every mummified fruit from the tree and ground, control wasps and codling that make the wounds.
Powdery white coating on shoot tips
Powdery mildew
Prune out silvered shoots in winter and mildewed tips in spring.
Pruning and harvest
Pruning and care
Winter-prune free-standing trees Nov to Feb: remove dead, crossing and crowded wood, shorten leaders by a third while young, thin congested spurs later; tip-bearers (Bramley, Discovery) need only light thinning. Summer-prune cordons and espaliers in mid-Aug, cutting new laterals to 3 leaves above the basal cluster. Thin after the June drop to one fruit per cluster, 10 to 15 cm apart.
Harvest and storage
Cup the fruit, lift and twist; it is ripe when it parts with the stalk intact and the pips are brown. Early types (Discovery, Aug) keep a week; late keepers (Bramley, Oct) store 3 to 6 months wrapped at 3 to 5 °C. First crop in 2 to 3 years on M9, 3 to 4 on MM106; a mature MM106 bush gives 25 to 50 kg.
Good to knowMost varieties need a pollination partner; prune in winter (or in summer for restricted, trained forms).
Growing apple trees in pots
An apple on M27, M9 or M26 rootstock lives happily in a 45 to 50 cm pot of loam-based (John Innes No. 3) compost; nothing more vigorous will. Buy a self-fertile or partly self-fertile variety such as Egremont Russet, or two pots. Stake permanently, because dwarf rootstocks have weak roots. Water daily in summer and never let the pot dry at flowering or in July when fruit swells. Repot into fresh compost every three years in winter, pruning a fifth of the roots away, and thin fruit hard: six to eight apples is a good crop for a potted tree.
Apple trees: common questions
When should I feed an apple tree?
Once, in late February or March before the buds break, with a balanced feed leaning to potash under the canopy, then a mulch. Heavy-cropping trees take extra potash in March and calcium in April and June. Nothing after midsummer.
Why does my apple tree drop its fruit in June?
The June drop is normal: the tree sheds fruit it cannot carry. Thin what is left to one fruit per cluster so the rest size up and the tree does not slip into biennial cropping.
Do I need two apple trees?
Usually yes, or a neighbour's tree or a crab apple within 50 m flowering at the same time. Egremont Russet and James Grieve are partly self-fertile; Bramley is triploid and needs two other varieties.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.