Forum home› Fruit & veg
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Minarette apple trees - supplier + years to first fruiting

smb09smb09 Posts: 12
in Fruit & veg
I'm planning to buy 'Discovery' Minarette apple trees for a uni research project; I'll be needing 25-35 trees. Any supplier you know? And any idea how many years it takes for newly purchased bare-rooted Minarette  trees to bear their first fruits? I need to have fruits on the third year, the latest... Thanks in advance! :)

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Pomono fruit

    second year usually fruit.

  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923
    edited February 2019
    do they have to be minarette's?
    Blackmoor nurseries (don't do minarette's but could be cordon pruned on a M27 or M9 root stock), or Ken Muir do the 'copywrited' minarette type (basically a super-dwarfing root stock)
  • smb09smb09 Posts: 12
    edited February 2019
    They should be Minarettes; better would be the no-prune Ballerinas, however I need to work with 'Discovery' apples.  Theys should be columnar and slender because I'll be placing them in controlled environment chambers with this dimension  (2.64 m x 0.89 m  x 1.98 m; w x d x h); maybe 4 or 5 Minarettes in one chamber. So, I don't want my apple trees to produce long side branches. And as much as possible I don't want to prune during my study period (except for top pruning because of the vertical growth limit rendered by the chamber)... I'm not from UK; Im fromt the tropical world :) and I've just seen an apple tree this January 2019.
     
  • smb09smb09 Posts: 12
    And are Minarettes just similar to patio apples? Only that Minarette is the copyrighted product? Will I expect the same Minarette growth type from patio apple trees sold online? thanks heaps!

  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    You may struggle to find a UK supplier who can deliver outside the UK. Eire is as far as most go. There will also be phytosecurity issues which may limit which countries you can get supplies from. I would start by asking your supervisor for a list of approved suppliers.
  • smb09smb09 Posts: 12
    edited February 2019
    I'm in UK since January. Sheffield to be exact. sorry for the confusion.
  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923
    there are varieties - Discovery, Braeburn, Cox's orange pippin, Bramley etc
    then there are root stocks -M26, M9, M106, MM111 etc - these denote how much growth (height and width) the variety that is attached (or grafted) to them grows, they run from dwarfing- M9 would get to 1.5m maximum, semi-dwarfing - M26 would get to 3m and semi-standard - MM111 would get to 7m.
    there are pruning techniques - cordon, espalier, step over, standard, bush etc
    and then there marketing techniques - ballerina, minarette, patio, family etc which are actually a combination of root stock and pruning technique, most being a dwarfing root stock like M9 grown in a cordon fashion.
  • smb09smb09 Posts: 12
    Thanks for this info. Do I get it right: Minarette's are most likely grafted onto M9 rootstock? The reason I'm inclined to buying Minarette's is that they are already pre-trained to have the slender and columnar growth habit (I need to get the first fruit soonest). Again, the chamber has very limited space (2.64 m x 0.89 m  x 1.98 m; w x d x h), and I need them to have their first fruits on the second year. Is this possible for minarettes to bear this early?

    The reason why I prefer 'Discovery' apples is because parallel to the controlled chamber study is a field study in an orchard where 'Discovery' trees are grown. 
  • Singing GardenerSinging Gardener Posts: 1,237
    I have minarettes from Ken Muir and they fruited in their second year. They're expensive though.

    Don't they revert to normal trees if you don't prune the spurs each year?
  • treehugger80treehugger80 Posts: 1,923
    yes you're right because minarette is a copyrighted brand, not a type of tree, its basically a normal tree variety on a dwarfing root stock that has been pruned two or three times (meaning the price goes up) if you don't prune it in a cordon style you just end up with a  normal tree
Sign In or Register to comment.