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Never mind how big it is, how long before it starts flowering/fruiting?

DrMacDrMac Posts: 23
in The potting shed
If like me, you will be mailed almost daily about this wonderful new shrub/tree, that flowers non-stop all summer and produces masses of fruit Prince normally £30 but buy 3 for only £5 today! That sounds great doesn't it. But hang on, the plants are in 3 x 9 cm pots that turn out to hold, if lucky, well routed 6 inch long twigs with half a dozen leaves. 
What's wrong with that you say. It's a bargain, they'll grow. That's OK for you if you happen to be in the prime of life - you can wait 5 years for it to get to a decent size and flower. But I'm 85! 
So what I would like to see in adverts is not just size but also time to first flowering/fruiting so that I decide what my odds are of seeing it in flower. I'd rather pay £30 for one and be in with a chance of seeing it bloom.
Producers may be understandably reluctant to say you will have to wait 5 years to see the first flower/fruit.
Googling for some information of time to flower/fruit doesn't yield many results.
Anyone found a source of information?

Posts

  • StultiStulti Posts: 90
    You don’t mention the species of plant or its common name, so offering a comment is a bit difficult.

    I’m getting on for your age and I now only invest in annuals.


  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    A reputable grower who specialises in the kind of plant/tree that you're looking for will have contact details on their website and should be able to answer your question for the specific plant you're interested in. But they're probably not the kind of growers that are putting out those sorts of advert. If it's cheap there's bound to be a catch.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    If it's a fruit tree that's grafted onto a rootstock, time to fruiting also depends on the rootstock, see for example the info given here https://www.chrisbowers.co.uk/article/apple-tree-guide/ (not endorsing this grower, it's just what came up on a quick internet search) which says approximately how long from planting to fruiting for each rootstock (I assume based on the stage at which this grower sells them).
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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