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Patio Apple
Paddy5
Posts: 82
I bought a patio apple tree thinking it would have normal size apples. I have a really good crop this year of small apples. Having read the label from the tree I see that the perfectly formed eating apples should be small and I have no idea what to do with them. Any ideas gratefully received.
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Posts
What variety is it?
Does the label say when they should be ready to eat? Some apples need to be stored for a bit before they develop their full flavour. And don't dismiss your fruit just because it's small... it might be delicious!
The label says :- Patio Sophia. The wee apples look lovely and disease free but tiny
Having googled "patio apple sophia" it does at least confirm it's not meant to be a crab apple! So that's one question out of the way...
The photo seems to show normal-to-smallish eating apples.
Did you thin the apples at all? With a young tree in particular, the number of fruit set in a good year may exceed the number it can bring to maturity. The root system won't be very extensive yet, so you would be advised next year to thin the crop out when they're quite small (by July, say) so there's a reasonable gap between the fruit. The other important thing is sufficient water - if you think about it, a large part of a good apple is juice! This summer has been particularly dry, of course. Is the tree in a pot? If so, watering is even more important & you should never let the compost dry out.
Forgive me if I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs! I don't know what experience you have with growing fruit.
If your tree is in the ground you should feed it in early spring with a balanced fertiliser (something like growmore or blood, fish & bonemeal). If it's in a container it needs more feeding - every fortnight in spring & summer.
So maybe you'll have better luck next year... but what to do with very small apples? Are they really too small to eat? You could try juicing them I suppose...
Chutney
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Yum...
Thank you SO much especially LIRIODENDRON. You got the "grandmother" bit right !!! It is in a pot and I didn't feed it. I will try thinning out the fruit next year. The wee apples look so perfect but TINY.. Chutney is a thought. Thanks.
You're welcome, Paddy!
You could post a thread next year to tell us how you get on...