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New allotment- what's this tree?
Charlotte2311
Posts: 50
Hi all,
If anyone could identify this tree for me it would be a great help! Its at the very front of my new allotment plot and I've no idea what to do with it!
regards
charlotte
0
Posts
Bit difficult to say from that Charlotte. It could be apple/pear or plum - or lots of other things. Can you get a close-up of the leaves (if there are any left after recent weather) and buds? That would help. Are there the remains of any old fruit lying about underneath it?
Whatever it is, it would benefit from a good prune.
How lucky you are to have a new allotment to play with!
It looks like it hasn't been pruned for some years, Charlotte, and remedial pruning can be quite complicated. I think I'd ask an old-timer on the allotments for an opinion, and read about it too.
Apples, pears and most other fruit are pruned in the winter, plums and their kin in early summer to avoid them getting a nasty disease called siverleaf.
I agree with Steve - have a rustle through the undergrowth around the tree to see if you can find any rotten fruit or stones. If it's a plum or cherry there will be a few stones in which case don't prune it until summer. If it's an apple or pear you can prune it in mid winter.
It looks like an apple to me.
If it's a crab apple (which may originally have been planted as a pollinator) it would have small fruit - or if it's an edible one that's not been pruned that might also produce only small fruit.
I'll have a look tomorrow
It's a crab apple tree
Of course, you could wait till next summer and see what grows!
Here's a close up of the apple tree! How should I prune it?