Apple Tree

[Dor]

My next door neighbor gave me an apple tree. Her daughter gave her two and she shared with me. I don't know what kind it is but I am happy to get it. It may be grafted as it has limbs that are different. I am not sure it I have to have two for pollination nor does she. We really need to know what kind they are but they didn't have tags them. How can we find out?

This is not a good pic of it as it is tall and in a five gallon pot.

 

[Randy]

I am not sure you can at this point. The variety isn't nearly as important though as the size. A full-size tree will eventually dominate considerable area and probably eliminate garden space. A semi-dwarf isn't nearly as large but still occupies a fair amount of yard space. A dwarf is the best size for yards. It is certainly a grafted tree though and it could even be more than one variety grafted on to a root stock. Multi-grafts are usually pretty expensive though. If the nursery lost the tag some way though, it makes the sale of the tree difficult and could account for the low price or in this case 'free'. Most apples don't need a pollinator, some do. But if your neighbor has a tree also and they are different, your pollinator could be next door.

 

[Dor]

That is exactly what I told her Randy about our pollinators being next door. I sure hope it doesn't get too large because I don't want to give up my garden space and it doesn't look to be dwarf. The original price was $39.99 at Houston garden Center and the end of the season sale was 70 to 90% off so her daughter got them pretty cheap or even free if she had a friend that worked there.

 

[Randy]

You can always take it out if it starts to take over too much space. I took out a 'Red Delicious' shortly after we moved here ten years ago. A cherry tree sits in that place now.

 

[80stillgardening]

Apple trees are very neat. I have never had one but My neighbor does and the high school boys pick them off after school. She encourages it. I know one thing. She's never bought an apple. And neither have I with her as my neighbor hehe.

 

[Randy]

They are nice to have. When we bought this place 11 years ago there were five apple trees on it along with three pears and a plum. I took one apple tree off and planted two more. I give away a lot of apples too, but this year was not a good year. We had such a wet spring that the blossoms did not get pollenated.

 

[Maggie]

We planted a "Red Delicious" and a "Golden Delicious" in early november. When we bought the Red Delicious we were told we had to have a Golden Delicious to pollinate it. We had to go to several nurseries to find the second one because it was so late in the year that they were all sold out. He also told us if we had a crabapple tree that it would pollinate with that or if there was another apple tree nearby. When we bought our place in 1994 there were 7 apple trees of different varieties but about 4 years ago they started dying off (3 of them this past year).