It is an extremely difficult art to make the right choice among the hundreds of existing varieties of fruit trees.Before deciding on any of them, we should carefully recognize the conditions in which these plants will grow for many years.
The main factor determining the basic assumptions of horticulture is the size of the area at our disposal.For a tall tree of a traditional variety, an area of up to 10 m in diameter should be provided.Significant fruit yields can be expected only after seven or eight years.However, in the years to come, the tree will bear fruit reliably and abundantly.
A less impressive tree with a narrow spindle crown can grow even in a small garden of a terraced house. It bears fruit in the second year, but the yields will never be huge.The height of the trees makes it possible to carry out all maintenance works, even straight from the ground.The intermediate solution are trees with a shorter trunk, about1 meter long, with an area of 4-6 m².
If we like the old variety, let's check in the nursery if there is a more modest form with a small crown.We should also remember that many new varieties have been bred for cultivation on orchard plantations, which will not grow well in a natural garden or in an orchard overgrown with grass that imitates the old patterns.
The intensity of maintenance treatments depends primarily on the tree's resistance to diseases and pest attacks.Both the cultivars known from the end of the 19th century and those bred in recent decades are very resistant. Such advantages have, for example, 'Topaz', one of the new varieties of apple trees. The new 'Lapins' cherry is a he althy and strong variety.It has one more important advantage: it is self-pollinating and produces a lot of fruit even when there is no partner pollinating its flowers nearby.
Stakes of small fruit trees
When choosing a variety, the way of using the fruit is also important.If we primarily care about juicy apples eaten almost straight from the tree at the end of summer, let's choose new varieties' Piros' or ' Rubin ', and not the long-known' Landsberska 'or' Gray Reneta '.
Many old apple varieties have fruits that are suitable for long storage, preserves and baking.The varieties of pear, plum, cherry and other fruit trees differ in a similar way, but it is worth remembering that that specific characteristics do not indicate whether a variety is old or new. For many reasons, also to preserve the endangered varieties, the search for the old forms of fruit trees began at the end of the 20th century.
