2. Learning Outcomes
2. Top fruit .
2.1 List the types of top fruit (including apples, pears, plums and cherries) and factors for
their selection, to include dessert and culinary cultivars; harvesting season; and
storage capability
2.2 Explain the importance of cross pollination and fertilisation in top fruit, including
flowering periods, compatibility, diploid and triploid cultivars.
2.3 State four methods of ensuring effective pollination in fruit production.
2.4 Describe the factors in choosing a suitable site for an orchard
2.5 For named varieties of each of apple (pollination groups 1-5), and plum, state
2.5.1: rootstock requirements, and fruiting habit (apples only)
2.5.2 planting, feeding and pruning requirements (for both natural and restricted forms
and for tip and spur bearers)
2.5.3 describe bush, espalier, fan and cordon pruning
2.5.4 describe 1 pest and 1 disease for each and their symptoms and controls
2.5.5 describe harvesting and storage requirements for each
2.5.6 Describe how quality and yield can be determined by the following: planting; base
and top dressings; mulching; weed control; irrigation; training systems; appropriate
pruning; and pest and disease control.
2.5.7 Describe the importance of formative and maintenance pruning for tree shape and
3. Site for an orchard
Sheltered – top fruit depends on bees for
pollination so windbreaks will improve fruit
set.
Sunny- south facing aspect for best ripening
Good depth of soil
pH 6.5-7.0 ideally.
Frost protection – avoid frost pockets; use of
fleece, water sprinklers, heaters.
4. Pollination
Some top fruit are self fertile to some extent
but this is not reliable and yields are better
with cross pollination.
Pollination groups provide a guide as to
when the variety will flower. Need varieties
in the same or adjoining groups for
successful pollination.
Windbreaks encourage pollinating insects
Triploids – two other diploid pollinators
needed
5. Rootstocks
Top fruit trees do not grow to manageable
sizes on their own roots.
Dwarfing rootstocks enable control of size
Dwarfing rootstocks also mean that the tree
reaches maturity more quickly and fruits
earlier
MM rootstocks have woolly aphid resistance
6. Top Fruit Tree Forms
Unrestricted – standard and half standard
and bush forms. Grown on semi-dwarfing or
vigorous root stocks, winter pruned (except
for Plums which are only pruned in Summer)
Restricted – espalier, cordon, fan. Grown on
dwarfing or semi-dwarfing rootstocks and
summer pruned.
7. Advantages and disadvantages of
restricted forms
Advantages: Fruit earlier than unrestricted
forms. More fruit/more varieties for less
space. Easier to spray and harvest. Will fit
into small spaces.
Disadvantages: Grown on dwarfing stocks
that need better soil and tolerate drought less
well. Need more skill to prune. Tip bearing
varieties of apple cannot be grown in this
way.
8. Pruning - winter
Winter pruning – Apples and pears (spur fruiting).
Reduce new growth on branch leaders by 1/3.
Prune laterals to 3-4 buds. Thin spurs if too
congested. Remove unproductive shoots and water
shoots and any dead, diseased or crossing wood.
Can you throw your hat through the tree?
Tip bearing apples – reduce branch leaders as
before. Leave laterals that have fruit buds at the tip.
Prune any others to 3-4 buds from the base of the
new growth to encourage fruiting laterals to develop.
Remove dead, diseased etc wood as before.
9. Pruning - Summer
Apples and pears in restricted forms. Shorten
leaders to 2-3cm new growth. Prune laterals to 3
buds. Thin spurs. Remove any shoots that are
growing the ‘wrong way’ e.g. into the wall.
Plums – tree forms. Remove dead, diseased and
crossing wood and prune as necessary to control
size by removing branches.
Plums – Fans. Prune as for restricted apples.
10. Feeding
Nitrogen – encourages leafy growth. Limited
requirement unless on dwarf stock in restricted form.
Phosphorous – promotes root development and cold
hardiness. Some supplementation required.
Potassium – promotes fruit formation. Likely to need
feeding in winter by applying Sulphate of Potash or
wood ash to the base of each tree.
Calcium – deficiency causes Bitter Pit. Applied in
liquid form as a foliar feed.
11. Apples – pests and diseases
Aphid (especially woolly aphid)
Codling moth
Canker
Apple scab
14. Harvesting and storage
Apples – pick once they lift off in a cupped
hand. Store in dark, cool place with
moderate humidity (plastic bags with holes in
in a dark shed)
Pears – store less well. As for apples but do
not wrap.
Plums – jam, bottle or freeze when cooked.
15. Learning outcomes
2. Top fruit .
2.1 List the types of top fruit (including apples, pears, plums and cherries) and factors for
their selection, to include dessert and culinary cultivars; harvesting season; and
storage capability
2.2 Explain the importance of cross pollination and fertilisation in top fruit, including
flowering periods, compatibility, diploid and triploid cultivars.
2.3 State four methods of ensuring effective pollination in fruit production.
2.4 Describe the factors in choosing a suitable site for an orchard
2.5 For named varieties of each of apple (pollination groups 1-5), and plum, state
2.5.1: rootstock requirements, and fruiting habit (apples only)
2.5.2 planting, feeding and pruning requirements (for both natural and restricted forms
and for tip and spur bearers)
2.5.3 describe bush, espalier, fan and cordon pruning
2.5.4 describe 1 pest and 1 disease for each and their symptoms and controls
2.5.5 describe harvesting and storage requirements for each
2.5.6 Describe how quality and yield can be determined by the following: planting; base
and top dressings; mulching; weed control; irrigation; training systems; appropriate
pruning; and pest and disease control.
2.5.7 Describe the importance of formative and maintenance pruning for tree shape and
