If you want to make your desserts, smoothies, and fruit salads tastier, then grow Red Custard Apple for a delightful tropical treat!
30.07.2023 - 16:43 / gardenerspath.com / Kristine Lofgren
13 of the Best Dwarf Apple Tree VarietiesWe aren’t all blessed with acres and acres of land.
Most of us have to make do with a small patch of soil, or sometimes without any land at all. But apple tree lovers shouldn’t give up on their orchard dreams.
We just need to figure out how to make do with less space.
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There are so many fantastic dwarf apples out there that hardly take up any space at all.
There are even a few that don’t branch out, so you only need a few square feet to grow and harvest your own fruits.
Heck, if you want to, you can even grow apple trees as bonsai. They produce full-sized fruit!
Need a quick refresher on growing your own apples? Start here.
If you’re dreaming of apples but you don’t have a lot of space, keep reading. We’re going to check out some of the best dwarf apple tree options out there.
Here’s a quick preview of what’s coming up:
13 of the Best Dwarf Apple TreesApples come in three sizes: standard, semi-dwarf, and dwarf.
Standards reach about 30 feet tall, semi-dwarf cultivars grow to heights of 14 to 22 feet, and dwarf varieties stay under about 12 feet tall.
Most dwarf and semi-dwarf trees are propagated using grafted rootstock.
That’s part of why these trees won’t grow true from seed. If you were to plant a seed that came from an fruit produced by one of these trees, you’d end up with a full-sized tree that would be nothing like the parent.
There are a few “true” dwarf trees. These are cultivars that have been bred over years to stay small rather than being grafted onto rootstock.
These wouldn’t grow true from seed either, since apple seeds are produced via pollination, a
If you want to make your desserts, smoothies, and fruit salads tastier, then grow Red Custard Apple for a delightful tropical treat!
Learn About Pear Tree Pollination
A cherry plum, sweet, thin-skinned and very prolific (you’ll also find it sold under ‘Red Grape Sugar Plum’). It was in the top three of our recent taste test and everyone liked it for its strong tomato flavour that’s sweet but not overly so, and its firm not mushy texture. It has a slight acidity running through it which all sweet tomatoes need. It ripens quite late compared to ‘Sungold’ and produces for a long period of time. It’s lovely in a mixed salad with the larger varieties.
Homalomenas are also popular for their compact size, making them ideal for indoor or outdoor spaces with limited room. They are a great choice for beginners, as they are relatively low maintenance and can adapt well to a variety of growing conditions. Read on to know about the Best Types of Homalomena Varieties.
Like honeybees, bumblebees visit flowers to collect pollen and nectar to take back to their colonies to feed the developing brood.
Tips for Growing Honeycrisp Apples Malus domestica ‘Honeycrisp’
Q: We have a Malus (ornamental crab apple tree) in our back garden, which has grown from small to its present 20ft over 15 years. It buds and flowers nicely, but then turns a bit shabby. It doesn’t seem like a healthy tree. Can you help? We are debating whether we need to remove it and replace it. If it does need to be removed, what replacement would you suggest? CF, Co Kilkenny
How to Grow and Care for Braeburn Apple Trees Malus x domestica ‘Braeburn’
Discover how to summer prune apple trees to get more fruit in this helpful film. Pruning trees often scares people, but we show you how to cut back new growth in a few simple steps. Tamsin Westhorpe, gardener at Stockton Bury Gardens, shows how easy it is. Winter pruning is focused on growth, but summer pruning is done to make sure you get a really great crop of fruit next year.
There are over 7000 different varieties of apple tree including those classed as eaters, cookers, crab or cider apples. 10% of these are available from RHS plant finder recommended nurseries.
The flowering crab apples, Malus Rosaceae, are excellent floral trees with the added bonus of small usually edible fruit. The Malus Red Sentinel above has a profusion of small hard red autumn fruit that can be admired in the garden, left to feed birds, converted into a jelly or added to other food dishes. Crab apples generally contain a deal of pectin and are seldom eaten uncooked.
An apple a day is not possible if you only get an apple every other year and that is the fate of some trees. Biennial bearing or a high crop followed by virtually no crop is not the sort of apple production a gardener needs.