Kitchen Garden Forum

As my Lord Lambourne apple had failed to establish itself I had asked Paul Davies of Applewise, my local supplier, for a replacement. It is a Bardsey and until I Googled it I was unaware of it's unique history. Certainly looking on the Forum which has been established to discuss the apple, it looks to be quite a special one and I am going to grow it as a large bush rather than a cordon.

For those interested the link is

http://www.bardseyapple.co.uk/index.html

Interesting stuff, Colin. We had to saw up an old Lord Lambourne yesterday that had keeled over. It was the last one of that variety in old orchard, and I am sorry to see it go. The Bardsey may be a good replacement/addition.

I have a Lord Lambourne apple which I planted as bare rooted 3 years ago. It produces leaves and blossom each year but doesn't seem to have grown much at all. Is there something about this variety that is hard to establish?
Polunation is not a problem as there are plenty of other trees nearby.

Would be grateful for any advice. I would hate to loose it.

Beryl.

Beryl, when I took my Lord Lambourne back the verdict was that it hadn't made much of root system. Paul said that he would take it back and try to grow it on in a pot. But first he would cut it right back, both at the bottom end - the stump - and at the top to, I think, near the root graft. Pretty drastic stuff.

I had 8 bare-rooted different varieties which were planted out as cordons. In the first year the Lord Lambourne started ok, then the leaves withered and started to die. I tried to encourage it by foliar feeding and it seemed to recover well. This year it started well and even produced about 20 apples. But they were only pea-sized and they withered, along with the leaves. Again, it seemed to recover a bit though I didn't try to encourage it. But obviously the problem was a lack of a proper root system. I don't know if this is a general problem with this variety. Not sure what the root-stock was.

Thanks for that Colin. Sounds a bit drastic to cut back so much. So far I haven't pruned at all and no sign of any apples setting not even pea size.
The tree looks healthy enough just nothing is happening. Maybe I will leave well alone for another year and see what happen.

Beryl.

Beryl

Try this method to get your tree 'moving'. I guarantee that it won't kill it, and have used it myself a number of times. It works. I have seen it in at least 2 pre WWII fruit books.


Get a sharp knife - stanley is good. When dormant:

Slice a continuous vertical cut in the bark all the way up the stem from just above the graft to as far as the top branch junction. You need to cut right through the cambium to the wood. It needs to be continuous.

What has happened is that, on a tree which hasn't grown much at all for a couple of years, the bark 'sets' or becomes hard and inflexible - trees like this often have a coppery sheen to their bark as opposed to the usual olive/grey colour, and very limited shoot growth (less than 3"). By cutting the bark long ways the tree forces it ap=art itself next year and expands its cambium which was restricted before

try it

Mole

That's very interesting Mole - Thanks very much I will definitely give it a go.
I have printed out your instructions to make sure I get it right.

Beryl.