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Apple Stepovers

siananiganssiananigans Posts: 49
in Fruit & veg
I'm very keen to plant two stepover apple trees along the low terrace in my garden, but I am struggling to find any in stock anywhere. My local GC had one, but the hoizontals had started to turn upwards at the ends, and had hardened in that position so wouldn't have been able to train further in a horizontal habit.

Online I'm finding they are either out of stock, or nurseries are selling as stepovers, what are actually maiden trees that I'd need to train myself. I'm not complete averse to this, but I would prefer to buy pre-trained ideally.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Maybe I'm missing somewhere. Or am I too early, will most places have their stock later this month/november?

Stepover Apple Trees Winter Pruning Year One Orchard Notes

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Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 10,938
    I would have thought with some brute force the errant branches can be tied-in..?

    If there's no way they can be tamed, then cut the branch to a suitable bud.
    That bud will then start to grow next year and you can tie it in as it grows.

    All branches of all plants will try to grow upwards as that is what they do in order to get the best sunlight - stepovers have to be forced not to do that.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • pansyfacepansyface Posts: 22,316
    edited October 2022
    Exactly as pete says.

    But if you want a ready made step over apple tree and you don’t mind what variety, here is an excellent nursery and an excellent variety.

    https://www.keepers-nursery.co.uk/fruit-trees/apple/late-season-eating-apple/ribston-pippin

    The price reflects the amount of work required to get you there. 🫤
    Apophthegm -  a big word for a small thought.
    If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
  • FireFire Posts: 17,352
    edited October 2022
    I don’t think it matters that much if the branch tips are turning up. As they grow out, the whole will get more even. The idea of training is to leave the growing tips untied. They will grow faster if they can pull upwards. 

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 10,938
    edited October 2022
    Looking more closely at your photo I can see it's not had a summer pruning which it needs to keep it a stepover apple.
    Also the unpruned long stems will restrict the horizontal growth.
    They need to be pruned every summer.
    It's easy to do and takes less than 5 mins a year
    Have a look here-
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/apples/growing-and-training-as-cordons
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/apples/stepover-training

    I think the branch ends can easily be tied down, they won't be that stiff yet.


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • siananiganssiananigans Posts: 49
    Pete.8 said:
    Looking more closely at your photo I can see it's not had a summer pruning which it needs to keep it a stepover apple.
    Also the unpruned long stems will restrict the horizontal growth.
    They need to be pruned every summer.
    It's easy to do and takes less than 5 mins a year
    Have a look here-
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/apples/growing-and-training-as-cordons
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/apples/stepover-training

    I think the branch ends can easily be tied down, they won't be that stiff yet.

    Ah this isn't mine, just a general photo of a stepover to illustrate my point. The one at the garden centre was very stuff, there's no way they'd have bent down (I tried!) 
  • siananiganssiananigans Posts: 49
    Fire said:
    I don’t think it matters that much if the branch tips are turning up. As they grow out, the whole will get more even. The idea of training is to leave the growing tips untied. They will grow faster if they can pull upwards. 

    They weren't just a little bit upwards and still bendy, they were at tight angles to the horizontal and quite thick and totally hardened. 
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 10,938
    oops - sorry I lost the the thread of this thread..

    You could always just buy a 1 year maiden of any variety you like, just make sure it's on an M27 rootstock which is what's used for stepovers then train it as in the link above.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,262

    Chris Bowers stocks stepover apples



  • siananiganssiananigans Posts: 49
    fidgetbones said:

    Chris Bowers stocks stepover apples



    I emailed them as all but a couple were out of stock and they said they aren't doing them anymore, 😔
  • siananiganssiananigans Posts: 49
    A little update on the stepover situation, I found a lovely nursery online called Larch Cottage https://www.larchcottage.co.uk/ who had a number of different stepovers in stock and would deliver nationally. So I ordered "Tickled Pink" and "Red Windsor". They arrived last week and I planted them on Saturday. 

    I'm going to get a crabapple tree too, just to help with pollination, as they're in consecutive groups rather than matching.

    Very Happy   :smiley:


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