Garden Studios

If you’re lucky enough to have a fruit tree to your garden you will have probably already gathered on your apples and pears, but when there’s still a pile of windfalls under your tree now’s the time to clear them away.

Once apples, pears and plums get brown rot, in the event you leave them decaying at the soil the disease will lie within the ground – so clear them away and burn them.

That goes for leaves with black rot, too.

Any mummified fruit ought to be faraway from the tree – a difficulty that regularly affects plum trees – because these will affect next year’s growth, and also you should clear away leaves regularly in order that slugs and snails don’t bed down in them for the winter.

Talking of pests, you’ll be able to protect your fruit trees from the feminine winter moths that lay their eggs in apple, pear, plum and cherry trees by attaching sticky grease bands to the tree trunks before the tip of October.

This is to forestall the wingless female moths that emerge from pupae inside the soil in November, from crawling up the tree to the branches.

Just because the spring blossom and leaves burst open the eggs hatch into caterpillars, providing a timely feast for them.

They also eat the leaves of alternative trees and shrubs, including roses, before crawling back into the soil in June to pupate and the cycle begins another time.

Don’t forget to place grease bands around tree stakes in case your fruit trees are still young enough to be tied to at least one, and you’ll also spray the trees once buds appear but before the blossoms open.

Look for sprays with the chemical deltramethrin in, but word that using chemicals on food may cause illnesses.

An alternative is pyrethrum, that’s present in organic sprays, otherwise you can cover the bottom underneath your fruit trees to check out to avoid the moths crawling out in November, or the caterpillars burrowing backpedal in June.

October may be the most effective month to plant new fruit trees, but be sure you check the rootstock size so the tree won’t grow too big in your garden.

As a coarse guide the M27 to about 5ft, the M9 grows to about 8ft and M26 to about 10ft, but expert advise from a expert nursery is usually appropriate.