Aldi fruit trees

Duffryman

Hi all

Pretty clueless so-called gardener here, hoping for some advice.

I see Aldi have fruit trees at the moment for €4.99:
https://www.aldi.ie/en/specialbuys/thur-4-feb/products-detail-page/ps/p/fruit-tree/

This is significantly less than the €20 to €25 each I paid for two apples trees (one eating, one cooking) two years ago, and what I expected to pay when I finally got round to buying a further three trees to put in a row as initially intended.

Am wondering if there are any issues with these Aldi trees I should know about, e.g.:
-the listing online doesn't say what variety they are - would they be suitable for Irish climate or might they be more suited to places with more sun?

- If I went, for example, for one more apple tree, one plum, and one pear, would the plum and pear be self-pollinating or should I instead go for a pair (no pun intended!) of one or the other?

- probably a very basic question here, but is the fact that it says 'grafted trees' any way significant?

- anything else I should know about? It's not the prospect of being down €15 that I'd be worried about - it's more the thought of maybe putting in trees and leaving them to grow for a few years, only to discover then that they don't bear any fruit because they just weren't suitable in the first place.

Thanks in advance for any help.

solargain

They are younger trees than the others you were buying , Pears gave me trouble , but the rest all came in their own time . You need to see what variety they have but if they are cross pollinating you need a second compatible tree for each

macraignil

I have bought Aldi fruit trees before and they have grown and produced fruit. The variety is important to get right for the size of your garden and your preference for fruit to eat.
The selection in Aldi is limited so you might not find the ones you really want. The trees I have seen there in previous years have been ones suitable for growing in Ireland but some will thrive more than others. I bought bramley cooking apples that now are much more developed than some of the other apple trees. Gala apple trees I bought have remained small and this is expected as they have been grafted on to root stock designed to keep the tree small. One of the problems with the cheaper trees is that the fruit tree and the root stock they are grown on might not be clearly explained. The gala variety trees demonstrate the point in that no mater how many years they are growing, because of the choice of root stock in the graft combination they will not become large fruit trees. As far as I know most fruit trees available are now grafted so this is not unique to the Aldi trees.
I have got a Pear variety there that has not fruited yet and this I think is because that variety flowers too early in Ireland to avoid damage by late frost. The best pear variety I have got from them is conference and this is said to be someway self pollinating. Open pollinating varieties need to have another pear tree flowering at the same time to fruit properly.

macraignil

I have bought Aldi fruit trees before and they have grown and produced fruit. The variety is important to get right for the size of your garden and your preference for fruit to eat.
The selection in Aldi is limited so you might not find the ones you really want. The trees I have seen there in previous years have been ones suitable for growing in Ireland but some will thrive more than others. I bought bramley cooking apples that now are much more developed than some of the other apple trees. Gala apple trees I bought have remained small and this is expected as they have been grafted on to root stock designed to keep the tree small. One of the problems with the cheaper trees is that the fruit tree and the root stock they are grown on might not be clearly explained. The gala variety trees demonstrate the point in that no mater how many years they are growing, because of the choice of root stock in the graft combination they will not become large fruit trees. As far as I know most fruit trees available are now grafted so this is not unique to the Aldi trees.
I have got a Pear variety there that has not fruited yet and this I think is because that variety flowers too early in Ireland to avoid damage by late frost. The best pear variety I have got from them is conference and this is said to be someway self pollinating. Open pollinating varieties need to have another pear tree flowering at the same time to fruit properly.

magicbastarder

macraignil wrote: »

The variety is important to get right for the size of your garden and your preference for fruit to eat.

precisely this; check the rootstock, the variety, and the pollination requirements.
you could end up with a tree which grows too big for your garden, or does not do well in our climate (for example, i remember seeing granny smith trees being sold in aldi or lidl a few years ago; our climate is not really suited to them).

i was told by one person that when aldi first started selling trees, they bought a few and when they started cropping several years later, it was not the variety on the label.

in short, aldi and lidl can't be beaten on price for fruit trees. but consider that when you buy a fruit tree, you would probably expect many years growth out of it, spending an extra €20 in a good garden centre getting good advice may be a solid investment.

solargain

I had a look at them yesterday , they are badly marked and don't tell you which brands are self pollinating or cross pollinating like they did in previous years. So you would have to find the brands you are looking at & go home & check .

FlowerGarden

I met someone who bought a plum tree in Aldi. It turned out to be a wild plum, the tree grew huge and the fruits were tiny. Spend the extra few quid to get decent advise and support your local garden centre at the same time instead of throwing your money away to a German discounter for a bad quality product.

smacl

I picked up three plum trees a few years ago from Aldi which worked out great apart from the fact that one turned out to be a mislabelled pear tree. Lots of lovely fruit though, and on dwarf stock so easy to maintain in the front garden. One thing to be careful of is when planting near a wall make sure they're a good distance out from the wall, as they can damage the wall quite easily. I've made that mistake in the past and had to dig out and destroy and otherwise great tree. Regarding cross pollination, there are a number of charts out there, I've my garden set up to give me a reasonably long season of fresh fruit which works well.

smacl

magicbastarder wrote: »

in short, aldi and lidl can't be beaten on price for fruit trees. but consider that when you buy a fruit tree, you would probably expect many years growth out of it, spending an extra €20 in a good garden centre getting good advice may be a solid investment.

Agree 100% though once you know what you're looking for, the Aldi stuff is often fine.

magicbastarder

also worth mentioning - if you want to buy trees there, best get them now. they're bare root, but as they're not stored outside, but in a heated shop, they'll start to leaf soon if not already.

Marhay70

FlowerGarden wrote: »

I met someone who bought a plum tree in Aldi. It turned out to be a wild plum, the tree grew huge and the fruits were tiny. Spend the extra few quid to get decent advise and support your local garden centre at the same time instead of throwing your money away to a German discounter for a bad quality product.

These trees are grafted, it's possible that the graft died and the rootstock took over. This is a common occurence.