Backyard orchardist

Resources to help you maintain your backyard or garden orchard or community orchard.

Apple identification
Advice on how and where to get your apple identified.
Codling moth emerging from fallen apple
Are codling moth larvae programmed to emerge when they feel the thud of the host apple hitting the ground?
Fruit tree height calculator
Details of our tree height calculator which helps show the mature height of apple trees based on rootstock, soil quality, and variety vigour.
How to plant a fruit tree
A very simple guide to planting a fruit tree.
Overview of Plum species
An overview of the relationship between the various Prunus species - plums, gages, mirabelles, damsons, bullaces.
Record your spring blossom dates
It's spring in the northern hemisphere, please join our fruit tree register and record the blossom dates of your apple and plum trees and compare them with others.
Rootstocks for apple trees
Comparisons of apple rootstocks including the Malling series, Geneva series, and other rootstocks, with details of planting distances, mature heights and suitability for various fruit tree forms.
Rootstocks for cherry trees
As well as the old traditional cherry rootstocks there are now a number of modern dwarfing rootstocks becoming available.
Triploid apple varieties updated
Research led by East Malling Research on the UK National Apple Collection has confirmed a number of suspected triploid varieties.