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All about apples, pears, plums, and cherries - and orchards where they are grown

Bramley's Seedling Apple tree

Owner: Jan

Location:  Castel D'Aiano, BOLOGNA, Italy

Age:Planted in about
Rootstock:Not sure-prob MM106
Soil:shallow clay/chalk on rock 
Climate at this location:very hot dry summers, severe long winters
Pruning:Not yet
Tree form:Bush (wider at top than bottom)
Height:Up to 6ft / 2m
Cropping:Heavy crops
Growth:This tree grows easily here
Herbicides:Manual treatment (hoeing and weeding)
Pesticides:Chemical treatments
Local pests:aphids,canker,codling moth,deer,wild boar,processional (I think moths) plant louse (some kind of sap-sucking hemipteran)

Owner's comments

We live at 500 metres up in the Appennines. It has taken a lot of work, guesswork and care to get these trees, brought from the UK established. Constant watering was necessary for the first Summer. Despite advice not to mulch(provides home for voles!) or feed them, this year for the first time we have done both, and it has made a great difference. Organic pest control is definitely not enough, especially for codling moths and various other, unknown caterpillars. These were the first of our imported trees to carry fruit. We have 2 of these brilliant trees, and hope to add more - you can never have enough cooking apples here. They do not seem as affected by pest or diseases as other types, but the mature fruits have flesh that often looks mildly frozen - it is semi-transparent, but the keeping quality and taste is unimpaired. Any ideas what may be causing this?