'Braeburn' Apple Tree

Planting your Braeburn Apple:

• Select an appropriate spot with enough space to allow your plants to grow. Dig over the planting site and remove any weeds.
• Dig a hole twice the width of the pot, forking over the bottom to loosen the soil, then add some good quality fertiliser, compost or well-rotted manure. We've found that a square hole is better than a round one as the new roots, once they reach the edges tend to grow in a circle round the circumference of the hole whereas when they reach the corners of a square hole, they find it easier to grow through.
• Remove the tree from its pot and loosen the roots as necessary.
• Plant at the same depth as the tree was in its pot. Spread Mycorrhizal granules in contact with the roots when planting.
• Holding the tree upright in position with one hand, slowly backfill the hole with soil, so the soil falls back around the roots.
• Compact the soil around the plant with your heel to ensure good contact around the roots.
• For all trees, use our Tree Planting Kits – including stakes, rubber ties and Mycorrhizal fungi, which is proven to aid tree growth and development.
• Push 40cm of each stake into the soil next to each tree. Make a figure of eight around both the trunk and stake with a tie and fasten it off.
• Mulch around the base of the plant with a collar, compost, gravel, bark etc.
• Water the plants at least weekly – especially in dry weather – for the first 8 weeks.

Aftercare advice for Braeburn:

• Drought can severely impact the fruit yield of Braeburn so do not allow plants to dry out.
• Once established for one season, they will become much more tolerant to a lack of water, as the root system develops.

Pruning your Braeburn Apple:

• There is no real need to prune trees and shrubs for the first couple of years. Prune established trees in summer using good quality secateurs, removing weak shoots and overlapping branches, to create an evenly spaced bowl shape.
• Cut the current season’s branches back by roughly a third.
• Unless you are growing in a specific shape, Braeburns only need minimal ongoing pruning to remove damaged, diseased or dead growth.
• Prune when the tree is dormant in winter.