Browns Apple Trees

Browns Apple Trees

Browns Apple trees produce a late season cider apple that is also good for making apple juice and cooking.

Browse our full range of apple trees, see the full variety of fruit trees or read our guide to buying the right apple tree.

Characteristics of Browns Apple Trees:

• Use: Cider. Vintage quality, sharp flavour.
• Spur Bearer: suitable for cordons & espaliers, trained on wires.
• Tree's growth habit: Strong vigour. Spreading form.
• Harvest: From mid-October
• Cider apples should be pressed for their juice as quickly as possible.

General description of Browns Apple:

Browns Apple trees are a vigorous Devonshire cider apple breed that also make nice cooking apples. They have become quite popular in new orchards: the trees are a bit slow to begin producing fruit, but once they start they will make big crops.
A medium sized fruit that falls when ripe, Browns Apples have firm flesh and a sharp flavour. When used for cider making, the juice is classed as a full "sharp". It is vintage quality, which means that you can make a respectable cider using just these apples.
They also make decent cooking apples. The fresh juice is refreshing to drink and doesn't need to blended with sweeter varieties.

Rootstocks:
All of our Browns Apple trees are grown on MM106 rootstocks.

Pollination Partners for Browns Apple:
Your trees are self sterile and their flowers must be pollinated to make fruit.
Browns Apple is in pollination Group E.
This means that they will cross-pollinate with other apple trees in pollination Groups D, E and F.

See our Guide to Apple Tree Pollination for a full list of partners & more tips about pollination.

Have a look at our quick guide if you are new to brewing cider at home.

Browns Apple Disease notes:
Disease resistance: Scab (strong).

History & Parentage:
This tree was found by Mr Hill, a nurseryman in Staverton, Devon, sometime before 1920.

How Apple Trees are Measured & Delivered:
Our fruit trees are delivered in up to 3 shapes and you can also buy selected apple trees as ready made cordons.
Maiden: This unbranched tree is the smallest starting size. You can train maidens into espaliers and cordons.
Cordon: Browns Apple trees are spur-bearers, so they can be made into cordons and espaliers.
Bush: This is a style of freestanding tree with a short trunk of about 60cm. It will grow to about 3 metres tall.
Half-Standard: This is a freestanding style that will grow into a full sized, "normal" apple tree, about 4 metres tall.

Notes on planting Browns Apple trees:
All fruit trees like a rich soil with decent drainage, protection from the wind and plenty of sun. Apple trees like clay soil, as long as it is not prone to bad waterlogging.
This tree is potentially suitable for organic growing in the more humid West and South of Britain, where scab and canker are more common.

Prepare your site before planting:
Improving the soil in advance of planting your apple trees will help them establish quickly and be productive for years to come. After you have destroyed all the weeds and grass, you can dig the soil over. Remove any stones and rubbish and mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades.
You can do this on planting day, but when you do it weeks or months in advance, you will give the soil time to settle again.

Spacing Browns Apple trees:
Freestanding bushes: 12-18 feet (4-6 metres) between trees and rows.
Freestanding half-standards: 18-30 feet (6-10 metres) between trees and rows.
In general, allow 1 more metre between rows than there is between each tree in the row.
Wire-trained cordons can be planted in rows 60-100cms apart.
Espaliers need to be spaced at 10-18 feet (3-6 metres) apart.

Watch our video on how to plant a fruit tree for full instructions on planting a bush or half-standard sized tree.
If you are growing a maiden sized apple tree into a freestanding tree, a bamboo cane is enough support.
If you are growing a cordon or espalier, you will need to install training wires to support them.
Remember to water establishing apple trees during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Apple Tree Planting Accessories:
For bush and half standard apple trees, our tree planting pack includes a wooden stake & rubber tie to support the tree and a biodegradable mulch mat with pegs, which protects the soil at the base of your tree from drying out and stops weeds from sprouting.
We recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of all new trees, especially if your soil is poorly fertile.

After you plant an apple tree, the most important thing to do is water it in dry weather and weed around it. Both of these will be necessary for at least a year after planting. We recommend using a mulch mat as well.

The best tip for helping your tree to establish and quickly become mature and productive is to remove all the fruit that it produces in the first year after planting, as soon as the flowers fade. This will give the tree a chance to develop its roots, which are the foundation of the tree's strength, and sturdy branches that can bear the weight of a heavy crop without snapping.

Biennial habit: This tree naturally has a tendency to crop very well in some years, then give a poor harvest the following year. When your trees have established and begun their cropping life, it is important to notice if there is a large crop on the way and thin it out in late June or early July. This is best for the tree and will help it to give a more consistent crop from year to year.

All fruit trees will need formative pruning during their first years. Although this is not complicated, it is important to research and understand the process so that you can apply it to your particular tree and situation.

Harvesting Browns Apples:
Your trees should crop in Late September to Early October. The ripe fruit will fall easily from the tree.
Browns Apples should be pressed for their juice as quickly as possible. If you want to use them as cookers, they will store for about 3 weeks.
Read more about brewing cider here.

Hygiene & Diseases:
Dead, damaged or diseased wood can be pruned off as soon as it appears.
Disinfect your pruning tools between every cut if there is any sign of disease.
Burn or dispose of any diseased material, do not compost it.