Black Dabinett Apple Trees

Black Dabinett Cider Apple Trees

Black Dabinett apple trees produce a mid to late season, vintage quality cider apple. The fruit is larger than your average cider apple, and they are a real sight in late-October and into November against nearly leafless wood. They have wonderful, deep but shiny purple skin sometimes touched with green. The tree itself is fairly vigorous and is a regular heavy cropper. The Dabinetts are a mainstay of cider farmers, with a mellow bittersweet flavour of vintage quality, meaning that it can be used to make full-bodied cider without needing to be mixed with other apples.
The apples ripen during November. 
All of our Black Dabinett trees are grown on MM106 rootstocks.

We especially recommend Black Dabinett if you can only have one cider apple tree.

Browse all of our other apple tree varieties.

Characteristics:

• Use: Cider. Vintage quality. Medium bittersweet flavour.
• Spur Bearer: suitable for cordons & training on wires.
• Tree's growth habit: Average vigour. Upright / Compact / Spreading form.
• Harvest: During November.
• Cider apples should be pressed for their juice as quickly as possible.

Pollination Partners for Black Dabinett:

Your trees are self-fertile and are in pollination Group D which means that they will cross-pollinate with other apple trees in pollination Groups C, D and E.

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.

Disease notes:
Disease resistance: Scab, Brown Rot.

History & Parentage:
It hails from Kingsbury Episcopi in Somerset. The original Dabinett tree was found by chance, growing in a hedge, at the start of the 20th century by William Dabinett; this variety is superior in size and flavour. The trees are known locally as Tommy Rodfords.

Notes on planting Black Dabinett 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 can be 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 Black Dabinett 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.

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 Black Dabinett apples:
Your trees should crop in November. Black Dabinett apples should be pressed for their juice as quickly as possible.
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.