Questions people actually ask

The RHS calls apples probably the easiest and most popular tree fruit to grow. RHS: How to grow apples

Most apples need a partner: another variety nearby that flowers at the same time, so insects can carry pollen between them. RHS: How to grow apples In a built-up area there are often other apple trees close by, so one tree may be enough in your garden. RHS: Fruit pollination

Apples are sorted into flowering groups. Grow two or more varieties from the same group or a neighbouring one. RHS: Apple pollination groups (PDF) The RHS chart runs from Flowering Group 1 (very early) to Flowering Group 7 (very late). RHS: Apple pollination groups (PDF)

Triploid apples such as ‘Bramley’s Seedling’, ‘Ribston Pippin’ and ‘Blenheim Orange’ make mainly sterile pollen, so they can’t pollinate other trees. RHS: Fruit pollination If you grow a triploid, you need two other trees that pollinate each other and the triploid, all flowering at the same time. RHS: Fruit pollination

Some apples are self-fertile or partly self-fertile, including ‘Greensleeves’, ‘James Grieve’, ‘Red Windsor’, ‘Scrumptious’, ‘Saturn’ and ‘Sunset’. RHS: Choosing the best fruit trees Even self-fertile trees tend to crop better with another variety planted nearby. RHS: Fruit pollination

Apple trees are sold as two plants joined together: a rootstock, which controls the tree’s size, and a cultivar, which forms the top. RHS: Stepover training For small gardens, pots and cordons, the RHS suggests a dwarfing rootstock such as M9 or M26. RHS: How to grow apples

For a pot, choose an M9 or M26 tree and a container at least 45cm (18in) across, filled with John Innes No 3 compost. RHS: How to grow apples

Prune free-standing apple trees in winter, and trained shapes such as cordons and espaliers in late summer. RHS: How to grow apples Winter pruning of bush and standard apple trees is done between November and early March. RHS: Winter pruning apples

Take off only about 10–20% of the canopy in any one winter. Prune too hard and the tree throws up lots of vigorous upright “watershoots”. RHS: Pruning apples made easy

In early summer trees shed some young fruit by themselves. This is the “June drop”, and it’s normal. RHS: How to grow apples

Thin your apples after the June drop, finishing by mid-July. RHS: Thinning fruit When thinning, also take off the “king” fruit at the centre of each cluster, which is sometimes oddly shaped. Leave one fruit per cluster. RHS: Thinning fruit

A ripe apple comes away easily when you give it a slight twist. RHS: How to grow apples When sound-looking apples start falling off the tree (windfalls), the crop is usually ready to pick. RHS: Harvesting fruit

Store only unblemished apples, in slatted crates or trays, not touching, somewhere cool, frost-free, airy and dark. RHS: How to grow apples The ideal store is 4–7°C (39–46°F). Apples can’t take temperatures below 2.8°C (37°F). RHS: Storing fruit

The caterpillar of the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, is the classic “maggot” in a maggoty apple. RHS: Codling moth

Apple scab is a fungus, Venturia inaequalis. It makes olive-green blotches on leaves and dark, scabby patches on the fruit. RHS: Apple and pear scab Bitter pit, dark spots on apples late in the season or in store, is linked to a lack of calcium in the fruit, often after dry soil. RHS: Bitter pit in apples

The apple we grow was domesticated from a wild apple, Malus sieversii, in the Tien Shan mountains of Central Asia, some 4,000 to 10,000 years ago. Britannica: Apple

Apple Day, 21 October, was started in 1990 by the charity Common Ground, to celebrate the huge variety of apples and the orchards we could lose. Common Ground: Apple Day