Things everybody “knows” about apples

MythYou need two apple trees in your own garden.

FactIn a built-up area there are often other apple trees close by, so one tree may be enough in your garden. 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

MythAny apple tree will pollinate any other.

FactApples are sorted into flowering groups. Grow two or more varieties from the same group or a neighbouring one. 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 Two famous apples can’t pollinate each other: ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’ and ‘Kidd’s Orange Red’. RHS: Apple pollination groups (PDF)

MythA pear tree next door will pollinate your apple.

FactOnly apples (including crab apples) pollinate apples: a pear tree won’t do it. RHS: Choosing the best fruit trees

MythThe variety is all that matters when you buy a tree.

FactApple 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

MythPrune hard for a bigger crop.

FactTake 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 Don’t just trim the top like a haircut: it gives a thicket of non-fruiting shoots and cuts off the fruit of tip-bearers like ‘Bramley’ and ‘Discovery’. RHS: Pruning apples made easy

MythPaint every pruning cut.

FactThere’s no need for pruning paint on apple trees. RHS: Pruning apples made easy

MythThat grey crust on the branches is killing the tree.

FactGrey-green crusty growths on the branches are lichen, which does the tree no harm. RHS: Pruning apples made easy

MythApples falling in early summer mean the tree is ill.

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

MythScabby apples aren’t worth eating.

FactA light attack of scab only marks the skin, and the apples eat just as well. RHS: Apple and pear scab

MythEvery apple keeps for months.

FactEarly apples don’t keep: eat them within a few days of picking. RHS: How to grow apples ‘Discovery’ is an early apple for August and September, and it can’t be stored. RHS: Choosing apple cultivars

MythApples first came from Europe.

FactThe 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

MythJohnny Appleseed was made up.

FactJohnny Appleseed was a real man, John Chapman, a nurseryman who planted apple trees across Ohio and Indiana. Britannica: Apple

MythNewton’s apple tree is just a story.

FactThe apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, Isaac Newton’s birthplace, first put down roots around 400 years ago. It’s a ‘Flower of Kent’, a cooking apple. National Trust: Things to do at Woolsthorpe Manor The National Trust calls the falling-apple story a scientific legend, but one believed to be broadly true. National Trust: Woolsthorpe Manor’s history