Red Pixie Apple Trees

Malus domestica Red Pixie

Browse all our apple trees here or read our guide to buying the right apple tree.

Red Pixie or Pixie Red Sport apple trees are, you guessed it, a sport of the Pixie apple tree. The only difference between them is the colour of the skin - the fruit are rare in the shops, probably due to their size, but can often be found in farmer's markets. As the name suggests, Red Pixies are a small to medium sized apple with a warm orange-red flush over most of their skin. The flesh is more firm than crisp, with a powerful sweet-sharp flavour and lovely rich aroma that can compete with a Cox - they are certainly juicier. They should be ready to pick in the middle of October and reach their best flavour after a few weeks of storage and ripening. Stored in a cool dry place, they will keep until March.

Red Pixie's History and Parentage: Sometimes, a branch of an apple tree turns out to produce fruit that are a bit different from the apples on the tree's normal branches. These are called sports and a skillful grower can take a cutting to graft onto a rootstock, creating a new breed of tree, also known as a sport. In most cases, the sport's fruit have a richer colour than their parent's fruit - the tree itself tends to be almost identical to the parent. Even though the parent tree, Pixie, came from the RHS centre at Wisley, we don't know what its parents were. One of them was probably a Cox's or a Sunset, the other is a mystery.

Pollination Partners for Malus Red Pixie: Your trees are very poorly self fertile and could fail to fruit without a pollination partner. Apple Tree Pollination table.

Rootstocks, Growing Notes and Pruning & Planting Advice:

Your trees have excellent pink flowers that make this tree as ornamental as it is productive. The tree has a spreading habit and will mature into a reliably heavy cropper. As of winter 2009, we are only able to supply Red Pixie as a maiden tree on MM106 rootstocks: with this rootstock, you have the choice of training a restricted form like a cordon or a fan, or growing a mature tree about 4 metres high.

If you are unclear about fruit tree sizes, please take a look at our Guide to Fruit Tree Sizing.

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Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery:
The basic delivery charge for all orders containing fruit trees of any size (bareroot or pot-grown) is £12.55 + VAT.
Because couriers sometimes experience delays, we schedule delivery by week, not by day. Therefore, please plan your planting day for the weekend at the end of the delivery week or for the week following delivery, at the earliest.
You can choose the delivery week that suits you during checkout and we will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

Payment: We do not charge your card until we begin to prepare your order for packing.

Guarantee: If any plants die within a year, we will replace them. We only ask that you follow our planting & growing instructions and sent us clear photographs of the dead plants in situ, so we can help to make sure that the replacement plants succeed. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.

Please note that our guarantee is void if there is a hosepipe ban in your area: your newly planted fruit trees must be watered in dry weather while they are establishing. The best way to water is very thoroughly every few days: at least once a week if there is no heavy rain.

Our nursery has been supplying container grown and bareroot fruit trees to gardeners and orchard owners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying fruit trees online. If any of your plants are damaged when they arrive or if you are otherwise not satisfied with your order after you inspect it, please repackage it and contact us. We will give you a refund or send replacements and send a courier to come and collect the unwanted plants.

Your 12 Month Guarantee

If any plants die within a year, we replace them if you have followed our instructions. You only pay for the delivery of the replacements.

Place an order for £250 excluding VAT and delivery and we deliver it for FREE!

Bare-root Plants are only delivered in the winter season, from November to March. Pot grown plants can be delivered all year round

Advantages of Bare-root plants:

You pay less for the same size plants.

You can carry and plan them easily.

You only plant them in winter, so they need less maintenance after planting. The rain will water them for their first few months.

You get the biggest selection: Many trees are not sold pot-grown.

They are "asleep" in winter - this is the best time to transplant any tree.

They use fewer fertilisers & fungicides, less water and fuel in their production & delivery.

Advantages of Pot Grown plants:

Pot grown plants can be delivered & planted all year round.

Plants with tender roots & larger specimens must be delivered in pots.

Plants in pots can be kept for months longer if there is a delay in planting.

Our Advice to You:
If you can't wait to get planting, order Pot grown plants now.
If you are not in a hurry, order bare-root plants for delivery this winter. Simply add them to your basket and choose a winter delivery date that suits you during checkout. This will reserve your plants before they sell out.
We won't charge you until the day before delivery, so cancelling your order is always easy.

If you are only ordering chemicals and other small items, delivery is £3.50

Our delivery charge for most bareroot plants is £9.49 + VAT.

If your order contains any standard sized trees, fruit trees or pot-grown plants, then the delivery charge is £12.55 + VAT in TOTAL.

If you live in the Scottish Highlands or the Isle of Wight, there will be an extra charge of £15 + VAT on top of the appropriate basic charge, as listed above.

If your order is over £250 exc. VAT, there will be no delivery charge.

If you are uncertain, just add items to your basket which will calculate the basic shipping charge for you.