Bardsey Island Apple Trees

Bardsey Island apple trees produce early-mid season eating apples that are also pretty good for cooking.

Browse our full range of apple trees for sale or see the full variety of fruit trees available online.

Characteristics of Bardsey Island Trees:

Use: Eating. Crisp and tangy. Bakes to a sweet puree when cooked.
Spur Bearer: suitable for cordons & training on wires.
Tree's growth habit: Average vigour.
Harvest: Late September.
Store & ripen in a cool, dry place: Until November.

General description of Bardsey Island:
A crisp, citrusy eating apple that also cooks to a puree, the Bardsey tree is thought to be a very old variety, though it has only recently been made available to buy. It is a good cropper.

Rootstocks:
All of our Bardsey Island trees are grown on MM106 rootstocks.

Pollination Partners for Bardsey Island:
Your trees are partially self fertile and their flowers must be pollinated to make good crops.
Bardsey Island is in pollination Group B.
This means that they will cross-pollinate with other apple trees in pollination Groups A, B and C.

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

Bardsey Island Disease notes:
This tree is believed to be disease resistant.

History & Parentage:
One old apple tree, probably planted over 100 years ago, growing flat against the wall of a house called Plas Bach on windswept Bardsey Island, just off the coast of northern Wales, was "discovered" in 1998 by Mr Ian Sturrock. With help from the Brogdale Trust, it has been named a unique variety and cuttings were taken to propagate the tree.
The parent tree has been able to survive the salt winds on the island thanks to the shape of the house, which shelters it from the 2 main directions of the wind. Whenever one of its branches grows out beyond the shelter of the walls, it is quickly killed by the salt - a sort of natural pruning. As a result, the parent tree looks more like a climbing plant growing up the side of the house than a normal tree.

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.
Bush: This is a style of freestanding tree with a short trunk of about 60cms. 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 Bardsey Island 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.

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 (use a glyphosate based weed-killer for tough weeds), 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 Bardsey Island 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.

Read our full terms and conditions here.

Delivery: The basic delivery charge for orders of bareroot plants is £6.50 + vat, which increases to £12.55 + vat if you add any pot-grown plants, standard trees or fruit trees to the order.
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.
We will email you the day before your plants are due to arrive.

*Surcharges to the Highlands and Islands still apply.

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 hedging must be watered in dry weather while it is 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 hedging plants to gardeners, farmers and town planners since 1949. Our website started in 2003, so we do understand the concerns that you may have about buying hedging plants 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.

Misc	Pollinator, Spur Fruiting
Pollination Group	Pollination Group B
Fruiting	Mid Season Fruiting
Type	Eating

	NUMBER OF PLANTS Inc. VAT
SIZES	1-2	3-9	10-24	25+
MAIDEN	Plenty of Stock£16.95	Plenty of Stock£15.95	Plenty of Stock£14.95	Plenty of Stock£13.95

Bardsey Island Apple Trees

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Bardsey Island Apple Trees