Paradice Gold™ Apple Trees

Paradice Gold™ Apple Trees: Eating

This sweet, mild dessert variety is a little piece of modern apple history. It has a crisp bite and juices well.
The tree is moderately vigorous and fairly upright, ideal for the average sized garden. 

Browse our range of apple trees, or all our fruit trees.
Read our guide to buying apples.

Delivery season: Bareroot plants are delivered in late Autumn to Spring, about November-March inclusive.

Features:

• Eating. Sweet, crunchy. Juices well
• Spur bearer (good for cordons & espaliers)
• Self sterile, Pollinator, Group C
• Tidy habit, suitable for most gardens
• Harvest: October.
• Store & ripen in a cool, dry place: End November.

Growing Paradice Gold Apples

Apples like rich, well drained soil, and will thrive on clay in locations that do not get waterlogged in winter.
A full day of sun and shelter from the wind is ideal.

Rootstocks:
We use MM106 for Paradice Gold, the UK standard for medium-sized trees, ideal for gardeners. It gives a half-standard about 4m tall, and a bush about 3m. 
MM106 maidens are suitable for cordons and espaliers.

Pollination Partners for Paradice Gold

Your trees are self sterile and their flowers must be pollinated to make fruit.
Paradice Gold is in Pollination Group C, which cross-pollinates with other apple trees in Groups B, C and D.

Use our Fruit Pollination Checker to quickly find pollination partners, or Apple Tree Pollination Guide to learn more.

Did You Know?

One of Hugh Ermen's (1928–2009) last jobs, it was selected from a range of hopeful new varieties by the London Paralympic Legacy as their special tree in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Mr Ermen was the Brogdale research institute's undefeated champion apple breeder for decades. His trail of achievements includes Core Blimey, Herefordshire Russet, Limelight, Scrumptious, and Winter Gem, and he worked to promote 'own root propagation' of apple trees using layering techniques, as opposed to grafting scion wood onto a rootstock from another tree. 

Apple Tree Delivery Shapes:

Most of our fruit trees are delivered in up to 3 shapes (maiden, bush, and half standard), and you can buy selected varieties as ready-made cordons and/or potted mini patio trees: scroll up to see what's in stock. 

Maiden: Unbranched tree, the most basic starting size, which you can train into the other forms (apart from mini patio trees).
Bush: Freestanding tree with a short trunk about 60cm tall. It will grow to about 3m. Ideal for small gardens.
Half-Standard: A freestanding form with a trunk about 120cm tall. It will grow into a full sized, "normal" apple tree, about 4m. Ideal for orchards, easy to mow underneath.
Cordon: Paradice Gold is a spur-bearer, suitable for cordons and espaliers.
Mini Patio Tree: Only sold pot-grown, these use a dwarfing rootstock to drastically reduce the tree's vigour and restrict the mature size. They are suitable for large patio containers, and for small gardens where a normal-sized bush or half-standard form won't fit.

For more details, take a look at our Guide to Fruit Tree Sizing.

Notes on planting apple 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 helps trees establish quickly and be productive for years. Preparing weeks or months in advance gives best results: fill the planting hole back up, don't leave it open to either dry out or fill with water.

• Destroy weeds and grass (use Neudorff WeedFree Plus weed-killer for tough weeds),
• Dig the soil over, remove stones, then mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades, unless you are on heavy clay:
• On thick clay soil, only dig over the soil to break it up. Apply organic matter as a mulch over the soil after planting.

Spacing apple trees:

• Freestanding bushes: 15-18 feet (5-6m) between trees and rows.
• Freestanding half-standards: 18-30 feet (6-10m) between trees and rows.

In general, allow 1 more metre between rows than between trees along the row.

• Wire-trained cordons: 60-100cm apart along a row.
• Espaliers: 10-18 feet (3.5-6m) apart.

• Watch how to plant a fruit tree for a bush or half-standard.
• To grow a cordon or espalier, you need to install sturdy training wires.

Pruning apple trees: 

• Maidens can be pruned in any style, including into bushes or half-standards.
• Bushes - start here when you buy a bush.
• Half-standards - start here when you buy a half-standard.

Accessories:
For bush and half standard apple trees, a tree planting pack, which includes a wooden support stake & rubber tie (a bamboo cane is enough support for a maiden), and a biodegradable mulch mat, with pegs, to preserve soil moisture stops and prevent weeds.

We strongly recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of all transplanted trees.

Winter wash and greasebands are effective, organic pest prevention.