Help me choose a 4-in-1 apple tree

July 9, 2015 4:37 PM

I'm in Toronto and have space for one apple tree. Help me choose a good 4-in-1 one.

I like Honeycrisp and my wife likes Fuji so that is two varieties sorted. What are other ones that will grow well here?

Is there anything special I will have to look into when selecting a tree? Does a 4-in-1 require different care?

I also like pears. Could I do 2 apples and 2 pears on the same tree?

Where is a good place to actually buy the tree from?

Finally, are 4-in-1 trees actually any good or are they just a gimmick?

posted by any portmanteau in a storm to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

Best answer: They are a gimmick but they do work -- apples are propagated primarily by grafting the desired tree onto sturdy rootstock, and there's no reason you can't graft four different desired strains onto one rootstock. It will tend to grow less-well than a single grafted tree, and it's not uncommon to have one of the grafts die off (leaving you with a 3-in-1). You may well end up with just a short little guy who grows a little funny (a veritable Charlie Brown Christmas tree amongst apple trees), but you'll get apples.

Pick varieties that bloom at the same time of year (early, middle, or late-blooming), as most apples require cross-pollination from another apple tree (your 4-in-1 can each pollinate its buddies, but they have to bloom at the same time of year!). Some older varieties are self-pollinating but most apples do better with a friend of a different variety to have tree-sex with. (If your neighborhood's anything like mine, there's plenty of crabapples to do the deed with your apple tree so you don't have to worry too much.) The easiest way to do this is look at some of the ones you're considering and then google up apple cross-pollination lists (they're everywhere) to see if your varieties are compatible.

Varieties that have a similar winter cold-hours requirement is also helpful, but not as necessary as the blooming-time coordination.

Try Dave's Garden Web for information on specific nurseries/mail order companies you're considering, they have excellent, informative, and reliable user reviews on just about every seed and plant company in North America. You may also be able to find discussions of 4-in-1 (or 5-in-1) apple trees in the forums there, like this one.

Also be prepared to share all your hard work with the local squirrels!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:10 PM on July 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Also -- if you really want this tree to bear fruit for a long time, rather than just as a fun hobby tree, do look at the "cold hour" or "chilling" requirements for the tree. Apples require a certain number of hours below 45*F in the winter between dropping their leaves and bud-break in the spring to set fruit; without it, the fruit won't bloom well and it will set small amounts of low quality fruit. Then choose varieties that can thrive at least one "zone" south of you, because shorter, warmer winters are already affecting fruit setting in North America. We have had a couple of winters lately with enough warm spells that even backyard apple tree people like us have noticed the lack of fruit on the tree.

Fujis I know can grow in warm parts of California so I'm sure they have very low cold-hour requirements. I have no idea about Honeycrisp.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:20 PM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

Are you grafting yourself, or buying one? I don't think there's that much choice in what the nurseries decide to propagate.

The best selection will be from mail order nurseries in the fall, delivering bare root early spring, or local nurseries early spring.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:20 PM on July 9, 2015

Best answer: Oh, and 4 in 1 trees are not a gimmick, there are some tricks like planting the weakest limb facing south, but pruning is the same for other apple trees, just ensuring that no apple variety dominates the others. Honeycrisp is a fine cold climate apple, BTW.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:26 PM on July 9, 2015

Sorry to keep posting as I go, but one thing to consider is ripening time, you don't want all four varieties ripening at the same time unless you are pressing cider or something. If you are eating and baking it's better to have a longer harvest so you aren't trying to figure out what to do with a ton of apples all at once.
posted by oneirodynia at 6:29 PM on July 9, 2015

Best answer: For my house just west of Toronto I planted a five-in-one I bought at Terra Nurseries in Milton (Sheridan Nurseries in Georgetown is more expensive but another option). You can call around to find what they have left in the different nurseries (trees are normally planted in late fall, early spring and rarely during July so nurseries plan stock for then, rather than summer). It is about three years since I planted my tree as a five-foot stick with ten little branches and it has doubled in size and produces quite a lot of fruit. I don't know the varieties but there was a bit of selection at the time.
posted by saucysault at 6:32 PM on July 9, 2015

Just on the topic of apples, depending on where you are, but where I am, Pippins are hard to find and they're the best baking apple that I know of, so I'd include that one if it makes sense.
posted by rhizome at 6:44 PM on July 9, 2015

My favorite apple is the Haralson. I am also a big fan of Fuji, so I think you would like this apple, too. We have a Haralson apple tree in our backyard (central Minnesota) so I think it would be OK south of us in Toronto. (It is so very weird for me to think of parts of Canada as south of us!)
posted by jillithd at 7:55 AM on July 10, 2015

Response by poster: I'd be planting the tree next spring so I don't need to worry about nursery stock now. I think part of my homework for this summer/fall will be to get different varieties of apples from farmer's markets to try them out.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 9:36 AM on July 10, 2015