[Grubbypaws]

Has any body had success growing a Bramley organically and if so how? My tree is so diseased that we will have to get rid of it but I love Bramley apples.

Is there any point in me getting another one if I am not going to spray it with chemicals?

[MrsPea]

Were also getting rid of ours Grubbypaws, we've been here 3 years and it hasn't produced many very disappointing  not only that it is an old tree about 30 yrs old. OH was looking up about it and we found it needs another variety with it for pollination. We've decided to go for a cordon cooker when this one has gone. Were not cutting it right down just leaving the trunk to grow something up. Good luck with yours. 

[adri123]

Had our first fruit off our new Bramley this year.  Nice sized apple...only one.

I suspect that our Peak District location is quite good for Bramleys.

Hoping for more next year.  The tree was bought from rogers of pickering who I'd recommend.

All the best.

Adri

[azubah]

Bramleys need another tree that flowers at the same time to pollinate them. The other tree needs another tree to pollinate it.. so you need 3 trees all flowering together.
This does not answer the original question, sorry.

[allotmentann]

My parents didn't knowingly grow organically, but they never used to spray anything or use chemicals, or do anything at all in fact, they weren't gardeners. The tree was in the garden when we moved in and produced masses of lovely apples every year. So they will grow disease free. I guess it is more down to how happy they are with the conditions.
I don't know what conditions exactly Bramley's like, but I would think that if you are removing a diseased one you would need the space to plant a new one a good distance away from the old one. Or to be able to completely change the soil.
Do you know what disease the tree is suffering from? Is it a very old tree, just nearing its natural end or a young tree?
I have to say that I didn't know that three trees were needed for pollination, I thought you could grow two that were suited to each other. I bought a small Bramley on a patio type rootstock to pollinate the Laxton Superb that I really want. It is too young yet to say whether it will be successful or not.
I do know that if you do decide to get another, unless you have an enormous garden you need to be careful to get the rootstock right as they are huge trees in their natural state.   

[Rampant_Weasel]

Has any body had success growing a Bramley organically and if so how? My tree is so diseased that we will have to get rid of it but I love Bramley apples.

Is there any point in me getting another one if I am not going to spray it with chemicals?

bramley is very susceptible to apple scab which i presume is the problem (brown patches on the apple which crack and rot).you have 3 options

1 put up with it and cut out the damaged parts when you harvest
2 spray with fungicide
3 graft it over to another variety

there are cooking apples that are resistant to scab you would have to do your homework and see which one suits you but there are more acid cookers than just bramley.
if you chopped it down and planted another tree in its place it might die from replant disease.
also, is it well pruned? if it is congested there will be lack of airflow in the centre of the tree which makes fungal disease more likely.a good prune could be your first step this winter but dont remove more than a third of the wood or else it will put out lots of watershoots trying to regrow what it has lost.
remember bramley is a triploid meaning it needs 2 other trees near it to set fruit, bramley wont pollinate anything as its pollen is meagre and sterile.

hope this helps.

[Goosegirl]

We inherited an old Bramley tree 25 years ago when we moved here. We are quite isolated here (nearest neighbours are three large fields away) and have no other apple trees, so am surprised it needs another pollinator as ours fruits every year. It is definitely a Bramley apple tree and has just had its first proper prune, so will look out for any water shoots though I'm sure only about a third was removed, including crossing branches.

[azubah]

The books are not always right!
I bought an apple tree a few years ago (not a bramley), and one of the neighbours asked me about it, as their apple tree had not produced apples before I bought my tree. These neighbours have since passed away and new people moved in and cut down the tree. Mine has produced little since.

[Grubbypaws]

Thank you everyone.

Adril, I am also in the peak district too!

Allotmentann, I planted it myself on dwarfing stock. I like to think that it is a young tree but it is probably 15+ years old (ouch!). It has a very bad case of apple scab and recently some white fluffy fungus.

Weasel, It is well pruned; my husband has been yearly pruning. So far we have put up with it but I was doubting the sense of this. I will do my homework and think about another variety.

[adri123]

hi Grubby!

Where in the Peak?  We're in Tideswell.

Adri

[Rampant_Weasel]

you nearly have to spray a bramley, scab is such an awful disease it can decimate the whole crop, lanes prince albert is very resistant and an acid cooker, cant vouch for the taste tho as mine hasnt started producing yet ! i have planted it for the same reason tho i dont want to use alot of spray.

[simonwatson]

I have a Bramley on M111 in my back garden. I never spray it or fertilize it, except for a top dressing of compost made in the garden. Some apples get scab, but this just means they won't keep.