Ballerina Apple 'Flamenco'

• Keep well-watered, and if growing in a pot, use a good quality, soil-based compost.

Planting advice for Ballerina 'Flamenco':

• Dig a hole twice the width of the pot, forking over the bottom to loosen the soil, then add some good-quality fertiliser, compost or well-rotted manure. Plant at the same depth as the tree was in its pot.
• Holding the tree upright in position with one hand, slowly backfill the hole with soil, so the soil falls back around the roots.
• Compact the soil around the plant with your heel to ensure good contact around the roots.
• If you are planting into pots, place some old rocks, stones or gravel in the bottom of the pot for drainage and ballast. Use the best compost you can buy and some sand or grit for drainage.
• For all trees, use our Tree Planting Kits – including stakes, rubber ties and mycorrhizal fungi, which is proven to aid tree growth and development.
• Push 40cm of each stake into the soil next to each tree. Make a figure of eight around both the trunk and stake with a tie and fasten it off. Spread mycorrhizal granules in contact with the roots when planting.
• Mulch around the base of the plant with a collar, compost, gravel or bark.
• Do not allow plants to dry out.

 Aftercare advice for Ballerina 'Flamenco':

• Ballerina Apple 'Flamenco' is in flowering group 3 and will need to be pollinated by another tree of a different variety nearby. Since it flowers in the middle of the blossom season it can be pollinated by most other apple trees.
• Flamenco should reach a maximum height of about 2m / 10ft after 5 years or so and there is no need to stake the tree unless you have very sandy soil or an exposed situation.
• Plants should be kept well-watered, especially if grown in a container.

 Pruning advice for Ballerina 'Flamenco':

• No pruning is usually necessary, even when planting out, as trees naturally form a neat column.
• Prune established trees in summer using good-quality secateurs, removing weak shoots and overlapping branches – this will encourage more fruit growth the following year.
• Removed any damaged branches and if any long side shoots grow, they can be removed also.
• After 5 years or so you can also thin out some of the fruiting spurs if they appear to be congested.