When to harvest Apple (cooking) in the UK
Apple (cooking) is planted rather than sown from seed, so the dates below are harvest dates.
Harvest dates by region
Apple (cooking) shows the same dates across the whole UK, so every region below reads the same. Where a plant’s timings do follow the frost, Plot shifts them from the Midlands and Lowland Wales baseline using Met Office average frost dates.
| Where you are | Harvest |
|---|---|
| South West Coast and Cornwall | early September to late October |
| South Coast and Channel | early September to late October |
| Greater London (Urban Heat Island) | early September to late October |
| South East and Home Counties | early September to late October |
| East Anglia | early September to late October |
| Midlands and Lowland Wales | early September to late October |
| Wales and West Coast | early September to late October |
| Northern England | early September to late October |
| Scotland Lowlands and Central Belt | early September to late October |
| Scotland Highlands and Islands | early September to late October |
| Northern Ireland | early September to late October |
| Channel Islands and Isle of Man | early September to late October |
Growing notes
Cookers are usually more vigorous than dessert apples, so on MM106 expect a tree of 4m or more; 'Bramley' is really too big for a small garden unless kept on M26 and pruned hard. Late-season fruit picked in September and October stores for months in a cool, dark, frost-free place.
At a glance
- Spacing
- 400 cm between plants
- Row spacing
- 450 cm
- Plants per m²
- 0.1
- Yield per plant
- 20 kg
- Eventual height
- 450 cm
- Eventual spread
- 450 cm
- Sun
- Full
- Frost tender
- No
- Grows in a container
- Yes, 90 litres or more
- Minimum soil depth
- 45 cm
- Balcony rating
- 1 out of 5
Pruning: what to avoid
Prune free-standing cooking apples in winter when dormant, and trained forms in late summer. 'Bramley's Seedling' is a partial tip-bearer, so shortening every shoot in winter removes much of the fruit bud; thin whole branches instead.
Pruning group
apple bush/standard (winter pruning, dormant)
Bare-root season
Bare-root stock is lifted and sold while dormant, from early November to late March. Container-grown plants can go in at other times of year, but bare-root is cheaper and establishes well.
How long until it crops
Expect the first worthwhile pick about 3 years after planting, and a productive life of roughly 40 years.
What usually goes wrong
- apple scab
- apple canker
- codling moth
- biennial bearing
- brown rot in store
Companion planting
Grows well near
- chives
- comfrey
Related guides
Timings cross-checked against RHS guidance for apple (cooking).