Did you know that in Cornwall, Illogan, nr Redruth, has it’s own collection of own root apple trees growing? Local residents Andrew Tompsett & Peter Malidine have been taking cuttings and growing ‘own root’ apple trees in local green spaces for some time.
These fruit tree cuttings have been taken from Cornish apple trees including ‘Sweet Larks’ and an unknown pitcher (another name for trees which can root from a cutting) at a local orchard. ‘Sweet Larks’ is a Cornish apple that produces small yellowish apples and has a history of being used for pickling.
As part of the Redruth Orchard Project we organised a session for taking cuttings for growing own root apple trees in November 2024 and participants went away to plant at their respective sites. Own root trees have been planted at community orchards in Redruth alongside grafted trees, wilding apple grafted trees and one seed grown apple tree. These orchards are not about creating uniform commercial orchards of one type of apple, these are places for food growing, they are places for relaxing and enjoyment, they are places for families, for picnics, for harvesting over as many months as possible and for wildlife. They are the perfect places for experimenting with different fruits, different ways of growing and new varieties. Importantly we are creating ‘resilient’ orchards that have a variety of different fruit trees so that if one type fails one year there might be something else that does ok. Moving a way from the monoculture to something more diverse.
More information about Sweet Larks variety and a recipe for pickling them here: Cornish pickled apple speciality ‘Pickled Sweet Lark’ by Andrew Ormerod (2011) | Cornwall and South West Fruit Focus
Phil Corbett, who championed the growing of own root apple trees and coppice orchard systems sadly passed away recently. His research and interest in own root trees carries on and you can find out more below.
More from Phil Corbett on growing trees on their own roots here:
Another link to more information about Phil Corbett’s work here
At Redruth we have a Sweet Larks apple own root tree growing well and also a Manaccan Primrose. We hope to plant more in future years rather than just relying on grafted trees.