Dwayne & Angela wrote:
"Rupert" wrote in message
...

"Dwayne & Angela" wrote in message
...
anyone know of a place either in the midlands or mail order where I
can get a apple and plum or pear and plum? I seem to remember
reading about them but cant find them have tried googling but no
joy. or maybe I was dreaming???

You can buy what are commonly called "Fruit Cocktail " trees which
contain as many different fruits as a green grocer.

knew I had seen them somewhere although I doubt if some of those
fruits would fruit properly here, but I am new to all this stuff and
am willing to listen to any advice either way.
e.g..
http://www.directgardening.com/detail.asp?pid=5556
Not certain that they perform particularly well.

The site says "Pick nectarines, peaches, plums, and apricots all from
the same tree. Harvest bushels of fruit." I wouldn't be surprised to see
such grafts take -- note that they're all stone fruit -- but I refuse to
believe it would work well. The four branches would presumably grow at
different rates, which must be the main problem with any "family tree".
That way you'd end up with one type taking over.

But I'm reasoning, not reporting: I've never actually tried it.

Somewhere it is suggested that if you are limited for space planting
different varieties in the same hole may be a solution.
This however sounds promising would they stunt each others growth
though? if this is possible what about apple, pear and plum in the
same hole? I think it would be pretty cool if they twined around each
other.

I don't know how one would avoid the problem of different rates of
growth; and, as you guess, I imagine they'd starve each other even if
they did grow at the same rate. Note how rarely you see two trees
growing arm in arm in the wild, even though seeds must germinate next to
one another all the time.

--
Mike.