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Fruit EdibleTrees

Malus domestica 'Chivers Delight' (D)
  • RHS Plants for pollinators

apple 'Chivers Delight'

'Chivers Delight' is a late-season dessert apple with crisp, juicy flesh and a sweet, well-balanced flavour. It produces a good crop of red-flushed, yellow fruit on a tree of average vigour, ready to pick in mid-autumn and storing to mid-winter. It is self sterile; pollination group 4

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Size
Ultimate height
4–8 metres
Time to ultimate height
10–20 years
Ultimate spread
4–8 metres
Growing conditions
Clay
Loam
Sand
Moisture
Moist but well–drained, Well–drained
pH
Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
Colour & scent
StemFlowerFoliageFruit
Spring Pink White Green
Summer Green
Autumn Green Red Yellow
Winter
Position
  • Full sun
Aspect

South–facing or West–facing or East–facing

Exposure
Sheltered
Hardiness
H6
Botanical details
Family
Rosaceae
Native to the UK
No
Foliage
Deciduous
Habit
Bushy
Genus

Malus are small to medium-sized deciduous trees with showy flowers in spring and ornamental or edible fruit in autumn; some have good autumn foliage colour

Name status

Accepted

How to grow

Cultivation

Prefers a deep, fertile, moist but well-drained, neutral soil in a sheltered, sunny position. Will not thrive on very acid soils, shallow chalk soils or with shade for more than half the day. Thin fruit in late spring or early summer to improve size and quality. See apple cultivation

Propagation

Propagate by chip budding or grafting onto a clonal rootstock for fruit. The rootstock used will largely determine the vigour of the tree. Fruit grown from pips will not resemble the parent

Suggested planting locations and garden types
  • Cottage and informal garden
  • City and courtyard gardens
  • Patio and container plants
  • Wall side borders
Pruning

Prune according to chosen training method. See apple pruning

Pests

May be susceptible to aphids, including woolly aphid and rosy apple aphid, fruit tree red spider mite, codling moth and other caterpillars

Diseases

May be susceptible to apple canker, apple scab, blossom wilt, brown rot, fireblight, honey fungus and powdery mildews

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