- NRB
- Cambridgeshire
- 23 Jul 2010
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86
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Cox isn't easy to grow and has more than its fair share of problems.....but......To some extent it depends on whether there are any other diseased trees nearby to act as a source of infection. If you have a commercial orchard of Cox's nearby (or a diseased Cox tree in a nearby garden), you have no hope of avoiding the diseases blowing on the wind. Cox prefers a warm, fairly dry climate. I also have a suspicion that it performs better and has a better chance of being a little healthier when on a soil of a slightly higher pH than is usually considered "ideal" for apples; pH 6.5-7.5, rather than the usual pH 6.0-7.0. In a cool location, on a cold, wet, heavy, acid soil it will struggle. I would also pay attention to the rootstock which it is grafted to, and how that rootstock will interact with the pH, depth, fertility and moisture-retention of your soil. A good soil, or a stronger rootstock is better able to supply the tree with what it needs, so is likely to be a little healthier - assuming that your soil won't make the tree get too large. If you opt to replace your tree, I would suggest looking at some of the relatively less common types. The less a variety is grown, the less chance the diseases have to find ways to get past any disease resistance. Eventually, if grown country-wide, any variety, no matter how resistant, will eventually lose its resistance as the diseases find ways around its resistance. Also, if you replace the tree, you may have only a limited selection available to you, so if you want alternates, it might be better to list what you have to choose from.
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