Welcome to RealEnglishFruit!

We are Dan and Henry Neuteboom, fruit tree specialists based in Braiseworth, Suffolk. We provide professional fruit tree pruning, restoration and expert advice for garden owners across the UK.

Our principal work is pruning and restoring garden fruit trees — helping them live longer, crop better, and regain their natural shape.

Fruit trees can have a long life.

When well care for, fruit trees can live happily and productively for 80 or 90 years. Some varieties of fruit trees, for example Bramley or other triploids, can have an even longer useful life.

Just as for human beings, the environment and nutrition play an important role. That’s why the spring and summer months are often an important period for giving older fruit trees new vigour.

After trees have woken up from their winter sleep, their foliage can provide an accurate picture of their greatest needs. We are fruit tree specialists and so, if you are having problems with trees that you would not like to lose in the last chapters of their life, we are the right people to contact. In many cases, our years of experience enable us to interpret trees’ needs accurately, before it is too late. Just contact us – we are fully operative in the coming months. Attach a photo to your email, and provide your postcode. Take a look at our Instagram channel to see us at work.

Write to us at enquiries@realenglishfruit.co.uk

We don’t cut down older trees. We make them live longer.

Professional Garden Fruit Tree Pruning

We specialise in:

  • Apple tree pruning

  • Pear tree pruning

  • Plum and cherry tree pruning

  • Restoring overgrown fruit trees

  • Restructuring neglected trees

  • Improving low or irregular cropping

Unlike general tree surgeons, we focus specifically on fruit tree care and long-term tree health. Our approach is based on more than half a century of practical experience working with fruit trees of all ages.

We grow trees, we care for trees, and we are passionate about restoring them to health and balance.

Grow delicious fruit without chemicals

Do you have an old fruit tree in your garden that isn’t producing as well as it used to? We can help you improve your fruit tree and increase its yield, so it continues producing healthy, delicious fruit without the use of chemicals.

With expert advice on fruit tree care, pruning and maintenance, we’ll guide you step by step in restoring your tree naturally. Simply send us an email (enquiries@realenglishfruit.co.uk) with details about your tree – and, if possible, attach a photo – and we’ll get back to you with personalised recommendations to help you transform your garden tree into a productive and valuable source of organic fruit.

older fruit tree
A 45-year-old apple tree

 

Restoring and Restructuring Old Fruit Trees

Many garden fruit trees become overcrowded, unproductive or structurally weak over time. Careful, knowledgeable pruning can:

  • Extend the life of older trees

  • Improve fruit quality and yield

  • Correct poor past pruning

  • Reduce disease risk

  • Restore natural shape and structure

If you have an old or overgrown fruit tree, we can help.

century old bramley tree
A magnificent century-old bramley tree

Summer pruning and protection from insect damage

Summer pruning is an effective way to improve fruit tree health, increase crop quality, and reshape your tree. When carried out in early summer, it improves light penetration to leaves and fruit, enhancing colour, flavour and overall fruit quality, while also supporting growth for the following year.

Late summer pruning is ideal for more significant tree restructuring. At this stage, after producing blossom and fruit, the tree naturally begins to slow down for winter, reducing the risk of excessive regrowth after pruning.

As part of our professional fruit tree pruning service, we also help protect your trees from common pests such as apple sawfly, codling moth and plum moth using environmentally-friendly pheromone traps.

SPECIAL OFFER: Book a summer pruning session and receive free pheromone traps, supplied and installed to protect your fruit trees from insect damage.

Send us a photo of your tree (email enquiries@realenglishfruit.co.uk), and we will reply with a tailored quote for professional summer pruning, including expert advice and pest protection.

Winter Wonder apples
Winter Wonder apples

Fruit Tree Advice, Disease Support & Grafting

We also provide advice and practical help with:

  • Fruit tree diseases (including peach leaf curl)

  • Poor cropping or fruit drop

  • Espalier training and shaping

  • Planting and planning new fruit trees

  • Saving storm-damaged or blown-over trees

  • Grafting and propagation

Advice is available by email, and we also offer on-site visits across Suffolk and East Anglia.

If you would like help, please email enquiries@realenglishfruit.co.uk with a description of your tree and a few photographs. Including your postcode helps us understand your local climate conditions.

Garden fruit tree care update – March

Fruit trees are now emerging from dormancy, and so early March is the last period in which new trees can be planted bareroot.

Some types of fruit trees can be winter pruned.

Newly-planted trees need special care. Remember to remove all grass and weeds in a circle one metre in diameter around the trunk. Grass inhibits tree root growth and its effect is particularly strong on young trees.

This is a good time of year to graft trees. Contact us if you need help with grafting!

grafting tools and materials

Trees in blossom or bud have to be protected from frost.

Do not carry out any form of pruning on plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots at this time of the year, as it may result in infection by “peach leaf curl,” a fungal disease. If you had trouble with this disease last year, make sure no old leaves are still underneath the trees, as these will produce the spores which may initiate another infection. If you can stop the leaves from becoming damp or wet, that will further reduce the chances of infection. Watch a video tutorial on how to protect against peach leaf curl.

More tips for March here.

A pheromone trap is very useful against apple sawfly, apple codling moth, plum moth and other pests

Useful links

Garden orchard encyclopaedia

This website presents information on the entire spectrum of fruit trees for the garden. Click here to see the Garden Orchard Encyclopaedia index. Below are links to some of our most popular sections:

Fruit Tree Video Channel

The videos published on this website illustrate the critical stages of fruit development, from the period from blossom to fruit formation, in a chronological sequence throughout the year. Click here to see the videos currently available.

grease bands how to apply
Watch a video on how to apply grease bands