A trial is only as honest as the labels on the plants

Clean, true-to-type plants are not a luxury. Virus, mixed clones, and a bag that says one name while the leaf says another waste the evaluation. Weatherproof tags, a mother-block reference, and a note of rootstock plus scion travel with the tree. Reject off-types at the gate.

Give the buyer — including yourself — cultivar, rootstock, source, and date. Keep a few reference plants. A beautiful unknown is not an improvement programme.

If two 'same' cultivars crop unlike each other, check the label before you change the fertilizer.

In this series

• Name the defect before you buy a famous cultivar
• Do not plant one clone as the whole orchard
• Fruit quality and root survival are two jobs
• Clone the winner and retest — the best tree may be the best soil
• Rank trees over years, not one heavy crop
• A trial is only as honest as the labels on the plants