I think I read that it’s possible to buy mature fruit trees (mature enough that they are already producing fruit). Am I right, and are there any pitfalls to be aware of?
I’m thinking of apples, pears, plums, figs, maybe walnut.
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Better to buy and plant trees in autumn, not spring. Essential to keep them well watered for at least 2 years and it’s more difficult to achieve that through a hot summer. The shock of replanting may mean that older fruiting trees take longer to recover. Young trees quickly catch up.
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Thanks, @SuePJ .
I’m happy to cosset them through their early days. What age would be best to buy at (I remember someone saying the best time to plant a fruit tree is 20 years ago)?
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I would say best time to plant fruit tree is 10 years ago - I’m an optimist!
I would buy 12-14 trees bare root myself as they will develop a solid root system. But too late now so would have to wait until Aurumn.
And yes you can buy humongous containerised plants. I used to do it a lot as a landscape architect with clients who wanted instant impact. I wouldn’t do it myself. It’s not only price of plant - see link - which can be €500 a pop, but also price of preparing the planting spot and getting in the ground. These containers can’t be lifted by hand. And there is a risk of sudden death. All can be well for the first year, but if the hole is not well prepared and the plant is not cared for correctly they can die easily the first winter.
And then the plant will do nothing much for a couple of years. Menwhile the cheap bare root plant will have caught up.
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At this time of year I would definitely plant pot grown trees. This year we’ve bought conference and granny smith. Most of them about 5ft tall and costing about €50 each. Anything bigger would need to be staked
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If you’re looking for quick fruiting, then rootstocks also play a part. UK fruit trees used quite a wide range of rootstocks which controlled precocity, vigour and ultimate size. Sadly, there’s less choice in France. I’d only take the gamble of spring planting on good soil and with a guaranteed source of water through summer and autumn.
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Not sure I agree with you. Yes a ‘larger rootstock can be more vigorous, but unless you want a 6m tree it’s not much use. One needs the right rootstock for what you want the tree to become in future.
I’ve not found any great lack of rootstocks here. For a wide choice one has to go to a specialist nursery, but that’s the same with all plants in France. We only have 6 fruit trees, but got the exact trees we want, ie variety + rootstock.
We have a very active local association here for apples, and they are great as will provide greffe and sell rootstocks very cheaply. And are a great source of advice as to what grows best locally, so worth seeing if local branch.
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Knowing absolutely bugger all about fruit trees I did a little reading and bought some, 2 apples and a pear (self pollinating) from an online nursery in Normandy. They were delivered in December with planting instructions which I followed to the letter. I still have what looks like 3 sticks in the ground with very little sign of any change. Am I being a bit impatient (i know they’re dormant in the winter), or is this "normal "?
Yes….if they still look like sticks in another 6 weeks you can get anxious. What you want your sticks to be doing right now is concentrating on growing roots, not leaves.
Start to closely to see if any signs of swelling in the buds.
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Our VERY well established apple trees still have very little sign of life about them. There are a few buds but that’s it. I don’t take notes about when things happen in the garden but I think you should take our experience as reassurance, Mark, since we live in the same approximate area 
No. But won’t be many years and then you may have to manage the process. Our apple sapling went crazy last year (as did many of our fruiting trees) and I finished up removing about 20 baby apples in order not to stress the tree and hopefully to avoid the alternate year fruiting pattern.
Nothing at all on any of our five apple trees yet, two very mature, three young. All still completely bare. Not worried, they are always the last trees to break bud and flower.
Depends on how big the sticks are!!! And also the variety. A few years back we bought a really dwarf tree and it not only fruited immediately but carried on doing so, prolifically, so much so in fact that some of the branches got to breaking point with the weight of the fruit.
However, if they don’t fruit and we have a year anything like last year, I’ll bring the odd barrowfull over to you
Thank you all very much for the advice - and the minor diversions which prompt more thoughts.
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You may find this interesting too, I posted on another similar thread.
Recommendation for anyone in Limousin - Les Jardins d’Ordesa near Arnac Pompadour has large bare-rooted trees with a number of old varieties, good advice on planting, and the four trees I got from there have all thrived. All their trees are picked for the Limousin climate, which is quite useful.