Protecting the fruit blossom

[Quiksilver]

Also, if replanting, as I say above get the correct flowering group for your area. And on a smaller rootstock - easier to cover and to pick.

Sadly, the dwarfing rootstocks don't produce very robust trees, which they need to be to cope with the extremes and less-than-ideal-soil round here.

[Chappers51]

All my Apple and pear trees are on dwarfing rootstock (dept 24) M27 for 2 James Grieve and the rest M9 or M106 or M26 and they have provided heavy crops for the past 10+ years they’ve been in.Last year was the only year I didn’t have any pears as they were affected by the late frost as were my peaches and nectarines.

[Quiksilver]

Isn't the soil like JI3 compost in Dordogne, though, Chappers51? It's mostly clay here in 47.
You're fortunate to have nurseries that offer a choice! The only outlet that I know of in my département that specifies rootstocks is the Conservatoire Végétale near Agen. After two years of being hard hit by Covid restrictions, it's future is looking grim

[Chappers51]

I have never checked the soil but it’s not a good quality. I must admit I bought my trees from a specialist nursery in the UK, when we were allowed to import them, because I wanted specific varieties and pollinators. (There are advantages to having connections with East Malling 50 years ago). My two failures have been Bramleys and Cox’s.
The one thing I haven’t mastered is the correct way to prune them, it’s generally hit and miss.

[exile]

Our first attempt with Bramley also failed but because the OH says she cannot do without them we tried again. The tree was on dwarfing stock imported from the UK and despite the root stock it is now significantly bigger than our other apples bought without mention of the root stock.

It does all of the things I hate about Bramley -
Very particular about pollinators
Some say it tends to cropping in alternate years - well I would consider 50Kg - ish one year versus 2 apples the next as supporting that.
As a culinary apple it goes from still hard to cotton wool in seconds

[Quiksilver]

My UK Bramley is hanging on by a thread, after being attacked by the Cossus cossus goat moth. The fruit never attains the size it should, though. Strangely, the Queen's Cox did extremely well here, right up to the point where it succumbed to a nasty fungal disease that also carried off the 15-year-old Suntan and Worcester Pearmain. So starting again with Reinette de Brive and Chantecleer to see whether French varieties and trees do better.....

[Polarengineer]

I agree exile, our Bramley did the same, heaps one year to the delite of the hornets, and only a couple the next year.

[Spectrum]

I have never checked the soil but it’s not a good quality. I must admit I bought my trees from a specialist nursery in the UK, when we were allowed to import them, because I wanted specific varieties and pollinators. (There are advantages to having connections with East Malling 50 years ago). My two failures have been Bramleys and Cox’s.
The one thing I haven’t mastered is the correct way to prune them, it’s generally hit and miss.

I did the same many years ago, but mine was all cider varieties. Pruning varies whether they are spur of tip fruiting, I can recommend a very good book for all fruit trees, simply called " The Fruit Tree Handbook" by Ben Pike, 351 pages.