Sunday, March 04, 2012

Espalier Fruit Trees - You Can Grow That!

I was delighted to discover today the first collaborative posting of the monthly "You Can Grow That" blogging meme series, hosted by C.L. Fornari of Whole Life Gardening, and I knew I had to join.  At least this first one.  I don't know how often I'll remember it's the 4th day of the month, or have something I can organize, but I instantly knew what I wanted to share : my espalier fruit trees.

My espalier fruit trees are a continual delight to me, as well as to my garden and garden blog visitors.  All three are in the horizontal cordon espalier form, and all of them feature 3 different varieties of the same fruit, one on each horizontal level.  I have had my apple and asian pear espaliers about 7 years now, in which time their branches have grown from about 1 1/2 feet long to about 8 feet long.  My european pear is quite new, added only 4 years ago.

Here is my apple espalier tree, with a closeup of 2 of the varieties of apples:

And here is my espalier asian pear, with a closeup of all 3 varieties of asian pears:



For me, the process of planting and getting them set up was an interative approach, but some of the lessons I've learned are :

1. Leave lots of room for horizontal growth of the branches.  I like the look of mine at 8 feet (16 overall), since this is the length of my cedar fence panels.  But I think the branches could easily grow to 12 feet or more, with adequate supports.
2. If you plant against a wall or fence, leave room behind for access.  Mine are planted about 12" from the fence, and this provides good access to reach behind, to trim branches, etc.
3. You don't need a fence behind.  At the UBC Botanical gardens, there are some wonderful examples of espaliers growing beside a path in the food garden, and the espaliers themselves form a fence.  But if you have a fence or wall available, it helps to provide reflective heat for fruit production.
4. Provide adequate supports for the branches.  Mine are a thick vinyl-coated copper wire ( roughly equivalent to a clothesline), tied to landscaping posts through eyelet hooks.  But over time the eyelet hooks are coming loose, so if I re-tied them, I would tie them directly around the posts, and bend a nail over them to keep them from sliding up/down the post.
5. Be diligent in pruning.  Over time you will learn to recognize fruit-bearing spurs (which are compact) and the vertical growth which need to be trimmed back aggressively, to allow the tree to put its energy into fruit rather than branch development.  I prune them at various times during the year, mostly in spring and summer, when the growth is quite vigorous, and needs to be diverted to the fruit.
6. Be diligent in thinning the fruit.  Yes, the fruit is so plentiful, that it needs to be pruned, in order to allow the fruit to develop.  Best not to leave more than one or two per fruiting spur, and not closer than 6" apart.  This is the task I find the hardest, and I tend to leave too much fruit, creating undue strain on the tree, and ending up with fruits that don't ripen as quickly or fully as they could.

But most of all, I've learned with all of my fruit trees :
7. Start now!  Trees are an excellent investment, and grow every year, so if you are thinking about a purchase, don't put it off another year.  Prepare your hole, and head to the nursery!  The best stock arrives (usually bareroot) in late winter/early spring, so it is that time, or soon will be!

PS. Come join in the 4th of each month with your own "You Can Grow That" post, at Whole Life Gardening.

14 comments:

  1. We can only hope the two apple varieties we picked up at the Apple Festival last fall turns out as beautiful as yours.

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  2. Tim - I hope so too. I keep hoping I will discover an apple I love in the tasting area, and then buy the tree, but so far I've been overwhelmed by the tasting and can't decide, or the one I like is "patented", and the tree is not available for sale. I'd love to hear more about your trees.

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  3. Superb job on the espalier pruning! This technique can be a real art form when done properly. Great post!

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  4. What beautiful fruit trees. I love to visit orchards and walled gardens with fruit trees, they have such interesting shapes, not to mention the lovely fruit! I've not grown any myself though - yet!

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  5. Very informative article! You make growing espaliers seem much more within my abilities than I ever before. Thanks for all the great information!

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  6. You make it look so easy! I am just now developing the wherewithall to do this. I am starting with a tree that the borers destroyed so I had to cut the leader in half leaving two tiers of limbs. I relocated it and now it's a waitandsee!

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  7. What an interesting article. I had forgotten all about the espalier fruit tree in my uncle's walled garden until I read this. The list of what I'd like to do in my new garden is getting very long but I'm adding this to it.

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  8. Nice post! This tree is really amazing.

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  9. Bravo! Your trees look wonderful. I think if I ever grow fruit trees (I have one ancient pear tree) I will espalier them. Great pos.

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  10. hi, i'm just wondering how old are you espalier trees in these photos and how and when you fertilize them? my espalier apple is just forming flowers this year for the first time, but the entire tree still is only about 3 feet high and very thin

    thanks

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  11. Wonderful espaliers!

    Are your Asian/nashi pears on dwarfing rootstocks? If not, do you know which rootstock there are on or whether they are seedling varieties?
    Thanks!

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  12. Jen - Yes, the espaliers are grafted onto a dwarf rootstock. I bought them already grafted in the horizontal cordon espalier form.

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  13. Zud - From reading my blog (that's the best record I keep), it seems I bought my espalier apple and asian pear trees in 2005, so they would be 7 years old now. I don't believe in fertilizers, although I did bring in all new soil when we landscaped originally, to add on top of the solid clay. Since then, I have been adding new soil occasionally, to fill in where it has settled, or when I dig out more lawn to make more garden.

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