my neglected espalier row

[applestar]

I'm testing that first Magness pear every few days though it is not supposed to ripen until mid-Sept. I have three fruits on the Magness espalier for the first time this year.

Around a dozen Pristine apples were harvested in July. These are Arkansas Black apples which should ripen in October.

The last tree to the right end is Prok persimmon -- also sporting 4 fruits for the first time this year.

5th tree in this row is a Seckel pear out of frame to the left. It's a younger tree than the Magness and has not set fruit yet, although it did bloom this year.

[Northernfox]

Wow those look great!! I want to do espalier apple tree I just need to learn how and set it up in the next year or so

Can you do it to any type of fruiting tree ?

[southjersey]

Wow, I've always wanted to try my hand at an espalier tree. Is it a lot of work? What do you use for attaching it to the fence? I have seen some very impressive (and old) espalier'd trees at Longwood Gardens. I see you are also in NJ; I highly recommend you check them out if you get the opportunity!

[applestar]

From what I've read, you want to use fruit trees grafted to dwarf rootstock so you're not trying to control a full sized tree, but super dwarf stocks can actually be not as beneficial due to diminished vigor.

The type of espalier style can depend on kind of fruit tree because some fruit on older branches and some fruit on new, and some fruit on branch tips while others grow on spurs along scaffold branches. And it's better to plant similar growing condition trees together rather than ones that have different requirements.

So there are lot of background research but amount of actual work really depends on how strict you want to be. I'm not good with symmetry and strict forms and styles so I haven't found it to be too demanding. I'm also not driven to have them produce in quantity or size.

Any time you decide yo grow fruit trees, I would recommend researching for cultivars with disease resistance and adapted to local climate.

Thanks for the Longwood Garden recommendation -- I haven't been there in a while and now I want to go!

[Northernfox]

Looks great !! I think one or two apple varieties may be on my 3 year plan ! cover some more of my ugly back fence ! I have grapes to cover the back of my garden area

[JONA878]

As has been said ...you need a dwarfing stock..I would use a 9 or similar.
Try to avoid tripoid varieties as they are in general more vigorous than the norm and are mainly tip growers so are more difficult to control as espaliers. You have to summer prune as well as winter prune with this style of growing to try to produce fruit bud clusters near to the main branches. So you need to use vars that willingly produce such close cluster bud wood,....something that triploids are loath to do. This is why pears lend themselves to espalier work as they naturally produce these close bud clusters.

Don't summer prune the trees until you are sure that the tip buds ( Borsal buds ) have shut down for the summer. Around the end of July....summer prune to early and the fruit buds that you need to give the next years fruit, may well break into growth leaving you with a greatly reduced crop the following year.

If you don't summer prune espaliers then the excess summer wood and growth will stop light and sunshine fall on the next years bud wood as well as giving your fruit the chance to ripen fully in good light.

[Northernfox]

My wife and I picked up a traditional tree the other day and I planted it last night. Although not espalier we have a perfect corner for the apple tree. The catch is she wants a number of varieties grafted to it as soon as reasonable so she can bake all her different things with the same tree

I gladly will comply with that!

[lily51]

Espaliers are so intriguing, and yours is beautiful. Makes me want to put up a fence just for t h at purpose.
Thank you for the inspiration.

[Northernfox]

My next campaign to take over the back yard for gardening is to see if I can put one in

I have time

[applestar]

Harvested two apples and two pears today.

Arkansas Black Apples and Magnes Pears

That first one I picked and kept inside wrapped in paper towel have ripened.
We're eating it today.

I hope you all do plant fruit trees. Even though I don't get a whole lot of harvest from these, they are great fun and means a lot to me, and what I do get to harvest are special treats for my family.

JONA, thank you for inspiring me to get some pruning work done. I did take care of some much needed chores after reading your reminder. (...though my semi-dwarf Enterprise apple tree is still being neglected this year. )

[applestar]

The kids and I shared the pear for our snack...aaaand it was delicious! Just the right level of ripeness, incredibly sweet and juicy.

Didn't I post about it? (ugh I can't find the reference if I did) It's the first one pictured in the OP. it had a black shallow circular hole about 1/2" in diameter and 1/4" deep (looked suspiciously similar to climbing cutworm hole). The flesh and skin surrounding the hole was blackened, so I picked it since bugs will get in and speed/spread spoilage if left outside. After customary rinsing and light scrub in a bucket of water, I sprayed the hole with alcohol, then wrapped it in a paper towel to ripen in a basket in the kitchen. Today, the hole had not spoiled any further though the blackened skin had spread to 1/2" x 3/4" oval, but it was mostly skin surface only and when I cut the hole out in a diagonal wedge, there was no significant further damage to the fruit.

You can see a similar black hole on one of the pears harvested today. Hopefully, this one will also ripen without issues.

[Northernfox]

Sounds like ill be over to steal pears I can't wait for my apple tree to produce. In a year or two or three !

[JONA878]

Those pears look super AS. I understand that the var Magness is very similar to Doyen de Comice. ( The pear that I think is King of all pears). We say that it's the pear to eat in the bath with a friend...as it's so big and juicy.!!

I think that black 'bit' is just an old bird peck or the site of a capsid bite. On an apple it would have gone rotten but pears are made of tougher stuff.

[applestar]

Another precious apple harvested

Arkansas Black Apple

...we had another pear tonight. DH got a taste too, though his first words were "We have a pear tree?"
I'm already looking forward to next year's harvest since we only have one more pear left, but we'll enjoy the apples.

[rainbowgardener]

They are beautiful, applestar; the fruit AND the trees along the fence.

Can you do it without the fence? Will they support themselves if they don't have a fence or trellis to be tied to?

[applestar]

What you actually need are sturdy posts between each tree and tensioned wire to tie the branches onto for support.

I'm doing a non-traditional "style" based on Belgian fence design and tying crossing diagonal main limbs to each other -- and possibly ultimately fusing them. I'm also hooking ends of straightened limbs on the top of the picket fence when they reach past the top rail so fruit clusters dangle on the other side along the top rail just because I like the way that looks from the front side, but doing this seems to be supporting the length of the limbs.

[rainbowgardener]

Wow... that makes me think!

You really are my mentor, applestar.

So my long narrow lot has neighbors close by on both sides. On one side it slopes down to the neigbor and a lot of the back yard area has trees all along the dividing line. On the other side it is all open between my butterfly/hummingbird garden and the neighbor's lawn. I always thought about putting up like a two bar split rail fence there as a sort of symbolic divider and place to grow grapes or something. I don't want to do anything to block the sun, because that's the only direction left that sun can come from to get to the patio beds.

But it might work to put up posts and then instead of split rails between them, put wires and espaliered trees..... If the trees are dwarf and only allowed to have a few branches, it shouldn't block the sun too much.

[applestar]

Sounds like a great idea! I think that would work very well.
Just remember, though, that critters will go after the fruits, so you may need to think of ways to protect them.

[Northernfox]

Id love to know just like Rainbow. Wow that looks good!

[rainbowgardener]

Sounds like a great idea! I think that would work very well.
Just remember, though, that critters will go after the fruits, so you may need to think of ways to protect them.

You are right and that is a good point. But fruit would be a few years off and I am hoping not to be still in this house with the wierd little lot by then. If I do it, it would just be for the experience and because I think the espaliered trees would be more beautiful than split rails.

[JONA878]

A few years off Rainbow??
You should be able to get some fruit off by year three at the latest. With good quality trees we expect as near to full cropping by year five and return of costs by year 10 on intensive trained trees.