diggity:

I didn't read your article, but am generally familiar with some of the suggestions of the Dave Wilson organization.

I have been summer pruning for quite a number of years, and it is far superior for growing fruit, as opposed to large trees. The only pruning I do in the dormant season is some removal of major scaffold limbs when they are too crowded.

Multiple trees in a hole and growing trees as bushes have no appeal to me, as I have the space for real trees. My trees all want to grow pretty vigorously, and planting more than one in hole would, in my view, create a big mess. My ideal tree is a stand-alone about 8-12 feet tall max.

These methods may appeal to people who are really tight for space, want to grow multiple varieties, and are prepared for intensive, nearly continuous pruning.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I like the close planting approach becuase you can try out many varieties. I have 300+ varieties in my yard by planting rows with only 2-3' spacing between trees. In my climate it requires hedging back in June and August. I have some electric hedgers that let me hedge 300 trees in an hour or two -- I hedge them just like bushes. I do much more careful pruning and thinning in the winter, thats what takes the most time. My biggest problem is I did some plantings which in retrospect were a bit too close, I have some zig-zag rows with as close as 1.5' between the zigs and zags. When they are this close it gets hard to give each tree its space. I am planning on thinning these out over time, keeping the varieties I like the best. On the 4-per-hole method you can have related problems when the varieties have vastly different growing styles or different degrees of vigor, and it requires some pruning skill to even things out.

Scott
PS click on my ID to see a picture of my orchard.

Wow, my eyes are bugging out thinking of the possibilities! I'm familiar with espaliers and cordons, but I had no idea you could keep fruit trees trained as bushes. I have about 6,000 sqft in the back yard now that's just grass now and I'd like to turn into an orchard. I had envisioned maybe 15 or so traditional style fruit trees back there, but now I'm thinking I can fit a LOT more than that, with space left over for grapes.

One question - How does summer pruning affect the longevity of the tree? The overall lifespan of the tree and the number of years it will produce?

Thanks!
-Diggity

Diggity, I don't think the lifespan of the tree is affected either way. I think the yield may not be quite as good due to the greater difficulty in getting each tree good light with widely-spread limbs, etc. A lot more work is required early on in getting the trees established and in winter pruning the trees to a good shape. If you wanted to do rows, I would suggest 3' spacing, no less, and don't do back-to-back rows like I did. I put 10' from the center of one row to the next and that seems good. I use vase/gobelet pruning style, with several limbs coming up from 2' or so in a gobelet shape. Where the trees overlap you pick the gobelet branches to minimize overlap. Any major limb on the main gobelet I keep 1' away from other major limbs, if they are too dense I thin it out.

Scott

I first ran into the Dave Wilson info at a local nursery about 10 years, and have tried many of the technics. The main idea here is that traditionial pruning and planting concepts shouldn't define our possibilities for orchard planning. Given the additional variables in varieties and rootstocks, you are only limited by your imigination. I have focused on keeping all my fruit trees under 8' in height to facilitate netting and picking.

I think the Dave Wilson Nursery info on backyard orchards is a godsend for those of us who have precious little space. Right now I'm working to develop a hedgerow of cherry trees across the back wall of my property spaced about 80" (6'8") apart that I will eventually keep under 8' in height. It gives me room for five cherry trees whereas I would have originally only planted two.

Diggity thanks so much for the article i found it very interesting and printed it off to study later. I am just getting started with fruit and was afraid i was wanting more than i had room for, so this has some good ideas.
Bonnie

I have a really small yard as well and planted out a "fedge" of 11 assorted fruit trees (spaced on 3'centers, ~7'tall), a quartet of Asian persimmons, plums, a "Belgian Fence" of apples and scattered jujubes, cherimoyas, a feijoa, superdwarf Cavendish banana and Meyer lemon. The peaches and then mulberry require the most diligent pruning. The others are not so bad, the close proximity to each other keeps them from runaway growth. In addition, I have grafted different varieties to many of the trees e.g. on my Geneva Mirabelle I've grafted American Mirabelle, Mirabelle de Metz, Mirabelle de Nancy. It's only been 2 or 3 years but so far it's worked well. In between I let squash, cucumbers and melons meander, amaranth reseeds itself and I tuck in a pepper or two. Tomatoes have to go in some neglected part of the yard if I expect to get more than just leaves (they have to suffer a little). I also have some figs in containers soon to be transplanted to half whiskey barrels and blueberries in containers too. On another side of my house is a mature apple tree and semi-dwarf Bartlett pear. I put in a dwarf walnut (and got one walnut this year) and dwarf almond close to the apple and 2 dwarf sweet cherries next to the pear tree. There is a worthy website to Google, Path to Freedom if you'd like to see some REALLY intensive gardening.

Chech out this website to see a great backyard orchard with tiny apple trees...

Here is a link that might be useful: MidFEx presents Gene's Backyard Orchard - 97 dwarf apple trees in 2500 square feet