Espalier Forum, Please? Pics and Experience with your espaliers?
etherealsunshine5
9 years ago
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myk1
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agomyk1
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Help with Belgian Fence Espalier
Comments (14)Hmm, me thinks this is much more complicated than I thought! I will look into deficit irrigation. Any sources you would recommend I look at? I moved from WA a year ago and so I am still learning desert gardening. One "advantage?" of the desert is that, with the exception of the monsoons, I am very much in control of the water they receive. Unfortunately I can't afford to start over so I am going to just have to try to make the best of what I have. If you can think of anything else that I might do to increase my chances of success dealing with the hand I have dealt myself I would be grateful to know. It would be disappointing to, in the end, have grown a very expensive leafy lattice but it will still look super cool ;) You had mentioned stripping leaves off of a shoot that was more vigorous. A couple of trees had branches right where I wanted them and so I did not prune them off when I planted. They are now, obviously, much bigger than the new shoots. Do I need to strip leaves to slow them down? Is this important overall or only if I am concerned with it growing symmetrically from the start? Also I had tied those longer branches to my structure but snipped them loose yesterday. They kind of just stayed like I had them tied so I'm not sure if snipping them loose will have much benefit. Thanks for all your generous time and help!!...See MoreEspalier apples trees, many questions...
Comments (5)1. "Growing Fruit" is a consise book which covers every aspect of fruit-growing including espalier, fan, and stepover pruning methods. It is a good place to start. It would be good if there were a more thorough book but I have not found one that was in-print. There are also many older out-of-print books which have a great deal of information in them; I don't recall the titles now however. 2. Sounds good to me. 3. If you are buying 50+ stocks, Williamette is a good source. For scionwood I keep a suppliers list, here it is: Richard Fahey Catholic Homesteading Movement Oxford, NY 13830 WSU NSRP5 program Nick Botner Lon Rombough Fedco http://www.fedcoseeds.com/forms/ft29scionOSreal.pdf Joyce Neighbors, Carlos Manning 681 Maplewood Rd. Lester, WV 25865 jneighbr (at) internetpro.net Tim Strickland, stricklt at gvsu.edu Tower Hill, http://www.towerhillbg.org/thwebscion.html Maple Valley, http://www.maplevalleyorchards.com/Pages/ScionWood.aspx Richard Fahey is my default source, he has a good list and very good quality and service. Lon is also very good but he has only a couple apples. Joyce has many older southern varieties. Fedco will surely be good but I never ordered from them (or the others). Well I tried to order from NSRP5 once but they were not offering much at all. Nick has the most varieties; I have heard the statistic that 10-20% of his varieties are mis-labeled, but he is the only source for many varieties and I have gotten many true-to-type scions from him. Scott...See MoreEspalier Screen for Herb Garden (link to pics)
Comments (16)Hi fairfieldcircle! Thank you for your reply and for looking at my pictures:) The idea for the espalier courtyard came as an epiphany. I had been considering how to screen my front yard from the busy street so that my family could enjoy the space. There were so many things to consider: costs, building codes, light penetration, air movement, etc I was interested in putting a couple fruit trees in my little garden too. One day I was reading about espalier and realized that a Belgium Fence set back several feet from the public sidewalk could be the perfect solution for all considerations. The herb garden in the resulting courtyard helps the apples too by attracting beneficial insects. Since the herb garden is used for recreation, food production and is attractive to pollinators; I do not use any chemical insecticides on the trees, preferring to build up the beneficial insect population. My husband and I did the project without professional help. The posts were installed and strung with plastic encased wire cable. The trees planted and headed. Two main branches were allowed to grow unhindered for the first season. The bamboo canes were installed in situ. I tied them at 45 degrees to the wires. After the bamboo diamond framework was finished, I tied the trees to the bamboo in the autumn. The bamboo and trees are all tied with plant Velcro! I have to renew it from time to time and also loosen and retie the branches to avoid deforming them. Eventually, the bamboo will come down and the trees will be secured directly to the wire cable. The biggest nuisance at the moment is the winter-hungry rabbits!! I wish I had taken them better into consideration before heading the trees so low. If I had to do it over again, I would head the trees at 3 feet so that I could wrap them more effectively. Later this month, I plan to prepare and spray a dormant application fungicide/bactericide mixture of copper and lime called Bordeaux. Bordeaux is not organic, but is approved for use in organic gardening. The lime and copper form a persistent coating that sticks to the bark through rainy weather. Spring in my area is wet and cool, which favors fungal diseases. Bordeaux is CAUSTIC and one must wear protective equipment while preparing and applying it. There are other things that can be used, I prefer Bordeaux because it persists in the rain. This month I will begin preparing plastic zip-type baggies to put on the tiny apples in June. Bagging apples is tedious but is an effective barrier against codling moth and apple maggot flies. Bagging allows me to produce quality fruit without using noxious insecticides. In preparation for bagging, as soon as the blossom petals fall, I spray horticultural oil weekly on the trees to reduce the number of Plum/Apple Curculio until the apples are ready for bagging. For more info on bagging apples, check out the GW Fruit and Orchards Forum. Mid-Summer (End of July/August) chores include pruning to encourage fruit spur formation. Mid-Summer some of the early dessert apples are ready to eat!! Autumn, tree trunks need to be wrapped before winter to prevent girdling by mice and rabbits. The mice are sneaky and tunnel under the snow, so the wrapping has to be secured into the soil/buried under stones. Winter, whenever is snows appreciably, I use the snow thrower and also shovel between the trees to discourage the mice and rabbits. At present there is an 12 to 18-inch gully in the snow around the trees, which also makes the pests more visible to passing hawks. Unfortunately, the pests prefer to visit a night:/ Owls, where are you? Future project: I need to replace the irrigation system. Ugh! I originally installed weeping hoses and have discovered that they arent the best for my purpose. Fortunately, there was sufficient rain last summer so that I only needed a little supplementation. So, what do you think? OK, it is a lot of work, but I mostly enjoy it. Sounds like I know what Im doing, I suppose? I never had a book that gave step-by-step instruction for this project. I still do lots of research. There have been and continue to be occasional tears and tense moments. Let me know if you are looking for particular information and I will assist if I can. Regards, PoseyPlanter...See Morefruit tree espalier techniques
Comments (23)I am so excited I found this topic. So before I even read the rest of the terrific replies to the original post I'm leaving my story here. I bought my home two years ago which included a beautiful old apple tree in the back yard. Well, the property got divided (a very long and sad story) and I lost the apple tree to the neighbor who made a very big deal of harvesting the apples this year. She only harvested them when I was home and available to see her doing it. Argggghhhh.... so I then ran across articles on espaliering apple trees. I have seen people who use them along walkways and as dividers, etc. I am thrilled and plan on using this technique to divide my backyard from my pond area with a 4-5 foot high espaliered apples. I also plan to use them as a divider between my front yard and hers a span of about 20 feet or so. It should look gorgeous. I have to rub her nose in it somehow, LOL. Now... I have seen several different techniques. Some people use wire and some use a wood trellis effect. Is one more effective than the other? I'm thinking I probably want two trees to span the area of about 15 feet in the backyard. Would that be enough or should I use 3 trees? Do I plant the trees now, in fall, or wait until Spring? So many questions and so many answers to find. Next, of course is the type of apple I want. Now, I'm off to read the rest of this thread... thanks way in advance....Jim...See Morespartan-apple
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoetherealsunshine5
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agomyk1
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agomyk1
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoetherealsunshine5
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agomyk1
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoetherealsunshine5
8 years agomyk1
8 years agoLiz Popiak
8 years agoetherealsunshine5
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7 years agolast modified: 7 years agooscarmatic
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Baby G (USDA:10a, Sunset:21&23 SoCal-NE. Mt Washington, Lo-Chill: 200-400 Hrs, So