106 is too vigorous for a compact espalier. I am not familiar with the variety but if it is at all vigorous you will probably need much more than 10' of wall space unless you restrict the roots somehow, such as in a pot.

It's described as weak growing, heavy growing. 3.5m-4m height with good soil.

My soil is heavy but should be nutritious enough.

Can it be kept under control by pruning or will that be counter productive, should I just use the M27?

Regards
Nick

Are you planning to espalier the M27? I planted some this spring and based on the low level of growth (with one notable exception), I imagine it would take a long time for them to grow enough to be trained. The one exception I had was the Red Boskoop, which grew to 5+ feet with a couple small side branches. That's still much smaller than the B9/G16/G11, but it was 2X as large as the other M27. Considering OrangePippin considers Fiesta "slightly small", I doubt it will get very large.

OrangePippin also lists MM106 as suitable for an espalier, though it is the largest-growing rootstock which they recommend for that purpose. Given the weak growing nature of the Court Pendu Plat, I think it would be OK. I'm not sure how much wall space it would take, though 10 feet seems reasonable. Maybe someone more familiar with espaliers could comment...

As an aside, Court Pendu Plat sounds like an interesting apple. I may try grafting a branch on someday. One potential problem I see is that it has a very short stem, which could make bagging difficult.

106 is about as vigorous a rootstock as is generally commercially available in the U.S. It is a poor choice for heavy soils as it is prone to collar rot. Of course it can be used as an espalier if you give it enough space but even if the 27 is a tiny tree your are still not left with adequate space IMO.

Consider the size of a mature 106 tree when free standing. A tree that needs a 15' spread to produce efficiently in a 3D form will require twice that as an espalier. If you excessively prune it to try to make it smaller it will likely react with excessive vegetative vigor and produce small crops of mediocre fruit at best.

Why on earth would you make growing fruit any more difficult than it already is by forcing a square shape through a round hole? The purchase price is tiny compared to the upcoming investment of time and labor.

I'm not actually.... :)

I do have one other tree which is on M9 called Redlove sirena, but as this is a new tree commercially speaking it would be hard to say wether it's suitable and I was just going to grow it as a 'normal' tree.

Regards
Nick

MadFerret,

I've read and implemented in my pears/apples the Lorettes summer pruning techniques which could help your situation once you have your rootstock preference.
I picked the book up at library sale and it's definitely musty, ca. 1942.
I've seen, int the books pictures, some loaded espaliers that were quite impressive. All #1 fruit.
Believe it or not, I got my (2 yr from purchased) standard bartlett to flower lots last May. I've read that some pears take a really long time, and I don't know what's the case for Bartletts. It's a 2"caliper tree. Cold temps during pollination yielded no fruit. I have more flower buds for the spring too.
I guess summer pruning as done from July-Early september, as the sap is on the decline, promotes the formation of fruitng buds from the basal buds, without initiating a vigorous flushing of vegetative growth. The prunings are dictated by sucker/vegetative development, as they emphasize cutting into new 'wood'/lignified tissue. Be sure to leave some wood for grafting!
I'm not a commercial grower but enjoy reading about different techniques like Lorette's that may apply in a small orchard.
Have fun!
noogy

I've done espaliers on several rootstocks - I like M106 because I don't like the wait. Bud9 took so long! M7 actually gave me some decent looking larger trees - we kept those about 10 feet wide and still had good fruit production. Has anyone tried the Geneva series for espaliers?

kansasapple, what size to you think I should use for a double T espiliar, in which I plan to have (4) 10 foot branches on? It sounds like your m7 are 10' wide, mine would be total 20' wide each, but only double t with 4 branches each.

Kapple, your suggestion that 106 is quicker to bear than Bud 9 doesn't make sense to me. 106 is not especially precocious but B9 should be capable of bearing fruit on its second year.

I thought the same thing when I first saw it. Maybe Bud9 took too long to fill the allotted space, as opposed to when it bore fruit?

Bob

Bud 9 will grow fruit fast - but its far too dwarfing to fill that space.

I like M7 for the dimensions you are talking about. It will fill in nicely and should fruit year 4 or 5.

I'd use M26 if it's ok on clay. Makes a perfect semi-dwarf espalier but can fill in a pretty good sized area if not allowed to runt out by over production.