Melissa, all apple trees from nurseries today are grafted to a root stock. It is the root stock that determines the size of the tree. An espalier tree is just the way the tree is trained to grow and not a type of tree. In your 4' x 25' area, with the right root stock, you could get as many as 6 apple trees planted 4' apart. We have semi-dwarf trees planted 4' apart in our tree rows (we have 17,000 trees in our orchard). In our retail nursery, we stock all dwarf and semi-dwarf trees and tell our customers what root stock they are getting. Most nurseries do not do that so you have no idea what size tree you might end up with. The most common dwarf root stock is Bud 9 or B9 and semi-dwarf is M26 or M9. If you contact Whiffletree Farm & Nursery, they can help you with the right trees for your situation. I know they grow a super-dwarf tree on M27 root stock that gets no taller than 6'-7'. Whiffletree is north of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. Her is one of our tree rows planted to espalier on M26 root stock spaced 3' apart. We also have a 3,000 tree apple tree maze planted to espalier! Hope this helps!

Michelle: If you live in Green Bay, you will most likely have to battle the Japanese beetles! They have been horrendous there the past few years and really love Honeycrisp apple foliage from what I have seen on past visits. Not that they don't feed on other apples but the Honeycrisp I viewed seemed more chewed up on the new growth than other apple varieties nearby. I am always amazed how different apple varieties show different levels of insect/disease resistance. Connell Red has a very waxy skin so the apple maggots seem to leave it alone. Jonathan on the other hand seems to be a magnet for apple maggot. McIntosh and many of its offspring (McIntosh crosses like Cortland, Macoun ect) are very prone to apple scab. Northwest Greening seems to be the easiest to grow as hardly ever seems touched by scab or insects. I have noticed at work where we sell apple trees that Spartan and Honeycrisp will get horrible looking foliage (not sprayed) as the season progresses, yet Golden Delicious in the same row have beautiful clean leaves. I just wish I could find a buyer for the Golden Delicious! (sad, as one of my favorites). Wherever you order your trees from just be sure to find out the rootstock! So many retail mail order companies and even garden centers do not tell you what the rootstock is. If you want something dwarf, be sure to ask what it is grafted on. That way you can plan better on how big they should hopefully get so you know how much space to provide for them. I live in SE WI but we have some relatives in Green Bay.

If you clear an area in the flower bed about 3 feet across and plant the apple tree in the center of that, things could go well for the first 3 years or so; after that the tree will shade out and dominate the area. The tree would not take care of itself during this 3-year time; it would need regular summer water. For better advice, would need to know the type of apple tree: dwarf, columnar, semi-dwarf, full-size, and variety. The tree should also be planted well away from the house. The tree roots would not harm the flowers, but if the flowers creep back densely to the base of the tree, they could slow its growth somewhat.

I amend my soil in the hole and I dig in amendments in about a three foot diameter circle. This will help the tree recover from transplant shock. If your tree is a dwarf or a semi-dwarf it's recommended that the tree be staked. So you would drive the stake prior to setting the tree in the hole. A pine stake will rot out in about 3 years. The stake should be permanent particularly for dwarf trees. My neighbors crabapple tree blooms during the entire bloom period for the apple trees I have. I have lots of deer and they seem to prefer apple trees over any other fruit tree I have here. I fence mine with a five foot fence about the diameter of the 3 foot amended circle that I dug. I'm not familiar with cotton burr compost, it's not a local crop. If it's a good compost then I'd use it. I use horse or mushroom manure and peat in my clay soil. Mulch the tree to keep weeds and grass from growing under the tree. If you use organics for fertilizer a lot of apple trees will be slow growers, especially on dwarfing rootstocks. So don't be afraid to use a lot I wish you and your son good luck with his new tree. Hopefully he'll enjoy it for many years.