They can be grown in either central leader or open center. But, with a central leader its more like spindle form -- keep side branches short -- and with open center you may have very few scaffolds coming out, e.g. 2-3 instead of 4-6. Basically when the trees start getting too close (e.g 1' or less on 2-year wood, 2' or less on 3/4-year wood) cut something off to solve the problem. I have a few "open center" trees that only have one scaffold, so the tree is shaped like a lower case "r". The main thing to do is not get obsessed with a certain specific tree shape - good air between the trees trumps any other goal CHOP. West coasters can be sloppy here due to their low disease pressure, but we easterners can't. In terms of open center vs spindle, I have nearly all open centers, but pears probably prefer spindle and apples can go either way; stone fruits are all easier for me in open center.

Scott

Thanks for the advice, Scott, especially your suggestion about shape vs. air circulation. I have some follow-up questions about pruning my nectarines, but I'll start a new thread with a clearly worded title (I'm afraid they'll get lost in this one).

Ernie

It sounds like you prefer open centers for apples? Have you found that shape to work better for your personally? I'm on the fence about which direction to go -- the shape of my Golden Delicious tree would lend itself well to OC, but my Gala looks more like a CL candidate. They're in my front yard, though, so I want to train them in the same manner. Also, do you train your spindle trees using the methods that commercial orchards employ -- tall stakes or support wires, minimal leader pruning (if at all), etc. -- or do you treat them more like CL trees and just keep the scaffolds short?

shazaam,
do you have any pictures you'd be willing to share? I'm interested in seeing your set-up. Are you using stakes or a trellis configuration? I'm using both with 9' between staked apples and 5 ' between trellised apples. Some folks on here said they squeeze more in between and I may do that someday.

I am also in the NC Piedmont. Do you have any heirlooms?

Shazaam, I have found that apple varieties have different preferences, but you can generally force them to go either way. My most extreme CL apple is Maigold -- that guy wants to grow a strong central leader with shoots coming straight horizontally out the sides. I tried to grow an open center on it but gave up after a couple years. I don't do all the fancy spindle pruning stuff. Just keep it to one leader at 8', keep the scaffolds from getting too long if they are heading into another tree, and keep the scaffolds from being too dense and shading each other out. As the trees have matured I have taken out more scaffolds to get better light penetration.

Scott

I'd be happy to share pictures, thomis, but there's really not much to show. The only space I have for trees is my front yard (septic field out back), my lot is small (quarter acre), and I'm learning as I go. Here's the basic layout:

.....A....P....P....A.....
..N.....................N..
.......Pl..........Pl.......

The trees are spaced four feet equidistantly. I originally had the plums in line with the Nectarines (all were planted last fall), but I moved them last week so that the trees would have a bit more room and so that I had more space in the center for a bed of perennials (Yarrow, Coneflower, Comfrey, and other deep-rooted insect attractors and nutrient accumulators).

At present, each of the trees has a 3' stake. I'm trying to balance function and aesthetics, so I don't want anything larger or more elaborate if I can avoid it. The trees are all rather ordinary varieties -- no heirlooms. I'd planned to order bare root trees and go for more unusual varieties, but I ended up buying potted trees at Lowe's last fall because of the price and convenience. I may regret that, but I consider these to be my "learner" trees. I don't expect to be in my current house for more than 6-8 years, so I'll use the time to get comfortable with pruning, shaping, etc. so that I'll have jump-start on a longer-term edible landscape at my next home.

Thanks again for the follow-up, Scott. Your responses have been very helpful. BTW -- The photo of your orchard is impressive. I hope to have enough space to do something similar further down the line.