I've got new spur type apples on G11 that are doing good. Although I'd rather wait about 20-30 years to give a final thought ;)
Almost all of my apples bear something their second year. Hard to say what year that is with these new ones since I grafted them myself and they started out as rootstock with a bud.

Interstem (guessing m111/m9) spur was well behaved. Interstem non spur was not. The top graft knot was not pretty. That is after 30 years or trial.

I don't really remember how to post pictures here. I thought they had fixed that and allowed orchards pictures.
These are a bit old. The McIntosh (left) has been allowed to overgrow substantially.
I don't have any pictures uploaded to a sharing site of the newer trees.
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And I don't think an espalier forum would be a good idea. Too specialized, too uncommon. You have plenty here who can answer any questions that wouldn't venture into a forum just for espalier.

Greetings:

I am also interested in all espalier info anyone can share.
Were I work we get requests for them all the time. Just ordered in some from growers on the West Coast who seem to find it odd that I ask what rootstock they are on.

One had apples on M111 and the other gave the answer of
"dwarf". I will give them a try though I wonder how well they will behave long term on size.

The company where I work is actually thinking of growing
some apples on espalier in the field. So any info one can share I sure could use.

Holy cow, myk1...those are some large graft knots! Thanks for the pics, even though you poo-pooed the idea of an Espalier forum in your next post ;)

Have you seen the list of forums on here? There are some pretty specialized categories. Maybe I wouldn't be so discouraged at the lack of information on espalier if it weren't so hard to get good results with a forum keyword search...and it seems to have gotten worse since the forums were revamped a few years back (now forums/ and forums2/gardenweb). I usually search from Google with the command site:gardenweb.com, since the results show the context of the boldface keywords...maybe it's just the format I don't like on GW searches.

Anyway...Not a great picture, but it shows the center of the row where the shaping has started to look like a Belgian fence. I noted an angle from the top of the driveway this morning that shows the shape a little better...but no time to stop and frame a pic. Of course, it's raining now and I won't get home until nearly dark.

Keep the espaliers coming. I want to see real espaliers maintained by real people. Looking at photos of hundred year old espaliers in the Monticello gardens, formal espaliers maintained by master gardeners in arboretums, and ancient European espaliers in manor gardens can only give me so much encouragement!

Those graft knots are probably pushing 30 years (at least over 20). You could set your beer on them while picking :)

I would've liked the forum before but I barely have time for this one lately. Since it's pruning and grafting I think you'd have more experienced answers here. But who knows, it could end up with some espalier wizards.
(I've been on some of them specialized forums that were worthless, like wine is people who want to drink wine and pretend they know something instead of people making wine from their produce last time I looked in.)

I got to thinking it was a revamp/search issue because there should be a lot of posts on espaliers here.

I'd like to make a privacy fence to keep my Dachshunds from barking at the neighbors. But anything low enough to block their vision is low enough for them to strip clean of "balls".

I'll see if there's enough light to get some pictures of my young trees (this was the 2nd year bearing).

On those fences do you cut them where they cross to encourage them to grow together?

These are the young ones. Both are spur type so I'm hoping they both act like the other spur type and need very little pruning. I'm not sure about the McIntosh, it's better than the non-spur McIntosh but not as well behaved as the one next to it so far.
Can't wait to see what they look like in 20-30 years.

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I don't do any rubbing or remove cambium to promote pleaching yet, but I'm not even sure they would graft together (pear and apple). I want to make sure they are healthy first and don't want to stress them additionally.
I can still reverse the 'weaving' if necessary. I do find that the pears (which are notoriously vigorous) require much more frequent pruning of water shoots.
Your candelabras look (straight and) lovely and they are just the sort of photos I'm looking for. Peter Thievenot (sp?) Has some great ideas for architectural forms (candelabra arches), but this is such a long-lived form that one sometimes waits several years for "follow-up" photos! (I'm guessing that his orchard's pre-shaping speeds up the process considerably for a wealthy client ;) )
If I knew malus and prunus would join, I might not be so concerned about the basket weave. I do want my Belgian fence to be free-standing in a few years, which is why I studied rootstocks for our medium clay soil. A stone wall would be ideal, but was not an option for us.
I did have one apple benchgraft not corrected to the spur varietal, but that was my fault. That is one of the rules-of-thumb I'd like to promote in an espalier forum...

They're not really candelabra. The one just kind of looks that way because I allow verticle growth and it's too willing to grow too much at the moment. I'm trying to get them bearing heavy early to stunt them before trying to hit them too hard with pruning. And one lesson learned with my old ones is the top branches will shade out the lower branches keeping them small so for now I'm keeping horizontal growth on the upper tight until the lower branches spread out some.
They'll end up being pretty much the same as my old ones, without the graft knot.

One tree in the background you can barely see at the side did start out to be a candelabra but it is a semi-dwarf and required ladder work, plus it didn't want to bear being pruned all the time. I eventually gave up so it gone wild but has a nice structure of tapered horizontal branches as a base. That taught me to bend, spread and tie up all my trees for early training.
The tree directly behind them is like that where the lower branches were pulled down horizontal and tied. That way those two trees grow along the property line instead of across it.

Hoping to keep this thread alive...

I've done my first re-tying and pruning of the spring shoots on my Belgian fence espalier.

Question: What length do you keep your fruiting spurs?

I trimmed to about 3 inches last year and this year I'm pinching new growth to about 3-4 leaves. In the one guide I found that mentioned a length, it recommended 5 inch spurs, which seems like it would be too thick for my spacing (2 feet between trees, should be about 16-2/3" sides on my diamonds).

I did lose one tree over the winter--my Stayman's Winesap. Luckily, a local farm store had some semi-dwarf Stayman in stock. The replacement was about 6 feet tall and on who-knows-what rootstock. I pulled the original tree and potted the M7 rootstock, which was surprisingly small, and toyed with the idea of attempting a graft from the 4 feet I lopped off of the new tree. I didn't get around to it, but it was in full bloom and I doubt i'd have gotten it to take on the 4 inches of M7 I had left. The new tree had nice roots and I fretted over lopping off all that greenery after it had just spent so much energy blooming, but it is finally pushing some nice strong leaves a couple weeks later.

(sorry it's sideways)

I also need to remedy a pear that has been trained slightly too vertical. It was pushing buds on the top half of the branches, but the lower halves were bare. Just with a little re-tying to the wire frame, it has started pushing a few leaf buds. I'll be trying some spreaders on it soon to push it a little further. It's just left of the central tree in front of the thick part of the asparagus behind the row.

A few holes here and there, but I may get a few fruits this year and I think it will be taking shape nicely by this fall.

Anyone else with espalier updates? I'd also really appreciate tips on how you handle pruning your spurs (length, thinning fruit, renovating spurs, etc.).

No real updates of interest. Less fire blight on the new McIntosh. More fire blight again on the free standing Lodi. I'm going to try grafting the old espalier McIntosh on the Lodi, if it works the old McIntosh will be short for this world, it doesn't like being tied down and confined.
The new McIntosh is bearing as much as I'd expect full grown so hopefully it will slow its growth. The Earliblaze was sporatic which I expected the way it bore last year.

I am happy there are folks on this forum interested in espalier; such a beautiful and space-saving technique to grow fruiting trees (and other trees)! I am going to attempt to espalier two fruit trees on the south-west-facing back-side of my house and have selected the Lapins Cherry and Arctic Jay Nectarine for the job (I already have apple trees in the ground nearby). Has anyone have any experience with these species?

LavaSalsa...I don't have personal experience, but I was originally planning to include two cherries and a nectarine in my Belgian fence. My original research changed my mind: stone fruits certainly can be trained to espalier forms, but are more difficult to train horizontally and are more appropriate for fan-shaped espaliers.

I do recall that Lapins cherry was one of my top picks for my zone 5a garden. (Another was Stella). I'm not familiar with Arctic Jay nectarine, but there are only a handful of nectarines that will produce in zone 5. I gather you've already planted these by now.

Thanks for helping keep my little thread alive! I just pruned and retied the Belgian fence last night after replacing the Winesap (again) last week. I nicked the trunk above where I want my two branches, so I'm hoping the new sprouts will survive this year if I keep a little greenery up top--although it could have been our very wet spring/early summer last year that drowned it in our clay soil.

I have some photos of select trees in bloom from weeks ago...One pear bloomed too early to be pollinated, but I have some apples and pears developing on a few trees! I'll be back with photos when the sun starts shining again...before and after reshaping :)

Hello,

I have the beginnings of a crabapple espalier. I am trying to make the classic ladder design. I am working on the second rung and discovered that I only had 2 branches when I really need 3 (one for each side and one to continue upwards). I decided to cut back one of the two branches thinking it would cause 2 new buds to form on the trunk, but so far this has not happened. I read that you can make a small cut in the trunk to get a new branch to form? Should I try this?

Thanks,

Jeff

Hi, Jeff. One year on, what did you end up doing with the buds -- score or not score? Any growth?

I'm glad to see this thread and I hope we can keep it going with more progress pictures and experienced advice. I posted recently with an espalier question some of you might be able to help with: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4856196/atemoya-espalier-broken-branch-replacement

I'm working on a new atemoya three-tier cordon espalier along my west-facing garage wall. I am also training six very vigorous Passiflora edulis vines into tidy cordons along a wire fence. I'm thinking about where else and what else to espalier, and I have my eye on the fence along the south side of the property. More to come!

Some asked if malus and prunus would join.....no. Typically not

Jeff, I hope you finally wrangled your crabapple ladder into shape. I have had mixed success with making a cut into the bark to try to get a bud to rise, but it can work (worked one of two attempts).

My Belgian fence has started to actually look like something special instead of a row of stunted trees, lol. I had to replace one tree last spring, so still have some catch up on that one. I've even gotten a bit of fruit the last two years and I'm considering removing the support wires this summer. I'll check back in with some progress photos and notes once it greens up a bit. I lost the photos from two summers ago when I lost my phone. I hope others will keep checking in, too!