So these are the apples ‘before’. The top line on the trellis is the highest that I can reach.
And now they look like this.
Here is a straight on photo.
It is my ‘weeping’ apple. The top growth only extended maybe 2’ above the top line so the apples were kinda easy. Here is the ‘after’ Burdundy Plum (weeping) Its top growth had extended 6’ over the top line. Not all the limbs were bent as these will be pruned in dormancy.
I have yet to tackle the Sweet Treat. Those limbs extend 8’ over the top line.
As I perused the examples of those doing this in high density orchards, etc. The goal did not seem to get the limb horizontal, as in an espalier, but rather to get the distal segment of the branch pointing downwards. This is accomplished by keeping the natural angle of the proximal end limb and gracefully ‘weeping’ the branch and securing it. I only needed 1 brick for each apple tree to secure some limbs and the trellis did the rest.
BYOC pruning didn’t work for me. I want to intentionally define a fruiting ‘space’ or wall. I see these advantages of a trellis.
It defines the space in which fruit will be borne. This has advantages for more easily finding and protecting the fruit, efficiently applying sprays and harvesting the fruit. The compact nature of the fruiting wall allows easy application of fruit protection systems like bird/insect netting since the support is already in place. The structure also allows frost coverings to be applied quickly.
The trellis facilitates the limb bending process.
It stabilizes the limbs against wind (which apparently MANY people on this forum experience), especially when fruit is on the tree, and, can stabilize any Y crotches that have formed.
The trellis wires can support heavy distally borne fruit load - a characteristic of some varieties.
Pruning decisions are simplified because the space in which fruit will be borne is predetermined by the grower and is reduced from three dimensions (open vase w/pendulous limbs) to a fat 2 dimensional space. Pruning can still be done to achieve high light interception without creating dense areas in the canopy.
Maybe we can call this Trellised BYOC. 