Do I need to pick GoldRush apples before 27 degree night?

[hambone]

Will do, thanks Scott. How is Rubinette with fire blight? Do you put Reine des Reinette in the same intense category?

[HollyGates]

Here is my Goldrush, in a pic from yesterday. In it’s 2nd leaf, grown from a tiny stick from Cummins. It is on G11/M111 interstem. It is pretty well behaved so far for espalier and growing well. Just next to it is a Sweet Sixteen which wants all the very thick and inflexible laterals to go straight up.

Next spring I plan on cutting back the laterals a bit on all but the bottom tier and heading the leader at the fifth tier level (canes not yet installed for that level). Does that seem reasonable? Any suggestions?

So far it has not shown any desire to flower.

[MES111]

@HollyGates

Holly, this espalier is beautiful.

I would NOT cut the laterals back until they have reached the length that you want. Then you can tip them.

As they are now, next year they will all pick up where they left off. You can mange their length then.

This upcoming dormant season you should head the leader to set your last set of laterals and you’ll be off to the races.

BTW…, what are those brackets that you installed on the wood fence to hold the wires off?. They look very interesting. Can we get a closeup?

Mike

[Appleseed70]

Actually I am surprised you are having difficulty with Goldrush and wonder if yours is true to label. They tend to a very spreading growth habit which usually requires very little direction to a productive, stout shape.

Agree…mine is the only tree I’ve ever had that has never needed touched with pruners. Mine is on EMLA 27 and it grows in the nicest natural fan shape. It hasn’t grown a lot since planting though because it has always been very burdened with heavy loads of apples from spring to winter. It is very slowly “fattening” up though.

[Appleseed70]

Holly…that is a super nice looking espalier! I really, really like it. That tree is going to make a ton of apples. I’ll post a pic tomorrow of mine, it’s never been pruned (at all, aside from removing one root sucker) and is in it’s 3rd year since planting here.

Next spring I plan on cutting back the laterals a bit on all but the bottom tier and heading the leader at the fifth tier level (canes not yet installed for that level). Does that seem reasonable? Any suggestions?

I know nothing about espalier, but if it were me, I’d allow one more set of laterals at the top, spaced the same as the others. That would allow just a 1’ leader on top with the top tier laterals and leader all reaching exactly the same height. To me, that would be the most efficient use of space and also the most pleasing to the eye. I would only cut the laterals to remain even and in balance. There definitely is no need to prune to encourage fruiting with this variety as it wants to make WAY, WAY too many apples already.
I’d bet anything that it fruits next year, but if it doesn’t that might be good for getting the tree a little more robust in the meanwhile.

[HollyGates]

Mike and Appleseed - Thanks for the compliments; I’m hoping it will continue along smoothly. I have others that are not going so well, and some even died this summer.

But having some trees doing exactly what I hoped for keeps the spirits up!

Attached below is a drawing for what I planned for that espalier. While my overall multigraft plan is in constant flux, right now I’m planning on cutting the leader over to a piece of Reine de Reinettes in the spring, then forming the 5th angled tier and the little tophat section from that.

I’m still a pretty inexperienced grafter but I have done some successful ones on wild trees on the bikepath I take to work. Hopefully a whip and tongue at the top like that will take off relatively easily.

[HollyGates]

Mike - thanks for the pruning advice. I had been thinking nipping back the laterals would encourage more vigorous growth in them so they can reach their intended lengths. But based on what you guys have to say I’ll just trim them to even things up if they get far out of whack.

The trellis is made of western red cedar and aluminum, with stainless fasteners, cables and stays. I CNC cut the offset bracket things; here is a side picture from a year ago, which in fact nicely shows the Gold Rush tree in question before this season’s growth.

I did a writeup on the design and build of the espalier trellis at my blog.

[Appleseed70]

Holly, that looks fantastic…very nice work. Do you live in a castle or a church?

[hambone]

Beautiful design job on wall, bed, espalier, the whole deal!

[MES111]

THAT IS ONE BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF WORK

Mike

[HollyGates]

Ha ha, that is my next door neighbor (catholic church). Most of the time they are better than living next to another house, and they definitely have a nice looking building.

[mamuang]

Hollygates,
You set up is amazing, so meticulous. In a few years, your espalier will stop passers-by in their track.

[scottfsmith]

Hambone, Rubinette has gotten some fireblight but never horrible. Reine des Reinettes is not as intense.

Holly, those espalier do look very nice. It also reminded me of your dead trees and that I was going to paint some neem on one side of my G11 but forgot to. Will try next year as I am curious.

[mamuang]

Here is my 2nd year Gold Rush reaching for the sky.

[hambone]

You must not have deer. Lucky you!

[Auburn]

Nice looking tree. Pulling those limbs down appears to have directed most of the growth into the central leader. Bill

[mamuang]

We do but only a few. We live in a thickly settled neighborhood. There are lots of trees and bushes for deer to eat.

No one hunts deer here but I have not seen them since the spring.

[alan]

Generally not a good idea to pull scaffolds to a 90 degree angle. 65 degrees will not stunt their growth, although most varieties spread to 90 would send uprights from the scaffolds, but the Goldrush is simply spending all the energy of scaffolds to flower buds.

[Appleseed70]

My limited experience pulling down apple limbs (around + or - 60 degrees) is that it slows their vigorous growth, but most definitely does send up vigorous upright growth. This kinda stinks, because that’s not what we’re shooting for, but does have the benefit (as observed in my limited observation) of slowing out of control upward growth as well as increasing monumentally the branch diameter.
My aforementioned “limited experience” does include Goldrush among others. In short, I’m basically agreeing with everything Alan says, but also agreeing with Bill, it definitely does appear that your’s has directed it’s energy upwards in lieu of sending up vertical growth. Mamuang…is sunlight an issue here you think? I cannot tell what time of day it is in this photo, but for whatever reason it seems like maybe evening? If that’s right then would it be accurate to say it receives mostly western sun, since it is leaning that way?
It really is reaching for the sky as you said.
Did you get apples from it?

[alan]

The other affect of bending branches all the way to horizontal and lower is that branches then tend to store more carbos for fruit production. It is useful in species and varieties that refuse to GROW UP sexually but insist on doing so vegetatively.

Festooning is an old English technique often used on E. plums to encourage fruiting where branches are pulled down well below horizontal. You deal with water sprouts with summer pruning so the lowered branches continue to receive good light. It seems to be effective IME. I also use it a lot with N. Spy, the most upward growing, Peter Pan of a variety of apple I grow.

It would be precisely the wrong way to train GR unless it was an espalier. Then you’d pull the branches down annually after they had a chance of some upward growth.