Espalier apples

General Fruit Growing
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I will be growing short espaliers along a 4’ high fence that is 50’ long. Can anyone help me anticipate how much space I should expect each tree to fill out horizontally, given variety and rootstock? I’m trying to decide how far apart along this fence to plant multiple espalier trees. The varieties I am considering are king David, black oxford, Williams pride, Sansa, and grimes golden. I probably won’t use all of these.

I know it depends on variety, rootstock, and conditions. I suppose I could do a lot of very small espaliers on g11. However, if I use the often recommended espalier rootstocks Lomé g935 or g222, how much space could a 4’ high espalier fill? 8’? 12-16 for a vigorous variety? Could I even keep a high vigor variety well behaved on a 4’ trellis/fence? Any advice would be appreciated.

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I think it mostly depends on your wish. I have 1 espaliered tree(gold rush on G.890) that has about 1o foot width to fill. It will be its 4th leaf and it still has about a foot to grow each direction. There is no much limit in the length of the espaliered branches as they are supported by espalier. Only thing, because you doing a short espalier(mine is twice higher with 3 layers ), if you do not let much width to your tree it will not be much of a tree at all. And I heard stories about espaliered trees that refused to bloom until people let them grow out of espalier. So I don’t think high vigorus root stocks is a best choice. I do not recommend g11 as well - they reportedly have many virus issues, I lost a tree on it the first year. G.890 works well for me. I do not have any trees espaliered on g41, but have 2 stand alone trees on it - both have tendency to grow all the branches almost vertically . Even after spreading branches, tips grow on 90 degrees angle strait up. It is only root stock that doing it for me, so I do not think it is good candidate to espalier. I have one tree on g222, looking at the growing habit it may be a good candidate for espalier. if I start 50’ espalier I would probably choose G890 or G222 and plant 6 trees - it will give at least 8 feet to each tree, what looking at my tree now seems enough.

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I’ve been working on a similar project, though in my case I decided to go with a Belgian fence espalier, rather than a horizontal cordon (mostly because my wife liked the way it looked). Our fence will ultimately have twenty-one trees planted two feet apart, for a total of forty feet. I ran out of transplanting time in the spring, though, so not everything is in place yet. For a trellis I used six-foot T-posts, setting them two feet into the ground and stringing wires at two feet and four feet. The T-posts are anchored with guy wires on either end, and the wires are tightened up with turnbuckles. I then tied bamboo canes to the wires in a criss-cross pattern and trained the trees to the canes, which seems to be working pretty well so far. The trees are mostly on G41, which I bench-grafted with my dad two years ago and transplanted this past spring. For reference, we are also in zone 5b, growing in somewhat acidic sandy loam, mulched with wood chips.

So far things seem to be going pretty well, considering the fact that I am definitely learning as I go. We are still just getting started, but from my experience so far, I feel like G41 has a good level of vigor for a project of this scale. I cut all the trees back to about two feet when I transplanted them, and after one growing season the most vigorous varieties have already reached the second, four-foot wire, trained to the canes at a forty-five degree angle. At the same time, the least vigorous (or most transplant-challenged) trees are lagging quite a bit behind that. So, on balance, I don’t know that I would want a rootstock with markedly more vigor, or with markedly less. Though again, I am using a somewhat different form, and one that requires a somewhat smaller scaffold while possibly restricting vigor somewhat less.

Based on my limited experience, I would tend to agree with Galina that it would make sense to give a single tree on G41 (or something more vigorous) eight to ten feet of space on a two-tier espalier of the kind you have in mind. So, five or six trees for a total of fifty feet. I have not personally experienced the problems with training G41 that Galina alluded to, at least not to the degree that it would cause me to question my choice of rootstock at this point. Maybe I’ll be singing a different tune in a few years, though, who knows!

Out of the varieties you mentioned, Black Oxford is the only one that we happen to be growing, and after a slowish start last year it has been a pretty strong grower for us this season. As you may know, the blossoms are said to be noticeably pinker than the typical apple blossom, and the apples themselves are also said to be pretty visually striking. If you’re interested in the ornamental side of things, you might want to take advantage of those qualities in the layout of your espalier fence. (I ended up arranging our Belgian fence with reputed-to-be-pink-blossoming apples in positions 5, 9, 13, and 17. Trees 5 and 17 are Kidd’s Orange Red, and 9 and 13 are Black Oxford. The bookend trees of 1 and 21 may end up being added to that pattern, but I haven’t entirely made up my mind yet. Still scion-shopping…)

Overall, our fence has been (mostly) fun to work on, and while it’s still in the very early stages, it’s gotten a number of positive comments from neighbors and various passers-by. Best of luck with your own project!

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Jim, it sounds so interesting, I want to see your orchard some day! My yard is very small, and not planned well - It all started with one peach tree, now it is 7 different trees planted as I move things around. If I could start over, it would be probably more organized and could fit more trees, but it is what it is now :grinning:. When I bought the house I didn’t even realized I could plant more then one tree on my front yard.

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Thank you for the kind words, Galina, but I’ve seen pictures of your garden, and when you say it’s not planned well, you’re simply not doing yourself justice! It’s really amazing what you’ve been able to do with such a small space.

I do think espalier is a really good option for people like us who are working with smaller suburban/urban yards. Hopefully I will still feel the same way in a few years…

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Thanks for the replies! I’d love to try a belgian fence somday, but only after I become a little more proficient at my own bench grafting.

Based on the recommendations so far for my 8ft 2 tier cordons, it looks like g41 should work for strong vigor varieties and maybe something in the 40% range for weak vigor varieties. If I could use more vertical space (3 or 4 tiers, over six vertical feet), I’d definitely be open to that 890 espalier. That sounds glorious.

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Jim, how tall is your Belgian fence? Someday I’d like to put black oxford and blue Permian on one for the juxtaposition of pink and blue blossoms.

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Hey David,

In answer to your question, the top wire of our Belgian fence is at four feet, but I’m planning to extend the bamboo criss-crossing above that. What I haven’t decided yet is whether I want to add another course of diamonds, which would take the fence up another two feet, or arch the bamboo over, which would leave it a little lower than that. I will probably just play around with the bamboo in the spring and see what seems like it’s going to work/look better.

Grafting your own trees definitely does cut the cost of a Belgian fence, and opens up your options in terms of variety enormously. We took the plunge into grafting without much prior experience, and had pretty good results, in spite of some rookie mistakes on my part. There’s a lot of great information about grafting on this forum, but if there’s one particular piece of advice I would pass along, it would be that if you can, you might want to get the rootstock in the ground the year before you intend to graft to it. Established roots seem to make grafting a lot easier. (Especially if you try pears, from what I understand.)

PS: Just to clear up a potential point of confusion, my understanding is that when people talk about the “blue bloom” of Blue Pearmain, they are using the term “bloom” to refer to the natural waxy coating that forms on the fruit itself, not to the blossom/flower, if that makes sense. The apples would definitely look cool next to each other in the fall, though!

If you’re interested in the ornamental qualities of different varieties of apple blossom, some of the UK nurseries seem to provide more information on that front than many of the American ones do. I’ve found the descriptions from Keepers Nursery particularly informative in that regard (and on other subjects), though of course they do tend to focus on English apples and not all of the information will necessarily translate to North American conditions.

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I am planning on planting an horizontal arm espalier with apples. I have Winesap on G-890. My space is 16 feet wide. Is one tree adequate, or should I plant two?

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@Masbustelo

Call me crazy but this is what I would do in dealing with a 16 foot limitation.

I would plant FOUR trees as per the attached drawing. This will give you four varieties ( more if you want to graft). Alternating the scaffolds left-right you can adjust which variety you favor. The two end trees are "unbalanced as all their branches only go to one side. That is why they need to be right next to the end post so that they can be tied to and supported by the post.

Also this in in keeping with our unofficial motto here which is " WHY JUST DO IT WHEN YOU CAN OVERDO IT?"

ESPALIER%20DESIGN%201
ESPALIER%20DESIGN%2012560×1440 646 KB

See below PDF
Mike

ESPALIER DESIGN.pdf (1.4 MB)

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Mike Thanks for the effort in your response. I might have to go back to the drawing board. Would you use full dwarf rootstock like G-11 with close spacing like you are suggesting?

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Just to mention another alternative: two trees planted at 4’ and 12’ along a 16’ trellis, so that tree A can spread from 0’ to 8’ and tree B can spread from 8’ to 16’. I would think that two trees on semi-dwarf rootstock should be able to fill that out pretty comfortably.

(If I’m not mistaken, Winesap is a triploid, though, so you would definitely want at least three varieties in the picture somewhere.)

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@Masbustelo

I would concentrate more on the rootstock that works best in your soil/environment and which will give you the fastest time to fruiting.

Regardless of rootstock you will be pruning (and pruning… oh yeah … and pruning) to control the size and spread of the tree. Don’t allow yourself to get lost in the weeds with all the rootstock choices.

All too often we are both the beneficiaries and victims of too many choices.

So… within choices readily available, choose the one that will live in your soil and be quick about giving you fruit.

Mike

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Are crab apples fair candidates for espalier? Harrison crab in particular.

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Crab apples are just apples 2" or less in diameter. There is really no other formal definition. The question is, if the it is a tip or spur bearing apple and what is the root stock? Harrison crabs are spur-bearing according to Orange Pippin so your good on that front. Finaly the last question is your root stock. True Espaliers tend to go on relatively vigorous root stocks while cordons and Belgium fences can do with very dwarfing root stocks as they are not required to grow large. Check the forums reference section for all the info I could find.

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orangepippintrees.com also offers this useful if somewhat general guide suggesting appropriate rootstocks for different forms of espalier (and vice versa).

Also good to remember that choice of variety will have a big impact on how fast your trees grow and how big they want to get, even on the same rootstock.

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Really, my trees don’t exist. I think I will have to order rootstock and scions, and then plant in two years. I am thinking things through ahead of time.Thanks for all the info.

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