Hi all, I am planning on three apple trees with multigrafts. one is going to be upagainst a south facing fence as an espallier, two will be pruned open in the front yard on the south side. I am not fully decided on how tall I am going to let them get but I’ll hear you out on that also.
Climate info:Sandy loam soil, leans slightly acidic, well draining. 900-1400 chill hours, usda hardiness zone 7a/b, heat zone 5. Windy as hell in the winter, so probably will need to do some sort of staking for awhile. Let me know if theres any issue with the rootstock, this is what was available to me but if its die I can graft onto new rootstock for them.
I am very space limited so things have to be planned pretty well out to actually get the apples I want to have. Also let me know if any of these suck and any must haves I should add if you think im missing like a flavor category. I’m not super worried about when they’ll be harvested, but if you think I should be and i got a huge gap let me know.
Backyard: Espalier (Lucy Gem base/m106 rootstock)
top level
Well some minor changes. I think im going to swap the two lucys because 106 is a bit more dwarfing. Also to mix up the espallier… i also might end up making more tiers? Im not exactly clear how far apart theybshould be. If its 16 inches then that means i can maybe do 2 branchs of some of these.
Backyard — Espalier (South-Facing Fence)
Rootstock: M106
Final Height: ~7–8 ft (3 tiers)
Top Tier
Sweet Sixteen
Lucy Glo
Middle Tier
Hudson’s Golden Gem
Mother
Bottom Tier
Winesap
Orléans Reinette
Front Yard — Open Tree 1
Rootstock: M111
Final Height: ~10–12 ft (open vase)
Sun-Side Priority (weak → strong)
Cherry Cox
St. Edmund’s Russet
Ananas Reinette
Lucy Gem
GoldRush
Front Yard — Open Tree 2
Rootstock: Bud 118
Final Height: ~11–13 ft (open vase)
It’s hard to get grafts to push at points that are not dominant (i.e. not at the very top of the tree). So I’m not sure that espalier will work out. I tried a bunch of lower grafts and most just limped along. I’d look to see if you can find reports of someone trying it.
For the other trees make sure each graft is given its own chunk of the tree so it will make its own scaffold. Personally I like to start with at most three varieties in a triad, and then you can add more varieties later.
In terms of the apples, Mother is very soft/mealy so yes the flavor is great but it’s at the extreme end of texture. If you have hot humid summers Hudson’s Golden Gem does not do well. It did horribly for me. The rest either look good or I never tried them. Sweet Sixteen is one of my recent favorites, love that apple! After that GoldRush and Kidd’s Orange Red.
One little bit of advice I have is to make sure all of your scions bloom at a similar time because it’s a pain in the neck to spray and thin when fruit does not develop together on one tree. I just stuck scions on any trees at first, and wish I hadn’t. At the time I was more concerned about putting scions on the north side of trees so they wouldn’t dry out, but if I’d spend more time thinking I could’ve done that on trees that bloomed it’s the same time as the scion. But anyway, have fun!
Hm, good call.I was originally planning on waiting a few years and grafting a few at a time, but with this in the mind i think it will make sense to graft the “arms” of the espallier as iget to a new tier help out in this end. so snip off the top of the whip, next seaso ngraft onto both arms. snip the top again to form a new set of arms?
Interesting. Ive heard it has a very short shelf life but have seen it described as crisp and fine textured. I will try and get a taste at the orchard near my sister’s this year. They do have it. If anyone else has tried mother please chime in as well!
this is a bummer. Any suggestions to replace it? what apples do well by you since you also have hot humid summers.
Its a good point, i think more of an issue with my open trees than any espallier tree. in the end i think im going to have to figure it out, not sure theres a way to get a good variety on 3 trees. maybe i could make one an early, one a mid, one a late? idk. Thinning wont be an issue with 3 trees, but i hear you on any spraying i might need…
Scott- I planned to dig up my Sweet 16 this week and plant a Genovese Nero fig there in Spring. No matter when I pick it or store it, it doesn’t taste like much. Or is filled with watercore that storage doesn’t cure, at least for me. Guess I can limit watercore if I don’t thin fruit so hard, go for smaller apples, right? Do you pick it end of Sept?
Here Mother took forever to bear then offered nothing in the taste department like so many heirlooms in my soil/climate. Grafted over. Its main attribute is nostalgia at least here.
Thinking about Goldrush for espalier- it’s such a modest grower could be ideal to shape and control in espalier vs rank growers. But you’d need to spray for rust if red cedars/junipers nearby and it gets Apple Leaf Blotch.
If I were to try that is how I would do it, a layer at a time as it grows up. But if you have never done any kind of espalier before I would for simplicity just aim for a more 2D-ish fan shaped tree. Just prune out limbs that are not in the plane and otherwise mostly treat like any other tree. I’ve done many of these and they are easy to do.
For other apples I have a big list that someone referenced above, take a look at that for ideas.
End of Sept sounds about right, or maybe a bit later. It reddens up early so it can be picked too early. I’ve heard varying reports on how well it does in warmer climates and maybe it won’t be the most consistent apple. This last year they were in fact not as good for me, but the tree is on its last legs and that has a huge effect on fruit quality. I’m grafting a new tree next year.
Overall your orchard seems to have more problems than mine with the same varieties. Maybe it’s a lot hotter there, or your soil or who knows what.
I haven’t grown all the varieties on your list, but I focus on apples to get me through winter. King David, Goldrush, Esop Spitz, old strain Yellow Delicious, Early Pink Lady, Hudson’s Golden Gem, Red Jonaprince (Jonagold), and Ashmead’s Kernel are my current list of essentials.
To me Cox and Kidd’s are unexceptional as grown here and not especially good keepers. To my palate, Sweet 16 is strange tasting, not delicious and I doubt it keeps well given how quickly it goes from crisp to mushy on the tree.
If I ever figure out what I’m doing wrong, Newtown Pippin will join my list, but it seems difficult on my site… partially because stink bugs like it, I think.
Great advicd esop Spitz sounds especially interesting… adding it in.
Unrelated. Im now thinking maybe the better way to do the espallier is to bud graft the two buds each summer, then trim above it in winter and those two should swell?
You want to place most vigorous varieties on the bottom tier. Usually you work up one more tier per season. Put up least vigorous varieties further up… even if it means you have to wait for your Goldrush crop.
You can place branching by scoring above leaf nodes, preferably at about bud swell.
Give me a list of your choices, and anything I know about relative vigor I will share, but you might want to start a separate topic to bring in the experience of a lot more growers.
I add all grafts at the same level, after too many problems of some not growing strongly. Then I tie them to head out making a vase shape. In your picture graft 1 will take over since its in the dominant position.
Gold rush, mother(subject to change, originally chose for “pear drop” flavor so anything interesting to sub or one from othrr list is welcome), lucy glo, sweet sixteen, hudson golden gem, winesap, orelans reinette.
Some other apples im thinking of growing on the other trees are
