Anyway, now that I have this tree, I have a couple questions. I’ve looked online and I’ve found plenty of articles about creating an espaliered tree, but not too much about caring for an espaliered tree that is already a good size.

Question 1: This tree is already almost 6 feet tall and 1.5" in diameter at the trunk. According to the local nursery (which I have a very good relationship with), they don’t know if it is dwarf, semi dwarf etc. But, the owner did say that this grower was did the absolutely best grafts out of all her growers. I suspect that with a grower that knows so much about grafting, they’d probably know what type of sizing would be best for this type of tree. With that said, can anyone speculate what size it might be?

Question 2: Can people tell me, by looking at the pictures, if these lateral branches were grafted on? Or, perhaps they (I don’t know the right term), made a slight incision at the right spot, inserted a piece of branch (again I don’t know the term), and encouraged a branch to grow at the right spot. Or, finally, (unlikely?) perhaps they were just the branches that were existing at nice spots where they were encouraged, and the others pruned?

Question 3: Obviously this tree will attempt to do some sort of growing… Should I allow it to create another level if it seems to want to? I believe I can control the shape (strings and braces) enough to keep it in keeping with the rest of the tree. That would put the next level at about 7.5 feet. Being 6’4", I have no problem reaching that. Would you let it grow another level?

Question 4: What about the branches… when they want to grow, should I let them/encourage them to extend it’s branches outwards? I’m thinking in 20 years from now, as the branches get fat, they might look silly if they’re still only 3 feet long. If I do let them grow outwards, how should I train them? Should I do some sort of wire coiling around the existing branches to the new growth?

Question 5: Obviously the tree needs leaves on the branches. But, in keeping with the espaliered shape, I don’t want to let the shoots (if that term is right) off the lateral branches get too large. My question is… What is the best way to prune them and when? I’m told if I just clip them off after all the leaves come off in the fall, that pruning will likely cause other shoots there next year (but maybe that’s not a bad thing). I’m told that if I simply pull the shoots off by hand, they’re not as likely to regrow… but this seams a bit barbaric to me. What’s the best thing to do here?

Because this tree was shipped in a (probably warm) 18 wheeler across quite a few states, and then it was in a greenhouse for a little while to protect it from a possible frost, it bloomed a bit early compared to my other trees and the other liberty. Because of that, I suspect I probably won’t get any apples from it this year. As for it’s size, its much bigger than the granny smith I planted a 2 years ago and it gave me apples the first year.

Thanks in advance for any replies!
-Glenn

For a larger view of the pics:

http://image63.webshots.com/663/5/39/0/2338539000015790651PZPUGI_fs.jpg

http://image63.webshots.com/663/2/18/28/2624218280015790651DWJTKT_fs.jpg

http://inlinethumb13.webshots.com/40972/2494669360015790651S600x600Q85.jpg

Regarding Q1, ask the vendor to ask the grower which rootstock they use for the espaliers. You really need to know what it is so that you know if the tree needs support and what to expect in terms of vigorous growth (instructive about how to prune the tree)… If I had to guess, I would guess that it’s on M9 because it’s an industry standard for fully-dwarf trees. M9 needs to be grown with some type of support throughout its life. Better to ask than guess.

Q2: I seriously doubt that the branches are grafted on. Horizontal espaliers are typically formed by heading off the tree for each tier. Two branches are selected and gradually lowered to horizontal and a new leader is established, etc., etc… so it takes a few years to get a finished form.

Q3 & 4: It’s up to you if you want to extend the framework of the tree or keep is as is. If you want to extend more than a few inches in any direction, you will need some sort of support framework for training the new growth, else it will quickly cease to look symmetrical.

Q5: I’m thinking that if you can afford the $$ for a pre-trained espalier, maybe you can afford a reference book? I would highly recommend The American Horticultural Society’s Pruning & Training by Christopher Brickell & David Joyce. This book will serve you well as a reference for much more than espalier, but it does have detailed sections regarding espalier too. If you like to read… and your local library has an intrastate loan program, you might be able to obtain a copy of Dwarfed Fruit Trees by Harold Bradford Tukey. Although an older work, it is an excellent source of information regarding espaliers.

More immediately regarding Q5, those horizontal branches will produce lots of straight-up water sprout type growths. Prune some of them back to a desired height, then train the subsequent secondary growth coming out of the water sprouts to 45-60% angles using wooden clothespins to maintain the angle. For how to use cothespins, click and scroll to Figure #3. You’ll never lack for some yard-puttering-task to do if you take up training espaliers!

Hoping that helps you some for now & more for later (book recommendations).

Regards,
PoseyPlanter

Its funny, I asked a quince question today, not knowing where to find more information about it. Now this thread reminds me that I have 5 or so pruning and training books from the library. I should see what they have to say about early training.

You'll need to do regular summer pruning to maintain the size and form of your espalier.

I believe in order to grow another tier, typically you'd allow a new leader to grow slightly above where you want the next level. At that point you'd head it leaving at least 2 buds where you want your new branches to come out (one on either side ideally).

As those buds grow into branches you'd train them along some sort of support like a bamboo pole for each. You'd orient those poles so that they connect near the trunk at the height you want your next tier but as they extend out they will be at 45 degrees to horizontal. If you try to orient them straight horizontally like your existing tiers they won't lengthen, they'll just produce fruit spurs.

As they reach the desired length you will gradually lower the bamboo poles to be horizontal (parallel to the existing tiers).

At least this is my understanding from what I've read so far.

You'll need to contruct some type of support that will allow you to train your top tier at the location you want and also allow you to secore the poles that will keep the branch straight as it grows at 45 degrees.

Typically I think this is a a series of horizontal wires spaced at the location of each respective tier plus one more above.

Skip some of the historical chapters in Tukey’s book for now. Read the chapter on Summer Pruning – that will give you the most immediately applicable info to your situation. Next, go backwards a little and read the chapter titled Principles Of Pruning And Training.

Check out Cornell’s Apple Rootstock Fact Sheets grid for a comparison for MM111 (EMLA111 is a virus free clone of MM111) to other dwarfing rootstock for apples. You can click on the links in the grid to get more info about each rootstock. Look at the big difference between MM111 (Class 8) and my guess that the tree was on M9 (Class 3)! But, don’t freak out! The pictures you posted show that the tree already has some blossoms on the main branches. That’s a good sign in that the variety of apple (scion) may be prone to produce fruiting spurs, which could indicate that the tree will still be fruitful even if you decide not to greatly expand its framework. EMLA111 will definitely produce a sturdy free-standing tree.

Murky gave some nice suggestions about expanding the tree’s frame.

The good news is that you don’t have to do anything at the moment, except study;)

Regards,
PoseyPlanter

It is a little unusual to place a trained, espalier tree in a freestanding situation as you have done. Normally, such a tree would be sited next to a wall or fence, where some support is already available, or could be built without appearing out of place.

Agree with Murky that EMLA-111 is a vigorous rootstock (generally considered 70% of standard), and I don't really understand why a nurseryman would train an espalier on this rootstock in the first place. Of course, you do not have to continue to train the tree as an espalier, but that sort of defeats the excellent training that has already been done. The long lateral branches of an espalier will require support to keep their shape, which would require you to build a structure out of something like 4x4's and heavy wire. That may be in your plans.

If you do keep it as an espalier rather than allowing it to grow as it wishes, those nice horizontal laterals will be very fruitful.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Yeah, I guess I'm a bit disappointed that it's on EMLA111. I was hoping the tree would be a bit smaller than that. I too don't understand why they'd go with 111... especially since they are very highly regarded at my nursery, and they obviously know what their doing when it comes to the grafting & training. O'well... we'll adjust.

I believe in order to grow another tier, typically you'd allow a new leader to grow slightly above where you want the next level. At that point you'd head it leaving at least 2 buds where you want your new branches to come out (one on either side ideally).

Right, that was going to be my plan. I wonder how much higher I should let it go? Maybe 4 inches beyond the desired new lateral height?

Skip some of the historical chapters in Tukey's book for now. Read the chapter on Summer Pruning. that will give you the most immediately applicable info to your situation. Next, go backwards a little and read the chapter titled Principles Of Pruning And Training.

I've got the book open right now. Thanks!

It is a little unusual to place a trained, espalier tree in a freestanding situation as you have done. Normally, such a tree would be sited next to a wall or fence, where some support is already available, or could be built without appearing out of place.

Yeah, I knew this location wasn't typical, but I was figuring it would still work out nicely because I've already got a bunch of trellises in the back yard, and really, it helps one from feeling like they're going to fall off my raised back yard. Since I've already got all the trellises back there, it will probably fit right in with all the others! :-)

The long lateral branches of an espalier will require support to keep their shape
I guess my question here is... will they need support for the entire life of the tree? Or just while the tree is growing? Or, does it just need support to bear the weight of the apples?

Being that the tree is currently 6 feet tall, and about 1.5¨ at the trunk, anybody want to venture a guess as to how old it is?

The good news is that you don't have to do anything at the moment, except study;) .

Yep, I've got a lot to learn. Right now, I know enough to be dangerous! :-)

Thanks again!
-Glenn

Pruning & Training is a great reference book. I finally bought a copy after borrowing it from the library several times.

I want to explain a little, my "it’s vigorous, but don’t freak out" reply regarding the EMLA111 rootstock. Initially, I thought, Yikes! Too vigorous! Get rid of it now! BUT, after examining your pictures and noting that the tree has already bloomed, I decided to change my reply based on my own experience with espalier using a too-vigorous rootstock.

I have a Belgium Fence apple espalier that has more than 40 trees approximately 17"inches on center. I’ll skip over how/why, but I ended up with a few trees in that hedge that were grafted onto M7. They have been horrible because the combination of rootstock and the particular scion is TOO vigorous for my hedge AND due to the aggressive pruning needed to keep them small; those trees remained in a juvenile vegetative state never blooming since being planted in 2002 in spite of summer pruning, etc. I recently grubbed them out! BUT, Notice that my trees on M7 never bloomed, while your tree has already bloomed even though it is quite small… SO it would appear that the variety grafted on top of your tree is inclined to fruitfulness at a small size in spite of the EMLA111 rootstock.

So, it looks like you can choose to extend the size of the tree or keep it fairly small. If you want to extend the height of the tree, I would suggest that you not go any taller than you can easily reach. You’ll enjoy taking care of it more if you don’t need a ladder. An easy way to extend the tree would be to put an fence behind it and train the middle/lower arms on the fence. You could just even just extend the middle arm on the fence and leave the upper and lower arms as is.

My Belgium Fence

Regards,
PoseyPlanter

I don’t know how old your tree is, but it’s probably three-four years since it was grafted. The top most tier will always be inclined to be the most vigorous due to hormonal dominance. You’ll read about that in Tukey’s book (and maybe in P&T too – I don’t recall at the moment).

As Murky points out, the horizontal placement of the branches will induce fruitfulness, but oddly at the same time, the horizontal branches will sprout straight-up water-sprout-type-growth (repeating my first reply) that will need to be carefully trained to overcome its dominant vegetative habit. (So, it's back to summer pruning & training using clothes pins LOL!)

Off the top of my head, I think there are about thirty varieties of apples in my hedge. It’s a hodge podge. I wanted some for summer dessert, some for autumn harvest, some for winter storage, and some for cider. I'm still learning. I'm definitely not an expert, rather I am an enthusiastic comrade:)

Regards,
PoseyPlanter

The top most tier will always be inclined to be the most vigorous due to hormonal dominance
Right, I understand that the top tier will always be the most vigorous. I just thought that the lower tiers would have also had a change to be more vigorous before there were upper tiers… I thought I saw somewhere that it was because of this that the lower tiers would usually be bigger on a young espalier.

Water spouts
Yep, I’m familiar with them. In the past, on my non-espaliered granny smith, I’ve actually trained them to be decent branches (you might have seen another thread about that) But, here, obviously I can’t do that.

30 varieties, enthusiastic comrade
Wow, 30 varieties… that must be awesome! Thanks for being an "enthusiastic comrade" I appreciate all the advice!

I’m off on a business trip now… Hopefully I’ll get to read and reread most of P&T. Then we’ll see how many questions I have then!
Thanks again,
-Glenn