another view:

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Hi Glenn!

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 its on M9 because its 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: Its 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: Im 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 Societys 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. Youll 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

Those books are also probably available from the library.

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.

Thank you PoseyPlanter & Murky-
It looks like I can get the Dwarfed Fruit Trees from my local library, but I'll probably purchase the other one. Thanks for the references and advice!
Until then, if anyone else has any thoughts, I'm all ears. Thanks again,
-Glenn

Hi PoseyPlanter/All-
I was able to get my local nursery to contact the grower, and they informed me it's a semi-dwarf on EMLA111. With that said, do we think it will want to grow larger? And, thus need support/trellis?
So far, "Dwarfed Fruit Trees" (that I borrowed from the library) is giving me lots of good historical info about espaliers, but hasn't really answered my questions. I'm hoping "The American Horticultural Societys Pruning & Training" that I ordered will help. Thanks again, -Glenn

As size reducing rootstocks go EMLA 111 is one of the more vigorous. It would definitely support adding another tier, It would easily grow to 20' feet if allowed to.

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.

Hi Glenn!

Skip some of the historical chapters in Tukeys 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 Cornells 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, dont freak out! The pictures you posted show that the tree already has some blossoms on the main branches. Thats 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 trees frame.

The good news is that you dont have to do anything at the moment, except study;)

Regards,
PoseyPlanter

Glenn:

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

Wow. I thank you all for the great advice!

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

Ha. My copy of "Pruning & Training" just arrived, and within 3 minutes, I already had one of my remaining questions answered. The answer is... I should cut the leader back 2-3 inches above the desired lateral height. I'm sure my 4" guess would have been fine. :-) This book looks very nice, with lots of good illustrations. Thanks again for the recommendation! -Glenn

Hi 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 "its vigorous, but dont 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. Ill 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. Youll enjoy taking care of it more if you dont 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

PoseyPlanter-
Wow... a 40 tree Belgium Fence. Incredible! This makes my little espalier seem like quite the simple task. Are they different varieties? Or all 1 variety?
Right, and my EMLA111 is 2 classes more vigorous than your disastrous M7. But, yes, it was blooming early when I got it because it had been in a trailer/greenhouse. Now, Ive actually noticed a 2nd bloom occurring (well, it's only 1 flower right now), which is closer (but still early) to when it should be, based on my other very young liberty tree. I'm hoping that this one little flower isn't too early to pick up the cross-pollination of my Summer-Red (on a 5-1) that is just starting to bloom. I may actually get a little paintbrush and try hand-pollinating it. (Ive actually never tasted a liberty apple) Youre right though, it is odd that mine has bloomed already on such a vigorous stock, while youre are staying juvenile. Perhaps its not just the M9 but the combination of the M9 and your particular stion(s)? (Actually, re-reading your post, you hinted at this)
Based on what I've read in P&T, the lowest level is year 1 of the tree, the 2nd level is year 2, and so on. (Which seems obvious). But, one curiosity I have is how the lateral branches on the highest level can be much larger than on the lower level? Also, would we guess that this tree about 4 years old?
Yes, even though its on 111, Ill only let it go 1 more level. I can easily reach 8 feet, so that should be fine. Id like to allow it to get as close to the size it desires so as long as its still reachable. Well see how big the laterals want to get.
Thank you again for sharing your experience I appreciate it! Back to my reading.
-Glenn

Part of the reason its bloomed already is surely that the limbs are trained to horizontal. That makes fruit branches much more prone to forming fruiting buds and less likely to grow vegetatively.

Hi Glenn!

I dont know how old your tree is, but its 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. Youll read about that in Tukeys book (and maybe in P&T too I dont 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. Its 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

Part of the reason its bloomed already is surely that the limbs are trained to horizontal. That makes fruit branches much more prone to forming fruiting buds and less likely to grow vegetatively.
Good to know. It will be interesting to see, once both trees are more mature, how the espaliered Liberty compares with the non-espaliered Liberty when it comes to bloom date, etc. I was thinking it had bloomed already simply because it had been in a greenhouse for a little while.

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, Im familiar with them. In the past, on my non-espaliered granny smith, Ive actually trained them to be decent branches (you might have seen another thread about that) But, here, obviously I cant do that.

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

Im off on a business trip now Hopefully Ill get to read and reread most of P&T. Then well see how many questions I have then!
Thanks again,
-Glenn