Milehigh..

As endposts for espalier these can easily handle a 100 foot row. 35' feet is no challenge to these.

As endposts I would place them with the bend facing inward towards row facing each other. I bought a 2000 foot 12.5 gauge monofilament line for about $100.00 and I ran it between posts and it is strong enough to support bird netting. With heavier shade-cloth or plastic row covers you might need to put an addition post or two in between to support the wire in the middle to avoid sag.

You could easily install posts along the edge as well facing inward and that way you could actually build an enclosed "greenhouse"

The attached photo (without net) might show it better. My rows are 100 feet long so I installed two smaller diameter poles in between the end posts for "sag prevention".

Your idea with the concrete mold allowing the large poles to be slipped in sounds good and adds flexibility. Your poles look like they are galvanized so rust should not be a major problem.

Hope this helps
Mike

Mike,

Oh my your trees look wonderful. I sure hope that I can get mine to look this good. What heights are your laterals at?

Thanks for your input. At least I have some confidence that I am on the right track.

I always do things backwards. I hope one day I will learn better; get the supports and watering system in before the trees go in!!!

Ideally the lowest should be 18-20 inches off the ground with each next higher line 18 inches higher. This will make the highest line at 6 feet which allows for easy pruning, spraying, harvesting and monitoring for problems.

Most of the trees you see in the photo went into the ground in the spring of 2012 as bare root trees from Miller, Stark, Raintree, Burnt Ridge etc. So I figure they were one year old when I planted them.

My problem was that 2012 was a very warm spring and the guys who were going to help me drive the poles got tied up and didn't show up until Mid-June instead of Mid-April. I was forced to plant the trees before I had the trellis up and I was forced to plant 45 trees all by myself and I had to get them in the ground pronto as the temps got to 80 degrees in early May. As much as I tried (or as I tired, I guess) I didn't level the raised planting area as carefully as I should have and by the time the wire was up the trees has started to branch out fantastically.

So some of the laterals are not as well spaced as I would like but they are doing fine.

Mike

Here are some photos that were taken in late September

more

how do you upload photos so they are all in the same message

Mike,

Thank you so much for sharing photos of your lovely orchard. Tell us more about your orchard. What cultivars did you decide on?

The way to post more than one picture is to link it from another site. Mine come from Photobucket but there are others. The remote site will give you an HTML code and then you just paste this link in your post. When you set up your account make sure you set the privacy setting the way you want as it is possible for everyone to see all your photos, which you might not want.

I had planned to space my laterals at 12" intervals, Can I could get away with this since I am a mile high and the sun is very intense here. I've found that I have to grow paw paw in complete shade here.

I don't see how 12 inch separation will make much of a difference shade-wise but will have an effect on air circulation which is what we do want.

MY VARIETIES
___APPLES__
CANDYCRISP
GIBSON GOLDEN DEL
DAYTON
ZESTAR
SANSA
MACOUN
CALVILLE BLANC D'HIVER
COX ORANGE PIPPIN
SUNCRISP
KARMIJN D'SONNANVILLE
HUDSON'S GOLDEN GEM
ORLEANS REINETTE
JONAGOLD RED
PRISTINE
GRAVENSTEIN
REBELLA
HORSE
ROXBURY RUSSET
MELROSE
CHENANGO STRAWBERRY
KING DAVID
SPARTAN
ASHMEAD'S KERNEL
WINESAP
BLUSH ROSETTE
GREANADINE
THORNBERRY
GOLDRUSH

__PEARS__
SUNRISE
SECKEL
DOYENNE D'JULIETTE
COMICE
HIGHLAND
MORENTINNI
KEIFFER
D'ANJOU
UBILEEN
ORCAS
RESCUE
CONFERENCE
SUIJE
COLLETTE

___CHERRIES___
EMPEROR FRANCIS
RAINIER
GOLDEN SWEET
MONTMORENCY
NORTHSTAR
BING
EVANS BUSH

___PLUMS___
SANTA ROSA
BUBBLEGUM (TOKA)
BURBANK
OZARK PREMIER
SWEET AUGUST SURPRISE

___APRICOT___
MOONPARK
PUGET GOLD
MONTROSE
CHINESE (MORMON)
SUNGOLD

__PEACHES - NECTARINES___
4TH OF JULY
SATURN
POLY WHITE
HARKEN
Q-18
HARDIRED
NECTA ZEE

ALSO 20 BLUBERRY BUSHES WITH RIPENING FROM JUNE TO NOVEMBER

I have one of each.

This selection is with different blooming and ripening times will keep me busy but hopefully in fruit from June to late November

Wish me luck

Mike

bubblegum plum

I am trying some of the stone fruit in "fan" style and others as traditional espalier with the branches forced more horizontal.

Looking forward to results. I have seen both styles tried

Mike

Mes111, What a fabulous undertaking. Your orchard is large, filled with many trees and espaliered. That is quite impressive. I have my hands full just pruning and spraying. At one point I thought of espalier, but now, I might purchase two that have already been pruned and shaped. Your orchard is growing quickly and within four years you will not recognize the pictures you have posted. My orchard at one point looked like yours (a bit smaller) but now I have a forest. Looks great! Mrs. G

Mrs. G

Thanx. I chose espalier for two reasons.

First because it looks so cool and most people have not seen fruit trees that look like this.

Second because I think that spraying will be much less time consuming and with the open architecture fungal and bacterial diseases might find it harder to spread and insect attacks easier to find and treat.

This is important because the orchard is at my retirement place 135 miles from home and I only get there on weekends so time is at a premium.

Hope my plan/vision works.

Mike

Holy c**p! Are those your two boys on that Bobcat?

Best
MOTHER
EVER!!!

Fascist_Nation,

Not only that but they were allowed to ditch school as well because the rental needed to be returned!

I have more prayers answered! A local tomato-growing greenhouse advertised on Craigslist that they had plastic available for FREE as they were replacing all of their plastic. I went just hours after it was posted and there was none there but she said to come back. Long story short, I hadn't been able to get there b/c it's quite a drive from my house. On a lark I went yesterday and I was able to get two pieces about 25x45'. It is very heavy gauge but I don't know how heavy yet. It took two of my Astro vans to bring it home .I am on my way to having frost protection for my trees!

Fruitnut, I'm gonna be asking a lot of questions soon!

You are about to embark on a wonderfully fulfilling and challenging journey but have no fear... you have many willing and able navigators and co-pilots.

Mike
many happy smiles :-)