Unless you are grafting your own, you really won't have to worry about it, because espaliers are hard enough to find, it's not like you have a lot of choice!
If you are grafting your own, then yes, you'd want a spur type if at all possible because the branches grow shorter, and you wouldn't have to be constantly pruning it into espalier form whenever it tried to grow. And if you grafted a "tip bearer" you'd get almost no apples, because you would have to prune off the tips to keep it in shape.

Carla in Sac

Hi Carla,
I was planning on planting 1-year old whips along a trellis, then encouraging lateral branching -- which may include scoring the bark above buds in some cases (in some Mutsu trees, for example). I have never tried this, but it is supposedly fairly easy. The real work is in pruning over time!

I believe this is the most common way to espalier, and that it is actually very unusual to created espaliered branches by grafting (due to their lower strength). That is one reason pre-made espalier is tough to find! But like I said, I'm new.

So I think I can try any variety that I can find as a whip, so long as the variety is amenable to lateral growth (not columnar apples, for example, unless it's at the end of the row).

I didn't want to bore everybody with a variety list, but maybe it will help. My have-or-want list is below. Of these, I will probably end up with maybe 8 trees. Most of them will be in the back as an espalier, but a couple will be in the front yard. I realize this is an ambitious, multi-year project -- plus I've only tasted about half of these varieties! I suppose if I hated one I could try my hand at grafting.

Anybody have any experience with any of these in espalier?
Any comments would be greatly appreciated!

Mutsu (already ordered)
Swaar
Fearn's Pippin
Cherry Cox
Belmac or Mac Spur (already ordered)
Macoun or Spartan
Cinnamon Spice (already ordered)
Ellison's Orange (already ordered)
Ashmead's Kernel (already ordered)
Hidden Rose
Karmijin de Sonneville
Hokuto/Hokotoi (Fuji x Mutsu)
DArcy Spice
Mountaineer
Wickson crab

Mary, I wouldn't fret over the advice that spur types need more attention to thinning. The quote seems to describe what happens to the tree when you leave it to its own devices.

With an espalier you will be fussing over it anyway and it will need to be thinned.

I have never seen "spur bound" making the tree overwhelmed equaling weak flowers and small fruit on espalier or full sized spur-types.

2008 full sized unthinned fruit
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2009 unthinned fruit ended up even larger and a bigger harvest than '08
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Thinning spur types is an issue if you buy into thinning. One pro here deals with it by running the shears down the branch knocking spurs off. I deal with it by letting my semi-dwarf spur type naturally thin, I sure wouldn't want to thin the 15'-18' tree by hand. My espaliers are small enough that thinning the spur type is not a big deal. My espaliers are also so undersized for their roots that overbearing isn't an issue and the reason I thin is because I do a better job than nature does so when I thin I can fit more fruit on the tree. Mother Nature will thin to bunches and they push each other off. I thin to one per bunch so all that I leave stay until harvest.

They sure go to extremes, from dwarfing to seedling. The reason they "don't do well" on dwarfing rootstock is because they are naturally slow growing and it takes a long time to get full size for the rootstock. But for espalier you are probably going about 50% of dwarf. They will do perfectly well on dwarfing rootstock for espalier. I had mine fully shaped in 2-3 years.
A spur-type on dwarf, semi-dwarf or seedling will get to full size, it will just take longer to get there. Their suggestion of seedling rootstock is idiocy, it will take a long time to get to bearing size.
Yes if you want a tree that won't bear until it is 15'+ and will take a long time to get there and will need constant pruning to keep it to a manageable size standard rootstock would be the choice. If you want a semi-dwarf that needs minimal pruning to keep it semi-dwarf size semi-dwarf rootstock would be the choice but depending on variety it could be 5 years before you see fruit. If you want a dwarf that stays dwarf size with minimal pruning and bears early dwarf rootstock would be the choice.
With espalier you are wanting smaller than dwarf size. Dwarf rootstock is the only choice unless you are trying to make a large espalier (which I found out is too much ladder work).

Yes you can plant both, you have to in order to get the varieties you desire because not all are available as spur types. You will probably find that pruning the non-spur-type will cause water sprouts, pruning the spur-type will cause more spurs.

The bushy tree is non-spur and needs pruned all over every year, the non-bushy tree is spur type and needs almost no pruning ever (maybe 1 or 2 sprouts a year).
{{gwi:126256}}

"because espaliers are hard enough to find"
Espalier is a training method. You don't have to find anything, you have to make them. Finding them is paying someone else to do the training.
Whips are important but you can make your own whips by pruning them into whips.

This is on semi-dwarf and was a whip at the start of the season pictured
{{gwi:89075}}

myk1, thank you... your trees look amazing!

" 'because espaliers are hard enough to find'
Espalier is a training method. You don't have to find anything, you have to make them. Finding them is paying someone else to do the training. "

Yes, of course it's a training method, I am growing my fig trees as espalier.

But around here the "espalier" trees sold and the ones people refer to are the multi-grafted ones, as in "3-in-1 espalier appple tree", so I thought that's what the original post was referring to. Maybe it's different in the mid-west? For example, Raintree is selling a six-graft one (pasted here, gardenweb thinks it's not a real link for some reason):

http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/productdetails.cfm?ProductID=A8406E

Carla in Sac

I've never seen espaliers in a nursery around here but I don't go to the type of nursery that would sell something like that (not that I wouldn't, they're just too far away and I have at least 3 that are closer).

I don't see the fun in buying premade espaliers. They even get boring after about 5 years when you trained them yourself, although still satisfying for production in small areas.
Plus I like my friends talking about my bondage trees. :)

The appeal for me is the "apple fence" look, curiosity to see how it will work out, plus the challenge of learning a new skill, and the biggie -- the ability to grow 8 trees where I could otherwise fit 2. I can see how keeping up with the pruning might get boring after a few years, but I'm confident that my space limitations will keep me on my toes with maintainance!

Carla, I've been warned that "3-in-1" type trees, whether they are espalier are not, have less longevity (and if they are espalier, horizontal grafted branches would be weak, right?), plus 1 cultivar will take over after a few years, causing the others to produce minimally or not at all (and the end result might be an unbalanced, funny-looking tree). Do you have experience with these, and have you found differently? It's certainly an interesting concept.

Cheers,
Mary

Just curious as to how everyone's epalier trees are doing. That is if any of these posters are still around.

All of my 75+- trees are espalier ( apple, pear, apricot, peach, plum, nectarine, cherry, aprium/plumcot/pluot) .

Very light to no fruit set last year but alot of robust growth so I have high hopes this year. Most of them will be 3rd and 4th year in the ground this coming season.

I am experimenting growing the stone fruit as both horizontal and as fan espaliers.

There was tremendous growth added by the fall.

Attached are some photos that I took in June 2014.

Mike

and...

and...

and... That's an out of control Saturn Peach in the foreground. Will be pruned and "fanned" this spring.

Myk...those are nice looking trees...anything that extends over the fence becomes fair game for the neighbor right? lol

Mes...that is an incredibly neat and tidy looking setup you have there. A lot of work went into that....nice job my friend.

As...70

Thanx. Hope this summer repays for some of the sore back days. Other than installing the chain link fence and poles into the ground I did all the work myself over many weekends because no one in the family understood what I was trying to do and I did not want anyone else to touch my babies.

Mike

Hi everyone. I'm reading this 10years into the piece. I have two two-year-old apples espaliered at my front fence. One is a fuji and one is a granny smith. From what I've read the Fuji is spur bearing and Granny is a partial tip bearing. I'm yet to get fruit on them, though I know its early days. The Granny smith had flowers at the tips last year but no fruit. My question is this; can the partial tip bearing Granny smith be expected to make fruit as an espalier? If so, I imagine I will have to prune it very differently from the Fuji...Any help or advice is much appreciated!