This is our Spaniard this was planted in 2003 and we've got a collection of heirloom apple and pear trees.
Espaliers are fantastic for fitting a wide variety of fruit into a small area so we've got about 20 trees here in the space where you would normally have two or three big apple trees.
Obviously asperities are also wonderful because you don't need to climb the ladder to prune them or net them or to pick the fruit.
To start your espalier choose which apples and pears you want to grow, there are actually hundreds of apple varieties available in Australia although you can only get three or four in the supermarket.
This is a Jonathan Apple, Jonathan's are actually a universal pollinator so if you plant a Jonathan it will pollinate any other apple tree I chose this particular tree because it's got a nice straight leader and you're better off to start with a small tree and prune it to shape, so that you can get the buds exactly where you want them and the branches growing exactly where you want them on the wires.
Once you've planted your tree it's time to prune it in order to develop branches to grow along the bottom wire.
It's best to prune the tree just below the wire that you want to train branches onto and choose a couple of buds, ideally facing outwards along the direction of the wire and prune slightly above it.
Once you've got branches growing out in the right directions you can train them to each wire and tie them securely to the wire.
Whenever you train branches along the horizontal wire the tree will always try to grow upwards towards the sun, to grow up to the next wire, choose the vertical nearest to the middle and grow it up until it reaches the next wire and prune it as you did with the first and again you'll be able to train branches as they grow along the horizontal wire. Keep going up until you reach the desired height.
Once your tree is the right height you can use summer pruning to restrict the growth and to encourage fruiting spares. You can see all of the pruning which we did last summer, every time you prune off the vertical new growth it encourages freedom spurs to develop underneath, which is where the tree will flower and fruit.
In winter when you can see the structure of the tree you can go through and remove any damaged or broken wood and also thin out any areas which are congested
This is our Spaniard this was planted in 2003 and we've got a collection of heirloom apple and pear trees.
Espaliers are fantastic for fitting a wide variety of fruit into a small area so we've got about 20 trees here in the space where you would normally have two or three big apple trees.
Obviously asperities are also wonderful because you don't need to climb the ladder to prune them or net them or to pick the fruit.
To start your espalier choose which apples and pears you want to grow, there are actually hundreds of apple varieties available in Australia although you can only get three or four in the supermarket.
This is a Jonathan Apple, Jonathan's are actually a universal pollinator so if you plant a Jonathan it will pollinate any other apple tree I chose this particular tree because it's got a nice straight leader and you're better off to start with a small tree and prune it to shape, so that you can get the buds exactly where you want them and the branches growing exactly where you want them on the wires.
Once you've planted your tree it's time to prune it in order to develop branches to grow along the bottom wire.
It's best to prune the tree just below the wire that you want to train branches onto and choose a couple of buds, ideally facing outwards along the direction of the wire and prune slightly above it.
Once you've got branches growing out in the right directions you can train them to each wire and tie them securely to the wire.
Whenever you train branches along the horizontal wire the tree will always try to grow upwards towards the sun, to grow up to the next wire, choose the vertical nearest to the middle and grow it up until it reaches the next wire and prune it as you did with the first and again you'll be able to train branches as they grow along the horizontal wire. Keep going up until you reach the desired height.
Once your tree is the right height you can use summer pruning to restrict the growth and to encourage fruiting spares. You can see all of the pruning which we did last summer, every time you prune off the vertical new growth it encourages freedom spurs to develop underneath, which is where the tree will flower and fruit.
In winter when you can see the structure of the tree you can go through and remove any damaged or broken wood and also thin out any areas which are congested a solid support system such as sturdy posts with horizontal wires every 60cm or so, or a trellis or set of wires attached to a wall.
