Espalier trained plants (pictures of) being trained for sale at the flowering shrub farm in Voorheesville, NY. If these pictures dont open click here. Information on how to train espalier included. We grow plants to sell at our plant sale. Want to purchase? email me. I change my web pages frequently so you should reload each one in case your computer has it cached. Last edited Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The espalier is a restrictive form of fruit tree training (though it has been applied to many other types of plants) where trees or vines are tied and pruned so that the plant has a central stem that supports a number of paired branches that are trained in a single plane by tieing onto a trellis. Most people are more familiar to espalier as it is used in a vinyard to train grape vines.

See above we attach wires to the side of each post so we can easily change the height of the wire. Branches are attached to bamboo canes that help them grow straight and the canes are attached to wires using a narrow green plastic tape that stretches as plants grow.

There are design as well as agricultural advantages to using espalier but as the design aspects are discussed everywhere, I will stick to the agricultural advantages (with numbers below) that no one ever seems to talk about.

1. Being able to increase the growth rate of a leader merely by raising a branch and tying it in a more vertical position, or decreasing the growth rate by lowering the branch into a more horizontal orientation would be hard to duplicate using any other method.

In the above picture The stem on the left has been lowered to the horizontal, having already grown to around three feet long (in the horizontal position the leader wont lengthen as quickly while fruit spur production is increased). The stem on the right is a foot shorter and has been trained to a slightly more vertical position so it will grow a bit longer before being lowered as well. In the center I am training another stem up to the top wire for horizontal T.

'Snowdrift' Flowering Crab Apple trees being trained to Belgian Fence for sale www.floweringshrubfarm.com/crop195.htm

2. A successful orchard produces the maximum possible volume of fruit per acre. A standard tree, may overshadow four hundred square feet of orchard. When replaced with 25 horizontal T espalier trained trees, six feet apart on 6 paralel trellises that are twenty five feet long and six feet apart, each trees fruit is thinned to twenty fruit and you have five hundred fruit each larger than those on the standard because they have twenty five seperate root systems.

The leaves and stems of espalier trained trees and vines are easier to examine for damaging insects and preventative sprays are easier to apply. Traps for insects can be hung from the trellis and how bad the infestation is can be determined by counting how many insects were caught.

3. The big advantage, when training to espalier, of using dwarfing root stocks is not to reduce the size of the tree (although it slows growth and reduces required pruning), but to reduce the time between initial training and fruit production (a standard tree may start bearing fruit in the seventh year while a semi dwarf, trained to espalier can bear fruit as early as the third year). Much of the time a standard needs is in the development of the stem needed to support all those fruit. An espalier because its on a tellis has an immediate support in the posts and wires.

4. The added advantage of being able to train many different fruit together (apples, pears, plums, peaches, apricots, blackberries, raspberries etc.) in a small area no doubt has added to espaliers popularity.

5. By running trellises from North to South the trees receive the maximum light possible during summer when the sun travels from east to west. In winter, when the sun is in the south each tree over shadows the one to its immediate north providing maximum protection from sunscald. In more southerly climates like the one that prevails in the mediteranean, trees can be trained onto a south facing wall or hillside where added sunlight later in the year will extend the growing season but in a climate where temperatures drop below freezing, warming the stem on a sunny wall during the day so the sap starts to run, then having temperatures drop again to sub zero at night, can cause sun scald damaging the stem and reducing its ability to produce fruit (still working on my grammar for this red part).

Curt takes the place of my hands. I am partially paralyzed in the hands so that they shake uncontrolably. So I stand behind Curt taking pictures for the web site and giving him instruction on what to do.

Dwarf 'Newtown Pippin' Apple trees being trained to Belgian Fence, Stepover, Fan and Horizontal T for sale www.floweringshrubfarm.com/crop197.htm

The PVC clamped on top of the post keeps the posts from falling toward each other or away while allowing me to water the entire line of espalier from small sprayers attached every few feet. By attaching nearer one side of each post it is also easy to tie onto. When the spray hits the bamboo canes it trickles down and drips into each pot.

I am training Belgian Fence, Step Over, Fan and Horizontal T Espalier (00628espalier008_062810.jpg). I grow many plants for the small garden. A Climbing Rose or Fruit tree trained to trellis fits the small garden much better than a standard shrub or tree. As I am training these plants to be sold, they are in pots, and because their roots cant be allowed to freeze in winter, the pots have to be surrounded with mulch in winter. So I use a raised bed, with three rows of pots surrounded by mulch. In the center row are plants being trained onto the wires (3 foot tall posts, every 6 feet, wires 15 inches apart, a 1 inch diameter watering line attached to the top of the posts). The outer rows have plants that can be removed easily when I need to tie branches to the trellis. Because I want to be able to slip these pots back into the mulch easily I use another empty pot (socket pot) to keep the hole open and slip the potted plant in and out as needed. This is called the pot-in-pot method of growing.

When training we always start by pruning back to just above the bottom wire and training the paired branches into a V and a center branch up to the second wire (spring of planting). Removal of the center stem creates a belgian fence. Pruning the V back to twelve inches and lowering the arms slightly starts a fan. Lowering the arms of the V to a horizontal position and tying onto the bottom wire (usually fall of first year) creates a stepover. If the stepover still has a center stem, train it to the second wire and the resulting paired branches finally lowered and tied to the top wire (usually in fall of the second year) creates a Horizontal T. After the structural training is over I am always training fruit spurs by cutting back branches that dont fit the design to 3 leaves at first then 2 leaves. I will go into more detail in other pages linked here as I create the pictures.

I am experimenting with Step Over as the future of organic orcharding. By designing a special trellis where the stepover would be supported on a 15 inch above graft wire, where there are two one inch pvc pipes each with misting heads, arranged so that one would spray on one side of the trellis while the other would spray the other side. The trellis would be seperated by just enough space so a tractor could drive over them without touching. The tractor would pull a special mower with a bag that would prune the top of the stepover. I could use a dositron to inject insecticidal soap into water that would be pumped through the pvc to both water the trees while killing insects.

I sell espalier trained fruit trees or roses for $30 in a 7 gallon pot, $50 in a 15 gallon pot or $100 (mature and fruit bearing from our orchard) in a 25 gallon pot.

This picture shows a new pot-in-pot raised bed we just built (we are building new ones all the time) though in this case we haven't added mulch between socket pots yet (00421espalier016_042110.jpg). In winter the outside rows of socket pots will have rugosa and old garden roses inserted. FROM APRIL NEWSLETTER

The wires on my trellis are 15 inches above the graft, the next is 15 inches above that. My first cut in early spring of the first year of training while plants are still dormant is a cut to just above the bottom wire or 15 inches above the graft (00421espalier005_042110.jpg). The trees will now be allowed to grow until mid summer when I tie two of the resulting branches to 4 foot long bamboo canes that I then tie to the highest wire (30 inches above the graft). We are training trees to Belgian Fence (link not yet) which is a V shape, Step over (link not yet) where the arms of the V are lowered and tied to our 15 inch wire and Horizontal T (link not yet) where a stem is trained up from the stepover onto the 30 inch wire for a similar treatment as with the lowest wire. Wisteria and climbing Roses are usually trained to Horizontal T as well. All for sale at our plant sale at $30 each tree in a 7 gallon pot or $50 each tree in a 15 gallon pot (I start training in 7 gallon and transplant to a 15 gallon when the training is almost complete). On this end of the pipe you can see the snap connect I attach my hose to for watering or insecticiding with insecticidal soap.

BELOW PICTURES TAKEN April 20, 2010

Dwarf Newtown Pippin to be trained to Belgian Fence newly planted and cut back to the sprinkler line (00420espaliersouth021_042010.jpg). Prices for all our plants are set by the pot size. 7 gallon (as Newtown Pippin Apple trees above) are $30, 15 gallon is $60, 20 gallon are $70. The espalier plants we grow allow our customers to experiment with this ancient method of growing using plants already started. Click picture for a larger image and more detail. FROM APRIL NEWSLETTER

Espalier training lines pot-in-pot at the flowering Shrub Farm (00419espalier010_041910.jpg). To the right is a path into which we rake all leaves then top with bark mulch (the worm population in my path is very high). The tube on top of the posts allows me to spray the trees with just water or insecticidal soap with a dositron. The empty pots are socket pots and in winter roses will be stored by inserting their pots inside each socket pot (around the socket pots soil will be added to insulate roots). FROM APRIL NEWSLETTER

BELOW ARE PICTURES TAKEN January 3, 2010

Click on the picture for a larger image. The snow covered flagstone path behind the belgian fence (00103belgianfence015_010310.jpg). In summer the belgian fence provides a tight hedge that has flowers in spring and fruit in fall.

Same belgian fence from an angle to better reveal the path between the garage and the trees (00103belgianfence007_010310.jpg). I try to start at least three new crops each year. This next year it will be 100 apple trees to espalier, 200 Pinxterbloom Azalea (R. nudiflorum) for threesomes in 3 gallon pots, 150 Lillacs ('President Poincaire',) in 3 gallon pots. After potting each crop I'll photograph it for the newsletter while finding a place where it can be watered, fertilized and photographed easily. FROM JANUARY NEWSLETTER .

The first part of training a belgian fence is training an unbranched maiden to a Y shape (00103belgianfence001_010310.jpg). This belgian fence composed of 'Liberty' and 'Nova Easygrow' apple trees was trained by me in the early 1990's. Next spring we should be receiving 50 'Stayman Winesap' and 50 'Liberty' Apple trees to train to espalier. FROM JANUARY NEWSLETTER .

BELOW ARE PICTURES TAKEN December 6, 2009

Belgian Fence (01206belgianfence120609.jpg) FROM DECEMBER NEWSLETTER

BELOW ARE PICTURES TAKEN September 18, 2009

The belgian fence next door (00009belgianfence091809) FROM SEPTEMBER NEWSNETTER

BELOW ARE PICTURES TAKEN previously

(00131belgianfence013100.jpg). FROM JANUARY NEWSLETTER

INV#15 for May 12, 2010 Inventory of Espalier Trained Trees

We grow plants to sell at our plant sale. Want to purchase? email me.

andyvancleve www.floweringshrubfarm.com