I have six trees that are espaliered along my fence. Five of them didn't really need any pruning. I tend to keep these pruned as they grow so they don't get out of control. But the above Liberty apple tree was not cooperating. As you can see the bottom left branch never grew. So sad. So I had to chop it off a bit above where I want the branch to come out. Sadly there is no good bud down there facing the right direction, but I can make due. I'll turn one that is going a bit out or in to go sideways like I want.
It's neighbors the MacFree apple above and the Honeysweet pear grew in just like they should. The above right branch isn't very strong right now, but I'm sure it will get bigger. I've never done espaliers before I moved here, or any fruit tree for that matter. But I'm slowly learning.
I also went out and did a bit of pruning on my peach trees. Like the espaliers I tend to prune as they grow so they go in the right spot. Well as much of the right spots as I understand. The peach trees had a few crossed branches, so they got snipped off. I ought to check my dwarf apple trees in the back. But honestly I don't think there is much to do there either. One of them really doesn't like to grow at all. It hasn't grown more than a foot or so since I planted it four years ago. I might have to replace it at some point, but my townhouse mates don't want to give up on it. They love Honeycrisp apples as do I. But if it never fruits is it really worth it? I suppose I ought to have more patience. It just might take 10 years.
Hope your fruit trees do well. This fall we plan to plant about 6 or 7 fruit trees...I hate that it takes so long to produce fruit. Good luck with yours!
ReplyDeleteHow did you become so smart about everything!!!! I have no idea how to prune my fruit trees. I have a wonderful lady which I call my tree lady at our local Garden center and she will be guiding me when and what to use organically on them. Will worry about the pruning some other time! Good luck on your fruit harvest!! Nancy
ReplyDeleteLooks like you've got some nice espaliered trees! I just ordered my first apple trees and the whole pruning thing seemed a bit overwhelming, but what you did looks completely doable. I hope your honeycrisp decides to start growing. I'm not looking forward to the patience required with growing fruit trees!
ReplyDeleteA lot of people don't have the patience for fruit trees. They expect instant results. Good things come to those who wait!
ReplyDeleteI'm finding out that there's a lot to pruning. My yard has a Fuji and a Golden Delicious that I planted two years ago and were lightly pruned last year. I watched hours of pruning video on Youtube, some helpful, most awful and read up as much as I could before making the cuts last week. Different cultivars have their own growth habits. Haven't tried espalier yet. Hope they do well for you.
ReplyDeleteLooks great.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: with your non-growing apple, are you letting grass grow around it? If so, consider going out there with a hoe and clearing out a good circle of earth around the base. Grass is really good at strangling fruit trees.
Lovely blog... good to find another gardener.
No it is in a perennial bed and nothing grows that close to it.
ReplyDeleteHmm. Frustrating.
DeleteI have some sloooow trees out front and I've decided to dump all our kitchen scraps around them for a while, along with a good bit of mulch. They must grow!
You are much better at keeping up with your trees than we are. We meant to prune ours back last fall but didn't get around to it until about a month ago...they look very pruned right now but I'm hoping they'll fill out with some gorgeous leaves and maybe even some fruit this year (if the weather cooperates)!
ReplyDelete