I'm about to plant 3 apple trees to espalier. We have a short chain link fence that I'm going to plant against. Any thoughts on how far from the fence I should plant the trees? I want to be able to weed right up to the fence as I'm waging an ongoing battle with morning glory across our property.
Any other tips or links to favourite resources would also be appreciated. I've been watching videos and reading as much as I can, but I'm feeling nervous about clipping the top of tree down to promote lateral branches.
First time espalier
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jack oostenbrink
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I have posted a video on my instagram, (you'll have to scroll back a ways) on getting an espalier started. I also covered the topic on summer pruning of espalier in a zoom session from July5RobinVH wrote: ↑Sun 17-Jul-2022, 21:16 I'm about to plant 3 apple trees to espalier. We have a short chain link fence that I'm going to plant against. Any thoughts on how far from the fence I should plant the trees? I want to be able to weed right up to the fence as I'm waging an ongoing battle with morning glory across our property.
I'd recommend about 6 inches to allow for trunk growth. You might want to place cardboard around the base of the tree and cover with wood chips to help a bit in the battle against the morning glory.
Any other tips or links to favourite resources would also be appreciated. I've been watching videos and reading as much as I can, but I'm feeling nervous about clipping the top of tree down to promote lateral branches.
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Damien
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Hi Robin,
Just in case you weren't already aware... the link to recording of the Zoom session that Jack refers to is the 3rd last from the bottom on https://localharvestgardening.com/mbr-webinars
It's called "Summer Fruit Plant Pruning" and was actually on July 12.
There's also a video from Jack on https://localharvestgardening.com/mbr-mod-d titled "How to Espalier Train Apple or Pear Trees" (#5 on the page)
Cheers.
Just in case you weren't already aware... the link to recording of the Zoom session that Jack refers to is the 3rd last from the bottom on https://localharvestgardening.com/mbr-webinars
It's called "Summer Fruit Plant Pruning" and was actually on July 12.
There's also a video from Jack on https://localharvestgardening.com/mbr-mod-d titled "How to Espalier Train Apple or Pear Trees" (#5 on the page)
Cheers.