winter pruning espalier

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Heavydesk
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu 30-Dec-2021, 10:24

I am in Victoria where spring arrives early. I have four apple trees pruned as a Belgian fence.They were planted 9 years ago with a wood and wire frame. I attached 6 foot long 1"copper pipe to wire frame angled to support the branch architecture. The trees produce a lot of fruit in a small space and look interesting in the garden. I do most of my pruning in the summer, with spur pruning done now.
I find this task most tricky, and would love some advice, for example can you recommend a distance between spurs, or is there a maximum length of each spur.I know if they get too long, a couple of large apples will bend the branch.
I would like to remove the copper pipe now, as it is causing a problem in the late fall when I wrap the trunks with tanglefoot. I live under oak trees here , and the winter moth infestation can strip every leaf and bud in the spring if this is not done. The pipes are getting in the way. I think the main branch structure is strong enough now to support itself. Comments?
The last question is whether to terminate all leaders when they reach the horizontal frame which is at 6 feet. I have bent the leaders and attached them to this frame, so a leader may extend horizontally for 6 feet and without the support of the frame would be unstable.

Tips: if you are starting an espalier, offset your support frame perhaps 3-4". When the trunks thicken in a few years you will be thankful!
Protect your baby trees (whips) as you develop branch structure. I had planned for 12 " straight trunk then bifurcation. Unfortunately, winter moth damage completely took out my top branching, and my trunks had to be shortened.

I tried to attach photos, but could not figure out how to decrease the image size.
jack oostenbrink
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You have done a good job with these
I took your images from an email that you sent to Dan (hope that is okay)
Summer pruning as you are doing is the correct method to control the growth and promote heavy fruiting.
I would agree that the spur branches are looking a little crowded and long. You can probably take some of the furthest protruding ones back a bit. In my garden I remove entire spurred branches if they get too long. This means losing some of the productive branches, but if you do it after a productive year you usually won't lose much in the way of production.
The branches may not need support at this stage but the tree requires some support. The dwarfing rootstock is not very stable in the ground and for that reason I would continue to provide some support to prevent the entire tree toppling over.
I hope that helps.
Good tips on keeping the trees back from the frame. I have a similar issue with my espaliers.
UTECWARKENTIN
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri 21-Jan-2022, 13:44

Do you recommend spraying with dormant/neem oil after pruning?
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