Apples and Pears

[andrewo]

Hi,
Just a little advice, I know you can grow apples over an archway, getting in many varieties by keeping the branches cut back hard each year creating spurs nearer to the trunk BUT can anyone suggest varieties that may be good for this and more importantly can you do this with pears.

Saw this way of growing on an old Geoff Hamilton programme and I have a small garden and feel it's a good way to get in eight trees rather one espalier.

Thanks.

Andrewo

[Geordie]

As apple and pear trees are traditionally grown the same...eg espalier or cordon etc i see no reason why they could not be trained to grow over an arch.
Without pictures it is difficult but I am guessing the trees are planted outside the arch and once a suitable height is reached are then trained to follow radius of arch?
Am not sure variety would cause you much of a problem.....you would need correct rootstock to achieve height of arch, pruning tree to only fruit one side should not make a difference.
It sounds like a variation of a cordon but may not need the usual 45 degree angle to reduce vigour. This type uses the short fruiting spurs that will require the hard pruning.

If lack of space is the issue use an M27 rootstock and stick it in a pot! You can even buy dual trees, both apples and pears that have 2 varieties on the same tree....and they can be bought as dwarf trees reaching about 1-1.5m tall.

[andrewo]

Description

Always hard to describe something that is visual. But here goes anyway, saw it on geoff hamilton's fruit and veg garden series, growing in small plots.

He took a series of arches and fastened them together, placing a fruit tree at 12" spacing. He then trained the trees against the arch and suggested at the end of each season that laterals (branches) be cut back to three inches and then the spurs that formed off that next year should be cut back to two inches, creating bumper crops.

I will certainly try this with pears, probably Concorde, but I thought I would try and explain it better.

Andrewo

[lavenderlace]

fruit trees

Hi I'm thinkinking of using some apple,pears and plum trees in my new veg plot. I want to use ones that don't grow very high. I read in a book about some step over hedges using maiden whip apple trees. The apple tree is trained as two horizontal branches only a short way above the ground. Can any apple tree be used or as it got to be a specific type. Can anybody give us some advice and also whether pears and plums could also be used. Thankyou

[Geordie]

Fruit trees

The fist question i would ask is how high is the maximum they could grow....you can buy dwarf apple, plum & pear trees that will not get bigger than 1m tall if left to grow normally.

As far as your thoughts, a fruit tree grown this way is termed an espalier. You would normally train horizontal branches along wires at right angles to the trunk. You can if you wish only use two horizontal branches and stop the tree from growing vertically. It can be used for pears as well....dont know about plums.

The espalier method is good for small spaces but is difficult to maintain. I would consider a dwarf rootstock variety before i embarked on growing an espalier.

Variety itself does not matter (i think) but choice of rootstock is more important. Why buy a tree deseigned to grow to 20m in height if you are going to restrict it at 1m?

It is difficult to guage someone's knowledge on a subject so if i can help further please ask.

[andrewo]

Answers

Does anyone have any tips for the way I want to grow trees, as described above or any suggestions for where I can get good barerooted trees? I'm thinking of Ken Muir, never used him before but I'm always willing to take chances.

Amdrewo