Festooning

[Tuttifruity]

I would like some advice on when the best time is for festooning fruit trees. Can it be done anytime throughout the season or is it done at a special point. Thank you.

[Nicos]

Hi there and welcome to the Vine.
I festooned a young apple tree many years ago and seem to recall I did it in the Spring although I think you can do it any time as long as you gently encourage the bending over a period of time.

What type of tree are you wanting to festoon and what sort of age is it?

[Tuttifruity]

Hello Nicos, Thank you for your reply. I have three trees I would like to festoon they are all five years old a cherry ‘Stella’ apple ‘Braeburn’ and a plum ‘Victoria’. I grow all of them in individual large containers and they all do very well. I read about festooning and it would appear that it helps yield more fruit and also keeps the tree neater and not so sprawling. I would like to see if it will work for me. Thanks.

[Nicos]

Mine was certainly more heavily laden than I was expecting.
Sadly after I moved it to my present garden it died but that was nothing to do with being festooned so I can’t share a piccie with you.

I guess at 5 years old yours will have thicker branches than mine did so I suspect you will have to ‘kindly invite’ the branches into position of a period of months/years.

Good luck - it really is worth doing as far as I am concerned.

Share piccies with us will you if you do go ahead with it!

[Tuttifruity]

Many thanks Nicos. I will wait till this seasons fruit is over and most definitely give it a go, you have confirmed what I read about better cropping. When I do it I will try and get some piccies posted.

[Dave8abond]

I've even heard of people cutting hinges in thicker/ older wood to facilitate bending. They use a pruning saw to make a series of cuts until they are able to bend and stake to their desired position.

[Tuttifruity]

Thanks for that Dave8abond I must confess I have not heard of that but could def be worth thinking about.