Espalier cherry advice please

[mrsbusy]

Hi I would love to grow some cherry trees.
I have a new rustic trellis west facing 30ft long 6ft high
Has anyone on the forum grown these as espaliers? And if so, have you had good crops? Any advice?

[ameno]

Prunus species aren't really suited to espalier growing, but they can be grown well as fan-trained trees, which achieves the same purpose of growing them flat against a wall or fence. 6 foot seems rather short, though. You tree will grow a good couple feet above that.

Also, this only applies to sweet cherries. Sour cherries are a different species with a different growth habit, and are almost completely unsuitable for espalier or fan training.

[mrsbusy]

I've looked at the fruit tree nurseries and they seem to say that the ones on dwarf root stock will grow as espaliers or fans.
I'm not interested in sour cherries.
Have you tried growing cherries as espaliers or fans Ameno?

[ameno]

I've looked at the fruit tree nurseries and they seem to say that the ones on dwarf root stock will grow as espaliers or fans.
I'm not interested in sour cherries.
Have you tried growing cherries as espaliers or fans Ameno?

No, but the way espaliers are usually pruned is fairly incompatible with the way sweet cherries (and also plums and apricots) produce flowering wood.
Espalier pruning is designed to create and encourage a network of fruiting spurs, but Prunus fruit only minimally on spurs in the first place (over half of their flowers come at the base of stems produced the previous year). They also don't respond desirably to heavy pruning, and will produce lots of vegetative growth at the expense of flowers if pruned too hard.

[Jungle Jane]

When you google espalier cherry trees,there’s a lot of fan trained examples. You’d need a big gap between each tree,the branches grow very long eventually,they look great,difficult if you wanted to use fruit sleeves tho (protect from pests). Check pollination pairing. Would having flowers on the trellis help bring the pollinators,like some roses or something,do pests dislike the pollinators & stay away? There’s a fruit fly that’s a right pest with cherries,when my dad planted cherry trees (free standing,they’re very large,maybe 12ft wide I’ve never measured,you don’t do you ) he put weed matting down,then bark chippings,it must help against the fly overwintering in the soil if they can’t get to it

[mrsbusy]

Thanks for responses - it's great to get yr opinions.
I was planning on two trees - so each would have 15 ft.
There is a border in front of the trellis which is about 5 ft deep and will be planted up with something nice for my bees - Salvia Caradonna has flowered all summer long and my bees love it.
The trellis is free standing so I could throw netting over the whole thing. However, that is not going to look great as the trellis is quite a focal point from the house.
Maybe I'll look at pears!! Although does the saying go you plant pear trees for the next generation?

[ameno]

Maybe I'll look at pears!! Although does the saying go you plant pear trees for the next generation?

That doesn't really apply anymore. If you get one on a dwarfing rootstock (Quince C), most varieties should start to fruit at 2 or 3 years old (which means if you by a two-year-old tree may well fruit the year you buy it).