Espaliers

[johninblackpool]

Hi Folks,

I have 2 Plums, 1 Cherry, 1 Pear and 1 apple tree on my allotment, unfortunately in the 3 years i have had the allotment (the tree's were already on the plot) i have had very little fruit off the trees. Looking back in my diary including what is on the trees now i have had, 0 cherries, 9 plums, 6 apples and 0 pears, yet the local wildlife area and mere is only a stones throw away with all of these trees for pollination.

This next year i am looking at replacing 1 plum and the apple with 2 espalier apple trees, then next year replacing the final plum and pear with 2 pear espaliers then the final replacement of the cherry with either 2 x plums or a plum and cherry, but training as espaliers.

My question is why do all the websites and books say not to grow stone fruit as espaliers and only grow as fans or trees, yet a fan if only a slight different shape than an espalier

Any help greatly received

John

[sugar]

Because stone fruit grows to fast and because the time frame in which you can prune plums and cherries is narrower.

[FB.]

Replacing might just mean more delays before cropping begins. Before replacing, satisfy yourself of the reason why the existing trees aren't cropping well, otherwise you'll end up with the same problem recurring.

Is the lack of fruit due to:

Tree not growing well?

Tree growing too well?

Poor pollination (lack of bees or lack of compatible pollen donor trees nearby)?

Bad weather at blossom time?

Trees so small that it's not worth bees visiting the few flowers on a small tree when they can bulk-harvest pollen and nectar from larger trees in the nearby area?

Biennial cropping or erratic cropping varieties?

Poor pruning technique?

Pests or diseases destroying the fruit ("worms" eating the fruitlets or even finches pecking-off the blossom buds)?

Unsuitable varieties for growing in your area (some varieties prefer certain soils or climates)?

[orangepippin]

The main reason why you can't (or can't easily) grow stone fruit as espaliers is because of the summer pruning that is required to maintain the shape. This not only risks introducing diseases to which most stone fruit are susceptible, but inevitably ends up removing the fruiting wood for the following spring's blossom.

In contrast, apples and pears, which bear fruit on spurs, can easily be pruned to maintain the shape. (An important exception is tip-bearing apples and pears, which are not suitable because their fruiting shoots would probably get pruned out).

Fan-trained trees do not need the same level of pruning as espaliers, so are an easier shape for all fruit trees.

Incidentally the same issue applies to cordons - they only really work for spur-bearing apples and pears. It is sometimes possible to buy cordon-trained plum trees but I don't know how easy or safe it would be to keep the shape maintained and productive.

[johninblackpool]

Cheers everyone....

FB: From the list you provided:-

Tree not growing well?........................ It cetainly seems to be growing well

Tree growing too well?........................ This could be a problem but how do you tell

Poor pollination (lack of bees or lack of compatible pollen donor trees nearby)?............ Abundance of bees due to the mere close by and all the other fruit trees on the plots

Bad weather at blossom time?.......... Had best year yet for blossom on all trees

Trees so small that it's not worth bees visiting the few flowers on a small tree when they can bulk-harvest pollen and nectar from larger trees in the nearby area?.......... All trees are about 3m/10' Tall

Biennial cropping or erratic cropping varieties?............Don't know about this one i didn't plant them

Poor pruning technique?................. This could be the culprit as i am still learning about fruit

Pests or diseases destroying the fruit ("worms" eating the fruitlets or even finches pecking-off the blossom buds)? ........... The problem here is not the birds, the fruit doesn't stay on the tree long enough

Unsuitable varieties for growing in your area (some varieties prefer certain soils or climates)? Same again I didn't plant them so don't know

One of the reasons for replanting is so i can get the correct trees and pollination groups for my area

Cheers
John

[FB.]

Cheers everyone....

FB: From the list you provided:-

Tree not growing well?........................ It cetainly seems to be growing well

Tree growing too well?........................ This could be a problem but how do you tell

All trees are programmed to grow as fast and as large as possible, until either severe competition or depletion of soil nutrients slows their growth. Then they fruit. Nature designed trees that way because a tree which fruited early in life and didn't grow much would quickly be overwhelmed and crowded-out by its more vigorous neighbouring trees.

So it's possible that the soil is too fertile; you may need a considerably dwarfing rootstock to persuade the trees to fruit rather than grow.*
It's also possible that the previous owner didn't understand rootstocks, and bought trees which were not suitable for the size and form intended.

*
If you replace the trees, I would suggest:
Apple rootstock: M9.
Pear rootstock: Quince C.
Plum rootstock: Pixy.
Cherry rootstock: Gisela 5.

However, planting a fruit tree in the same spot as an older tree can result in "replant disease" - the soil possibly being depleted of certain nutrients and infested with bacteria fungi and parasites which cause considerable damage to the roots of young trees trying to establish. Known as "replant disease".

[FB.]

Cheers everyone....

Poor pruning technique?................. This could be the culprit as i am still learning about fruit

Hard winter pruning encourages lots of new leafy growth and reduces fruit bud formation for a year or two. For certain varieties of fruit tree, pruning can remove the buds which would produce the next year's crop.

If you can post-up some pictures it might be possible to suggest a plan to renovate the trees. Over-vigorous trees can be controlled, and induced to fruit, by specific types of pruning during late July and early August. So you have a week or so before the window of opportunity closes - but the pruning must be done correctly to get the desired effect.