Espaliered Fruit Trees, Part 3
So, you want to create an
espalier fruit tree without paying $60 for a starter? Don't worry
--- many types of fruit trees can be grown using the espalier
technique. It's really just an exaggeration of the pruning and
training techniques you'd use on your free-standing fruit trees.
Your first step is to find an appropriate tree. Apples and pears
are highly recommended (along with citrus if you live in a suitable
climate.) Peaches and nectarines (like the one shown here) are
supposed to be more difficult, especially if you want to grow them in a
system with horizontal limbs like Monday's fig. European plums,
cherries, and apricots are not recommended.
Choose a tree grafted onto a dwarf rootstock so that it won't try to
take over the world. You'll want to find a one to two year old
"unbranched whip" --- basically, a tree which is young enough to only
be a trunk with no side branches. As usual, consider what zone
you live in, disease resistance, and pollinators.
| This post is part of our Espaliered Fruit Trees lunchtime series.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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