Espalier fruit trees

I'm no Leonardo, so apologies for the quality.

Some points to note-
Fix the top wire first as it will exert the greatest leverage and if you tension it last all the lower wires will slacken and you'll have to tighten them.
Don't be tempted to tighten the wires to the extent that you can play a tune on them or you'll start pulling the posts towards each other.
If your posts have not been sunk deeply, you can reduce the risk of them canting towards each other if you bury a short piece of post horizontally at the outside of each post's base and about a foot or 18 inches below the surface at the inside (the wire side) of each post. However if the structure is going to be a long lasting one as per fruit trees rather than say rasp canes, a bit of Postcrete or concrete would be better.



[ 09. April 2006, 12:14 AM: Message edited by: Dave W ]

 

nicely done, DaveW - very nearly a step-by-step photographic record!! :D

 

Liz,
training as cordons you can plant closer, say 3' apart, when the tree has rached 6' or so, then train over at an angle of 45 degrees.
when you train as espalier, you need to plant the first one at least 6' from the first upright, depending on the availability of your space, and how far you intend to train your horizontals, then every 12' os so, allowing for the horizontal growth




[ 07. April 2006, 10:33 PM: Message edited by: rossco ]

 

Can anyone guess what our Easter project is going to be? Dave that is the ultimate answer we were searching for. We already have some very good posts cemented in place so now just need to replace the wiring system aka your diagram. Ian is a photographer so perhaps I could get him to oblige with the step by step progress of the project...I'll keep you posted (no pun intended!)

 

Looking forward to the photos Janey!