How to Espalier Fruit Trees

Hi, I'm Gardener Scott. If you've wanted to grow fruit trees in your garden, but didn't think you had enough space, this might be your answer. Join me as I show you how I espalier fruit trees. Espalier was developed centuries ago in Europe and allowed the wealthier Europeans to have fruit in their gardens. Many of the trees were just recently discovered and being brought back to Europe. And in a small space, through selective shaping, they could grow fruit trees that would actually produce an amazing amount of fruit, even though the tree stayed relatively small. The basic concept to espalier is to grow your fruit tree in a flat plane. The idea is that you want to cut all of the branches that might be on the front side and all the branches that are on the back side, and you grow it flat against a fence, a wall, or a trellis wire. You begin the espalier process when the tree is very young and you trim off the top portion just above a bud. And by cutting this piece off, you're stimulating the tree to grow side branches. You'll purchase a young tree, it's called a whip, and it really doesn't have any side branches. And when you determine the height of those first lateral branches, that's where you cut the top off to stimulate the side growth. By the end of the summer of the first year, the whip will have developed quite a few side branches. And it's at this point that you can start figuring out how you're going to trellis. If you look at the top, you'll see that there's a branch coming out just below where you made your cut. This is an ideal spot to plan the top trellis wire. Look at the other branches and you can determine where you need to put the other trellis wires. And of course, you can also look to see which branches you're going to end up pruning off at the end of the season. In this example, you can see where I'm limiting the growth to two lateral branches, and I've trimmed off all the others. I'm shaping this tree with a lower grouping of branches and with an upper grouping of branches. In this free-flowing type of espalier, all I've done is just cut off the front branches and the back branches and I'm letting the tree grow in its own natural free-form style. And there are already a number of apples developing all along these branches. This is what the tree looked like in early spring and it was just before this that I did the pruning in late winter. In this one, I did the same thing, pruned in late winter, and you can see the spring new growth immediately starts growing vertically along those horizontal branches. For more formal shaping in espalier, you'll need a trellis and you'll need something to hold the shape of the branches. I have these horizontal metal wires and then I have these bamboo pieces to hold the branches that are being fanned out. Eventually these branches will be large enough and thick enough that I'll be able to remove the trellis and the tree will hold its shape. The way you control the branches is very easy. I just take a piece of garden twine. I wrap it around the branch and around the trellis just to guide the branch into the position I want it to be. Now, this is a different tree than the one I showed earlier, but I'm trying to get the same basic shape with two lower branches and two upper branches. So I set the trellis wire at the level that I wanted the branches to begin their shaping, and now I'm taking the twine and tying the branches loosely to that trellis wire. Once I've done one side, I move to the other side and it's the same process. You're trying to guide the tree into its shape. You really don't want to force the tree into the shape. To show you how I do it, I just take a piece of twine and I'm making a figure eight with one of the loops at the top. See, I loop it around and then I come back down to the trellis wire and I tie it at the trellis wire. So this gives enough room for the branch to move in the wind and grow naturally. Remember that the tips of the tree branches want to grow vertically, and so on this one I actually want the lower tips to start growing vertically. So I'm tying it about a foot from the tip so the tip can start curving upward. I'm training the branches of this tree to be more of a curve rather than a direct horizontal line. Shaping the tree in this way is called bastooning. So I've tied the tip to the horizontal wire and now I'm using weights to try to shape the branch into a curve shape down to the wire. These are just plastic bottles filled with water and the weight will hold the branch in the shape that I'm trying to get. For the formal shaping on this tree I am using twine to try to keep the branch straight along the guides of the bamboo pieces. However, you have to be careful if you have a really severe angle because when I first tied this tree I actually moved it too much and split the main trunk right where the branch came off. So I had to do some repair work and use twine to put the pieces back together very quickly so that the wound would heal. And then after a few weeks the wound had healed enough that I could begin guiding the top branch again. I used the twine in the first year just to start shaping the branch. After that I'll use a tape binder which puts plastic tape around the branch to hold it to the guide wire. This is a firmer connection which means less movement of the branch so that it begins to achieve its final shape and a stronger branch. One of the most common shapes in espalier is a candelabra. The branches are growing horizontally and then at some point you let the ends begin to grow vertically. And this vertical growth will match the vertical branches that are growing all along these horizontal branches. To achieve this you want to let the lower branch grow longer than the upper branch. So I've tied the upper branch about a foot from the tip and I'm allowing the tip to grow vertically now. This lower branch still needs more horizontal growth. So I'll tie this lower branch at multiple sections including the tip to continue the horizontal growth. An opportunity for fruit in your garden. There you have it. How I espalier fruit trees. If you have any comments or questions, please let me know below. If you haven't subscribed to the Gardener Scott channel, now's your chance. If you liked the video, you can give me a thumbs up and you can share it. I'm Gardener Scott. Enjoy gardening.