Three-Tiered Horizontal Espalier - Hortizontal Espalier

The Sarasota Fruit & Nut Society
P. O. Box 536
Nokomis, Florida 34274

Phone: 941-484-9229
Email: tedcurry@verizon.net

Three-Tiered Horizontal Espalier

Materials Needed: 12 to 14 gauge wire, 9/16â€³ double-pointed staples for wood fencing, wall mounts for masonry and corresponding equipment for stucco/concrete walls, bare root apple tree preferably with ample buds on its trunk, compost, shovel, sharp clippers, green garden tape, chalk or marker, wire clippers, pliers and tape measure.

You will need 7â€² of wall space to accommodate the size of a mature espaliered fruit tree. Measure out a pattern with a single main trunk, and three horizontal tiers (cordons). Measure from the top of your soil up to 48â€³ with your tape measure and mark it. This is the height of your tree; mark a horizontal line at this height which will become your top or third tier (cordon). Draw a vertical line to represent the trunk of the tree in the middle of your 7â€² space or at approximately 3â€² 5â€³ (three feet, five inches), allowing a few inches for your tree trunk growth.

When your pattern is finished, begin to attach your wire horizontally along each tier. Each wire must be very secure to eventually support the mature tree and its fruit, whether you are using double pointed staples or masonry wall mounts. Make sure the wire is taunt and secure curling your wire tight at the end with pliers.

With your wire secure and in place, the next step is to plant your apple tree. Make a 14â€³ wide by 14â€³ deep hole. Add compost and mix with soil for drainage. Plant your apple tree 4â€³ away from your fence to allow growing room, and plant so the apple tree base is at soil level. It is very important that you look for a bud on your tree trunk which is positioned just above the first tier wire. Potential buds are the little bumps on your tree trunk, which have the potential to grow into a cordon.

Once your tree is planted, cut with sharp clippers your tree at 1-2â€³ above the first tier wire, and right above a bud at a 45 degree angle. This will redirect your apple treeâ€™s energy into making the side shoots at the first tier wire. Once side growth has grown 5-6â€³, select the strongest stem on each side, and tie down to your wire with your green garden tape gingerly. Trim off any others, and trim off any new growth that might be emerging below your first tier line on your tree trunk.

At this point you will have new growth starting a cordon on each side at your first tier level, and you have small growth growing vertical, which will eventually reach the second tier level. Be careful at this stage not to allow the vertical new growth to grow more than 6â€³. Keep nipping it back to 6â€³ height, to allow your new side shoots along the first tier to keep growing longer horizontally.

When your first tier cordons have reached about 3/4 of the way toward the end of their wire support, you can allow the vertical trunk shoot now to grow up and reach the second tier wire level, and start the whole process over again. Continue to train your tree until all of the tier branching is the the 7â€² completed width.

As you are training your fruit tree into your three-tiered shape, keep the small shoots along the cordon trimmed back to 4â€³ to 5â€³ long. Your tree will continue to grow and mature, and every flower will become a fruit spur, which will bear fruit. Eventually, your fruit tree will become its own support structure.

It takes about three to four years to create a mature three-tiered fruit tree, but you will start to reap fruit before then. Generally with espaliered trees, fruit will be larger and sweeter, because their fruit is exposed to more sunlight and the trees have been pruned regularly to keep their shape.

Â©2010 Sarasota Fruit & Nut Society