In many gardens today there is no room for large apple trees with a standard and broad crown. But even in a small garden you don't have to do without the harvest of sweet apples if you train the apple trees to form a trellis.

Strict training forms the apple tree

The trellis shape does not grow automatically even with modern varieties of apple trees. Rather, a very regular and targeted pruning is necessary to let an apple tree grow in the form of a trellis. The reward is not only a tree with special optical charms in a geometric shape, but also a particularly rich and sweet apple harvest.

Planning and preparation for a trellis of apple trees

As with almost all planting activities in the garden, the installation of an apple trellis should be planned carefully. The growth potential of espalier trees should not be underestimated. In concrete terms, this means that flat-rooted apple trees should not be too close to a house wall in order to be able to develop optimally. Nevertheless, just the proximity to a sunlit wall promises additional sweetness for the expected harvest. A distance of at least half a meter has proven to be optimal, at which the tree also has sufficient freedom to develop.

wires or wood

In the past, trellis trees were usually trained along a prefabricated wooden trellis, but today constructions made of metal rods and taut wire are usually more attractive and easier to set up. For this purpose, a fence post is fixed in the ground next to the tree trunks, from which the horizontal wires are stretched to the next post. It is important that the branches of the apple trees should not be attached to the cross wires with tight wire, but rather with loose cords made of raffia. Otherwise the wires can grow into the thickening branches, which can affect the distribution of sap in the branch.

Suitable varieties for a trellis

Commercially available varieties such as:

  • Freedom
  • Jacob Fisher
  • Piros
  • Rebella

These robust apple varieties are usually grafted onto a slow-growing M9 rootstock, which keeps roots and trunk growth within bounds.

tips and tricks

A fruit trellis is particularly appealing if you use apple and pear trees alternately, for example. In addition, several apple trees of different varieties in a row not only guarantee a delayed harvest, but also improved pollination.

Category:

Trees