Espaliers, are they practical?

[cjccmc]

With my limited sunny space I'm thinking that an espalier like shown below may be a good choice. I've done some reading on the other site where there are several threads on the subject. They look nice and supposedly in Japan it's been proven to be an efficient way of farming figs. I don't get winter die back here so maybe that makes espaliers more suitable. OTOH, not many people seem to choose this way of growing. Other than having to provide a support framework, or there other drawbacks? What in general are the pros and cons?

[ross]

They certainly are practical & figs are one of the best fruits you can espalier. Personally I will be using the Japanese Espalier method here in the north. It makes it very easy to protect them in the winter time. It also doesn't hog the space and more efficiently gets sunlight than a standard tree form.

[Fygmalion]

Ditto.... On my planned to do list but specifically the step over espaliers as they provide the best opportunity to supply good winter protection and thus avoid winter die back....

[Fygmalion]

Winter die back is the bane of my fig growing experience here in upstate NY....

[Taverna78]

Asian people are short😑 They can't reach a full grown tree. It's a walk over for short people. It also takes up more space than a upright growing tree. If you don't have winter die back pack all the trees you can into your sunny sweet spot and call it a day.

[Harborseal]

I can grow more varieties in pots than I can as an espalier. Only one variety has been proven to survive a winter here and come back to fruit the next year. If you put all your eggs in this basket a single vole can wipe out years of work in 5 minutes.

[Atlatl]

Which variety survives the KC winter?

[Schroeder]

Yes , what fig will grow there ?
A little south of me , thanks

[cjccmc]

I've had no problem with moles, gophers, etc in past 12 years but it can and has happened to other growers in my area. No reason not to include a wire mesh basket to prevent that, need to put it on my to do list.

[jrdewhirst]

Five of my 6 mature in-ground plants are pruned to a low cordon, basically a one level espalier 2-3' wide, 8-16' long, 1-2' high after pruning. Main crops are born on the 3-4' verticals growing from the long, low horizontals. Each plant produces 100-200+ figs per year.

[jrdewhirst]

Plants are on 16' centers, which provides for 8' laterals on each side. The plants haven't all grown into that space yet. Gene's Paradiso has. Others are generally close.

But I suppose that spacing as close as 8' centers / 4' laterals would work, provided that the ratio of roots to plant didn't get put of whack. I think AscPete used closer spacing.

I've posted pics before. I'll try to find a link.

[jrdewhirst]

https://www.ourfigs.com/forum/figs-home/122701-starting-to-prepare-in-ground-plants-for-winter

This link should take you to pictures of MBvs at the end of the season both before and after pruning. For scale, the PVC hoops are 4' apart. You can see the many verticals, which bore the main crop figs. This plant produced ~150.

[cjccmc]

Thanks for the link, the picture explains it well.

[AscPete]

As mentioned its easier to winterize in colder zones with the added benefit that the fig trees will remain in their smaller trained footprints.

In warmer zones with longer growing seasons like yours the fig trees may need to be trained as "larger" espaliers for example,
https://stevec.smugmug.com/Other/Kad...Tree/i-bCxgWmR

[cjccmc]

Girls are much easier on trees than boys. A little boy would be hanging on the end of the branches trying to break em. BTW, the footprint of that tree is about the same as my total area of full sun.

[Altadena Mara]

I started an apple espalier with around five apple trees but after two years they weren't growing, weren't producing and seemed distinctly unhappy. Two trees died. I bent them back to a normal position and allowed them to bush out. Two trees have filled out well on either end but the ones in the center are still struggling. Each year I get more apples from them as they become more normal and branch out. For me the productivity and happy trees were more important that having a pretty work of natural art.

[jrdewhirst]

I think it helps if you can take advantage of apical dominance, as with figs. When a young fig plant is growing, it's relatively easy to bend a long upright branch to horizontal and then just tie it there. This can become a permanent lateral arm. Then (probably next season) fruit-bearing verticals will grow from this horizontal (and others similar).

The process seems way tougher with fruit (e.g., apples, peaches) where vertical growth from horizontal branches is likely to be mainly vegetative, unproductive.

[CoolClimateFigger]

AscPete (Post 5). I like the way that tree is pruned. I've got one small container plant that I think I'll try to copy the form with. It's just too cold here to count on the top not getting killed over the winter.

I can't remember exactly where it I read it, it was on one of the forums or a link posted on one of the forums, but in Japan they're growing low cordon plants in containers and distributing them to senior citizen homes. They residents get to take care of the plants and harvest the figs, and then the plants are picked up at the end of the season.

[cjccmc]

"The residents get to take care of the plants and harvest the figs, and then the plants are picked up at the end of the season."

What a nice thing to do!

[Hanbury House]

I grow a bunch of different tree fruits. The two fruits I have long term espaliered experience with are apples and figs. Both types were easy to develop and train in their youth. One of my apple espaliers, about 16 years old, were grafted over last year to have about 10 varieties, but time will tell how well they will do. The other apple is still just plain Anna.

I really like figs espalliered in a small yard. All the developing fruit gets enough sun reflected back and warmth from the wall behind it. In my location, heat at ripening time can be an issue and the light colored wall helps. The crop is lower on espaliered, but still plenty to make jam. Its easy to spot all the fruit before the fig beetles do. I can't think of too many negatives. Painting behind it is a pain, but that's only once every 10 years.

However, I had one fig espallier that was a failure in about 2005, but it was my first fig, a black mission. It was way too vigorous for the space and it didn't really fruit well in the location I had it. It only got sun until noon.

[cjccmc]

Thanks for sharing your experience Lianne, it's nice to see you posting again.