How To Espalier Fruit Trees With A Double Cordon Trellis System

[@hongbeaven4020]

This is the best instructional step by step How To espalier video on KZbin, 🙏 Thanks so much

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Robert-er5wq]

Absolutely! Second that 100%. I'm a complete newbie and I may not espalier fruit trees, but may want to create a driveway arbor which needs all of the items including the crimping tool. Also the names what the tools and materials are called! Thank you so much!!!

[@isabelladavis1363]

The best video I’ve seen to date on trellising ….very thorough and easily explained even for this gal…stay blessed

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Thank you! If you're interested, I have a playlist on espalier, which shows you how to manage these trees from when they were very young throughout the years as they grew depending on the season: kzbin.info/aero/PL1gY7BoYBGIFlbg2ri_7gCJPhXaZ_nOvy

[@isabelladavis1363]

@@TheMillennialGardener I will certainly check it out…many thanks again

[@paulacunniffe4123]

You are a great teacher, thank you

[@Mimi.P]

I love these espalier videos! I planted a few espaliered pear and apricot trees and I have so much to learn. Thank you for great content!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

You're welcome! There is a lack of information out there, and I hope I'm doing a decent job providing some potential designs.

[@Mark4WorldPeace]

I’m intrigued with the process and visual of Espalier

[@TheMillennialGardener]

It's a bit of a work in progress, since the real shaping and pruning comes during the dormant season. However, it's a great way to set up some attractive looking and efficient "bones" on your trees. It takes 2-3 years to get them shaped the way you want them, but it holds longterm rewards.

[@Mark4WorldPeace]

@@TheMillennialGardener Here in Minnesota I knew a Swedish man that had an apple and pear espalier on his house side Looked amazing loaded with blossoms then 🍎

[@blueridgerunner1]

Thank you for this video. I'm going to use this technique for my climbing Rose's.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

You're welcome! Thanks for watching!

[@irishfruitandberries9059]

Crikey! The production on those trees 😲😲

[@TheMillennialGardener]

They're very happy with their home. They love being planted elevated, love my hot summers and enjoy all the mulch and bone meal.

[@NewMindGarden]

Absolutely amazing 👍👍🌷🌷

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Thank you! Thanks for watching!

[@sylvia10101]

Thanks for the information! Really helpful!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

You're welcome. I appreciate you watching!

[@sunnyjones682]

Hi there! Is there an update on the espalier? I can’t wait to see it complete?!

[@janicequick-wolfe5619]

Thanks for the great information. I am trying to espalier apple trees on our 4 foot chain link fence to cut down on the traffic noises and want to go higher than the top of the fence. I was trying to figure out how to do that when this great video came along. Very timely. Any suggestions on how far between posts and the maximum length of wire since the area I want to espalier is well over 100 feet long. I’m jealous of your great looking fig trees. I have a horrible gopher problem and they ate all the roots off the fig tree that was in the ground so I’m doing containers. Unfortunately they don’t do that well in containers here in hot dry Southern California. Thanks again for your great videos. They are always thoughtful and very instructive.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I chose to plant my trees 6 feet apart. The posts of this video are spaced exactly 6 feet center to center. How far apart you space your trees depends on a lot of factors: the type of tree, the type of rootstock, and how much work you want to do to maintain the tree. Obviously, the closer you plant them, the more varieties you can fit in an area, but the smaller the trees will be since the roots will compete and the more work you'll have to do to keep them neatly pruned so they don't "grow into each other." It's a trade-off. If your apples are on dwarfing rootstock, you can be more aggressive than if they're semi-dwarf or standard trees. Most apples sold are semi-dwarf, and standard rootstock has no business being planted in 99% of backyards, because the trees will be just too big.

[@renzgeorgevidal8200]

Thank you for making informative videos like this.🍅

[@TheMillennialGardener]

You're welcome. I hope they prove useful! Thank you for watching.

[@farmerbob4554]

Excellent, detailed tutorial . Thanks for the informative video MG.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Thank you for watching! I appreciate it.

[@Cheezitnator]

Very clean tutorial. I like this method, seems easy to set up. I'm planning to get some fig saplings from my grandmother who lives near Charlotte and see if what she has will grow in north Florida. She doesn't know what variety it is, but the figs are pretty big and I think they have a closed eye.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Thanks. Figs struggle with rain, and your summers are considerably wetter than Charlotte's summers. You're going to want a rain-resistant variety. I would recommend growing it in a container the first season to see how it handles your rain before committing to plant it in-ground. That's what I do - I trial them first for a year in containers to see if they're worth the in-ground space.

[@Cheezitnator]

@@TheMillennialGardener Sounds like a good plan. I only have citrus trees currently and those are opposite as they complain if the rain stops. If I end up having to keep that fig inside that's okay too. They are a rather attractive plant and I have large windows. Just have to keep free roam rabbit from destroying it.

[@rayintoledocebuphilippines5517]

when do you prune if you live in the tropics? I live in the Philippines so my figs never lose their leaves

[@kellyfanello6716]

That is so cool thankyou once again ,you rock

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Thank you for watching!

[@Familyadventures727]

Do you need more than one fig tree to have it produce fruit.

[@adamcnessesq]

That i258 looks awesome!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

It's definitely one of my favorite figs. It is an amazing, amazing variety!

[@adamcnessesq]

@@TheMillennialGardener Did you buy your's as a tree (if so from where) or root it? I'm going to be adding that variety to my collection in the next year, and while I'm decent at rooting cuttings, I'd rather spend a little extra to get a tree with roots.

[@dh4923]

I planted some figs along my fence as well like you did. One of the things I think about is the roots growing under the fence. Depending on the chemicals the neighbor uses on their lawn, the figs could hypothetically be taking some of that up through the roots.. what do you make of this?

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I've heard of isolated incidents where neighbors spray their fence lines and it damages the plants. But it's largely anecdotal. The amount of poison it would take to severely damage a mature fig tree would be a lot and likely kill the grass 100 times over. A light surface weed killer would not be in a concentration that would be harmful. It's a risk you have to take.

[@halfacrehomemaker]

Would you ever espalier your satsuma? Or would that make it difficult to cover/put lights around it in the winter?

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I would not, because I would not be able to protect it. Satsumas naturally grow as weeping and rounded, so they are easy to cover with a plant jacket. If I were to espalier it, it would not be easy to cover anymore. If you live in a place where cold weather is not an issue, by all means, espalier them. For me, because most citrus cannot survive in my zone long-term without protection, I need to buy everything on dwarf rootstock and prune them to a round shape so I can keep a plant jacket on them on our worst nights.

[@nmnate]

It looks like that vertical growth is making it a little tough to develop the wood on your lower cordons. How do you get canes to grow off your cordons when they get established? Lots of selective removal of buds in the spring? For spur fruiting trees like apples and pears, you can do a ton of pruning in the summer to get spur development. Are figs similar with getting lots of small lateral branches?

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Figs will branch at the nodes of the cordons. All you have to do is cut the canes back to the cordons, but leave one node, during the winter time. They'll re-sprout from that node and grow new vertical canes.

[@nmnate]

@@TheMillennialGardener That makes sense. Any worth in doing some summer tipping to encourage lateral development? I find it super helpful with my apples and plums. You can get establishment of your scaffold branches and lots of fruiting wood, while managing vigor. This is mostly a curiosity for me, as my figs will die back to the ground each and every year. :)

[@nmnate]

I like how clean your U posts look, I think I'm going to adopt this when I put in 6 espalier trees this winter. Probably 3 grapes and some pears / asian pears. Did you have to anchor your U posts (ie guy wire) so they don't lean or twist?

[@TheMillennialGardener]

The U-posts simply hold the guide cable. There is not much tension applied to them, because wood defies gravity on its own. It isn't weighing on the cable, like a tomato vine would. The posts are simply pounded into the ground around 12 inches or so.

[@nmnate]

@@TheMillennialGardener Wood defies gravity, ha, I like that. I might rig up a little support for mine if I'm doing a bunch of heavy grapes. We'll see. It'd be easy to add later on. :) If I had as many espalier trees as you, I'd totally be having some fun with trying out different shapes (candelabra, fan, etc). Gotta keep it entertaining.

[@rope719]

how far apart are the support stakes? what is the minimum of room each tree will need?

[@TheMillennialGardener]

The stakes are 6 feet apart exactly. The "minimum" room per tree is up for debate. I chose 6 feet, and it is plenty of room for the trees to grow hugely and produce a ton of fruit every season. Can you go even closer? Yes, but the closer you plant them together, the more carefully you'll have to manage them every growing season and the harder you'll have to cut them back every winter. Closer = more work, so choose wisely.

[@ashtanga2000]

Tripe is what menudo is. People often cook it outside in garage. It's known as a hangover cure and available in some authentic Mexican restaurants frequently on weekends.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I think I'll have to pass on that one 😂

[@BlackJesus8463]

I hope your figs don't split no more G. That Italian 258 looks special.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

That's going to depend on the rain cycle, unfortunately. I-258 is an *incredible* fig, but it's highly split prone. The best figs are often the most challenging to grow.

[@BlackJesus8463]

@@TheMillennialGardener Isn't it like Madeira Black but less prone to splitting and better production?

[@vixenfatale4839]

I am sure you are a very busy person with all your produce and such. If I can plz get a answer for my comments I have asked. I will continue to wait. But I really would like to get into fig trees.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

What's your question?

[@vixenfatale4839]

@@TheMillennialGardener for North Texas what 3 Fig varieties do you honestly recommend that are good for beginners? 🙂 My chickens and ducks honestly might be getting most of the figs as a natural food source as well as natural shade.

[@hvacstudent967]

Does this system work with all types of fruit trees?

[@hvacstudent967]

I know you mention this in your video, though, a friend of mine who uses this method said that apple trees and pear trees are two fruiting trees that garner an increase in productivity from this method of husbandry. I want to run apples and peaches. Tennessee. Already have my trellis posts in the ground and setting up for my cabling and other hardware installation. Just looking at trees now.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Yes, you can train any fruit tree like this - any tree, period, even a pine tree or an oak tree if you really wanted to. Whether it'll increase or decrease productivity depends on your pruning habits and how many limbs you espalier. If you espalier your tree to a single cordon, obviously, 2 fruiting branches will not be able to complete in production with a tree allowed to grow unpruned and make unlimited fruiting branches. Keep in mind the goal of espalier in most cases is to contain the growth and make the tree fit in a compact space. How much the tree fruits is going to be proportional to how many fruiting branches you espalier.

[@hvacstudent967]

@@TheMillennialGardener Message well received and I understand. We have 5 acres and thus space is not an issue, however, we are experimenting with various elements of permaculture design. Our soil is poor and thus most of our food production has been focused in small areas in order to maximize production and minimize the need for volumes of compost. In the mean time we've built fertility machines using the dung and chickenness of the chicken (scratching habits and diet diversity) as well as the neutral nature of rabbit dung. This we will focus in specific areas aforementioned. The localized soil we've been building up with hay, wood chips, and outsourced compost in order to even bring in some of the nitrogen fixing elements such as black locust and various blocks of comfrey. Now in comes the trellis, my thought was since they are localized and rows and take up less space we a close proximity to our homestead activity area, fertility machine infrastructure and straight like organization would allow for efficient layering of both time and ecosystem elements in between the fruiting tree elements. So we are planning on putting comfrey at the base parallel between the rows for easy cutting with the scythe and then sparingly the black locust for its nitrogen fixing qualities. We will chop and drop these both periodically which will provide additional bee and chicken forage during prospective seasons. The chickens will help us break the local pest cycles under the trees. That is all the theory and vision portion of this of course as we have almost NO experience in this area of life. My follow up question, now that my design strategy has been explained, is would production then be increased if I was to add permanently affixed cattle panel that would be attached to the same plane as the trellis wires? This would seemingly allow for a greater number of espaliered branches and thus a greater level of both primary production, as well as tree forage for the winter and nitrogen/carbon elements in our weekly compost production system. I subscribed, and appreciate your channel efforts.

[@yannikin]

How much do I need to bench in order to be able to order that shirt?

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I usually film after I get home from the gym, because it's finally cool enough to break out the camera 😂 "Not as much as I used to when I was younger."

[@nmnate]

@@TheMillennialGardener Yeah... ain't that the truth LOL. Finally got a garage gym set up and it just reminds me of how strong I was when I was as a teen.

[@kaush882]

🙏🙏🙏

[@warrenjason5985]

👍👍

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Thanks for watching!

[@matthewvillalba]

The big issue with any fig trees in ground is that their roots spread far underground. They can sprout new growth (fig trees) elsewhere and ruin the house foundation. I hope your neighbors don't mind.

[@zacharyguilmet5919]

Where is the next update?!?!

[@mahabubahamed2362]

God morning.plice u sant difarant kind.fig picture

[@TheMillennialGardener]

I'm sorry, I don't understand the comment. Can you rewrite it?

[@slamrock17]

That is the smallest pair of bolt cutters I have ever seen!

[@TheMillennialGardener]

They are awesome. I really recommend them!