The espalier orchard gets a new look
You may recall a blog from last April, when Shaun, my gardener, took it upon himself to prune my espalier apple orchard, which had gone untended. Shaun is a great pruner and transformed the trees beautifully. In early July, he said it was time to prune the grove again. The fruit was well established and all the sucker growth, which does not produce fruit, needed to be removed. Shaun wanted the energy of the tree to go to the main apple producing branches. I love how he is shaping the rows of espalier into angled box-like structures. Over time, this little orchard should be quite lovely.
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- A pair of good, sharp secateurs is required to make a clean cut.
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- By removing the sucker growth, energy is sent into the main apple producing branches.
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- Here is Shaun deciding which branches to snip.
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- In early July, the grove of espalier apple trees needed a good pruning.
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- As you can see, Shaun has removed considerable growth.
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- And more
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- More beautiful apples
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- A nicely formed apple
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- Removing the excess growth also helps to expose the ripening fruit to the sun.
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- Shaun is removing the sucker growth – the long shoots which do not bear apples.
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- More apples
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- As you can see, quite a bit was pruned off. If you look closely, you can see that Shaun shaped the branches so that they are wider at the bottom, tapering towards the top. This is so sunlight can reach the lower branches easily.
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- The finished pruning – very trim and neat
Photos By Eliad Laskin
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