Apple and Pear

trees

I love having apples and pears growing in my garden at home. I planted some one year maiden apples and a couple of pears trees along some of the paving around the vegetable garden. Over the past several years I have trained these as espaliers. They not only provide some very tasty fruits but they provide a nice edge to the paving and in spring look just as good as any ornamental tree. Both apples and pears are usually grafted onto a different rootstock. This allows the overall height the tree will grow to be controlled. My apples are grafted onto MM106 (semi-dwarfing) rootstock, the pears I think are on quince A (Semi-vigorous) though I bought these at the super market and it did not state on the label what rootstock they are on. I will not go into the different rootstock’s at this time but maybe in the future I will add a bit more about this. It is easy to just buy your fruit tree, stick it in the ground and let it do it’s own thing. It will grow away happily on its own until one day it will be too big. I have seen this happen lots of times on allotments. It is far better to plan ahead as to the size and shape you would like to grow the tree. It is much easier to pick the fruit if you do not have to go get ladders to climb up and get it. You can keep or reduce the size of a tree by pruning it. Espaliers take up very little space this is also true of cordons but you would need to plan for these from the start. Something to bear in mind when pruning these, winter pruning encourages good strong growth, whereas summer pruning reduces the vigour of the growth. Fruiting spurs form better on horizontal branches. I do not have enough time at the moment to fully go into the training of these, but I will explain what to do now (July/August) if you do have apple or pear trees.

Trained Apple and Pear

trees

This applies to any trained form of apples or pears such as espaliers, step overs and cordons also if you have a tree where you need to control the size or shape.

Summer Pruning

Pruning during the summer (usually July but can be done in August or even September), when done correctly this encourages the tree to put its energy into fruit growth, form new fruit spurs and helps reduce the overall height of the tree. The pruning for both apples and pears is basically the same. Generally the trunk is kept clean (clear of fruiting spurs, or shoots) and the fruiting spurs are encouraged on the lateral growth (or branches). Pruning first years growth on the lateral (side branch). Cut off the new growth above the third leaf. Looking at the new growth, at the bottom you will have what is known as the basal cluster, count up three leaves from this and make a cut diagonally away from the leaf node. Pruning subsequent years growth on the lateral (side branch). Cut off the new growth above the first leaf. Again count up from the basal cluster but this time cut above the first leaf from this and making your cut diagonally away from the leaf node.

Thinning the fruit

A job also done in the summer, after what is known as the June drop. After this has happened it is worth thinning the fruits further to help encourage bigger fruit and reduce the risk of damage to the trees from the weight. Look at each cluster of fruit and remove all but two or three of the apples from each cluster. If any appear damaged by insects remove these as your first choice followed by any smaller or malformed fruits. This does not have to be done all at once. I will often do a few at a time as I pass the fruit trees but when complete you should have no more than two or three fruits per fruit spur.