Fruit Tree Espaliers: 7 Tips for Fall Maintenance
Espalier fruit trees are a beautiful and unique way to grow fruits in small spaces. They do require quite a bit of maintenance, and that includes caring for them in the fall. Join Florida gardener Melissa Strauss for tips on caring for your espalier fruit trees in the fall.
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Espalier is a traditional technique you can carry out with your fruit trees to maximize your space. It’s an excellent option for those gardeners with limited space, especially urban gardeners.
Espalier involves training your tree or shrub to grow flat against a wall. It’s a practice with ancient origins, believed to go back to Rome and Egypt. In the Middle Ages, Europeans honed the practice into an art form. Here, they became more ornate and elaborate. The practice wasn’t limited to practicality.
There are great benefits to growing your fruit trees this way. Espalier trees get more sunlight and better airflow. This leads to healthier fruit and fewer issues with pests and diseases. It’s a great way to bring structure to your garden, and still produce full-sized fruit.
In the fall, fruit tree espalier care focuses on preparing the tree for winter dormancy. Taking these important steps can prolong the life of your tree, as well as bolster its productivity in the next season. Here are some fall maintenance tips to get your espalier fruit tree properly prepared for its winter dormancy.
Prune Lightly
Fall is not the time for any major fruit tree pruning, espalier, or otherwise. Pruning too much at this time can encourage growth that won’t have time to harden off before winter. This makes the tree more vulnerable overall, and the newer branches are unlikely to survive. Instead, fall fruit tree espalier pruning should be light and corrective.
By the end of summer, your tree will have produced plenty of new growth. Many shoots may be longer than needed, and branches can become crowded. At this stage, you can shorten those overgrown shoots a bit. Don’t overdo it, just trim off about three to five buds from the ends. Try to trim back to a fruiting spur.
Give your tree a once-over and identify any dead or damaged wood. Always remove this as soon as you notice it to avoid spreading diseases or taxing the tree’s energy reserves. Remove water spouts, which are vigorous, upright-growing branches. These will interfere with the plane of your espalier.
By doing this light trimming now, you help prevent the tree from wasting energy on those overgrown shoots. It maintains the tidy form of your espalier and improves the light and air penetration between branches.
Tie in Branches
Fall is the perfect time to work on training your fruit tree espalier. It’s important in maintaining the structure of your tree and keeping it healthy. It’s especially important not to skip this step with your younger specimens.
The reason for tying in your branches this time of year is simple. The branches are new and green, so they are significantly more flexible. They’re stronger than in early summer, but soft enough to bend into place and not snap when you secure them.
Use non-abrasive, soft materials when tying in your branches. Horticultural ties and twine are good for this task. Padded wires are also a good option as they hold tight, but don’t cut into the wood.
Space your ties to support, but not constrict, your branches. Leave enough room for them to grow. Choose branches that naturally grow in the directions you are training your espalier. Keep them as close to the natural plane as possible.
Clean Up the Ground
Cleaning up the ground is important around fall fruit tree espaliers, no matter what kind of fruit tree we are talking about. Most of them are deciduous and fall dormant between fall and winter. They drop leaves and old fruit to the ground, where they can cause issues.
Pests and diseases can overwinter in debris left around the bottom of your trees. Cleaning these up is all about breaking the cycle of these harmful insects and pathogens. It sets the stage for a stronger spring growth season.
Inspect and Treat Pests and Diseases
Now is also a perfect time to take a close look at your fall fruit tree espalier for signs of pest and disease damage. Many pests fall dormant in the winter, and diseases can be more difficult to detect when the foliage is absent. Checking now can save you a lot of trouble in the long term.
Look closely at your leaves and canopy. Check for spots, blotches, or signs of fungus like mildew. If leaves are dropping earlier than they should, this can also be a sign that something is amiss. Look for signs of pests, too. Look for chewed or skeletonized foliage and eggs on the underside of leaves.
Scan the branches, trunk, and bark for borer holes, cankers, cracks, and oozing sap. Cankers can appear as dark, sunken areas, and these can contain fungal pathogens. Inspect your spurs for general health. This is where your fruits will form next year, and you want to make sure they are healthy.
Add Compost and Mulch
Adding compost and mulch around the base of your fruit tree espalier is a great fall care practice. It helps to build soil health and protect roots as the tree heads into dormancy. Because they are trained to grow flat against a wall or fence, these trees have restricted roots that are vulnerable to stress.
Spread compost around the root area, leaving a couple of inches of space around the base of the trunk. Piling it around the trunk can lead to rot and insect issues. This compost will add slow-release nutrients, improve the soil structure, and support microbes that remain active in winter.
Once your compost is down, top it off with a layer of organic mulch. Wood chips, bark, straw, or shredded leaves are all good choices. Mulch helps to retain moisture, insulate the soil, and suppress weeds. It protects the roots from temperature swings, which can cause stress.
Combat Cold
We talked about applying mulch in the fall to protect and insulate the roots. This helps combat the cold by locking in moisture and heat. Make sure to apply your mulch before the soil freezes. The earlier the better, as the more heat there is in the soil, the more it can retain.
For your branches, you can protect them with frost cloth, fleece, or burlap to prevent cold damage. Because they’re trained flat, fruit tree espaliers are easier to protect than other trees. Just drape the protective cloth over the tree and secure it in place.
Protect the Trunk
Protecting the trunk of a fruit tree espalier in the fall is important. This step is often overlooked, but it’s as vital as protecting the roots and branches. Because of the way they’re trained against a wall or fence, your espalier’s trunk is more exposed than usual.
The increased exposure makes your tree trunk more susceptible to sunscald. It will more easily burn from increased sun exposure. Sunscald, while it sounds like sunburn, is not the same. Rather, it is what happens when you have warm days followed by cold nights. It makes the bark crack.
There are several effective methods of protecting your fruit tree espalier trunk from sunscald as well as rodents. You can use a trunk guard or wrap. This is effective in general, but can be tricky with the configuration of an espalier. Diluted latex paint is an excellent alternative.
Mix white latex paint with water at a ratio of 1:1. Painting the trunk with this solution will protect your bark from sunscald and contribute to the overall health of your fall fruit tree espalier.
