I have an espaliered apple with 3 grafts. Each year, I've been plucking the blooms so that it can reach it's desired scaffold shape. One graft is VERY vigorous and has reached its capacity. The other two are limping along.
If I let the vigorous one fruit, would it slow down it's vigor or just draw even more from the other two?
If I let the slow growing grafts fruit, would it bring more vigor to them or take even longer to get to scaffolding shape?
Or do I pluck all blooms again and try some sort of crazy notching scheme?
Or maybe I summer prune the vigorous graft and winter prune the slow goers?
So many questions. I love gardening!
Thanks.
CArla
Carla,
Welcome to the forum. I don't have experience with espalier, but hopefully some of the other forum readers will be able to answer from experience.
Allowing the slow branches to fruit will definitely not speed their growth.
Sharing some pictures of your tree would likely make it easier for people to help you. It would help to see the shape you are trying to grow to and get some idea of your process.
I assume you don't have the entire branches tied down completely horizontal, for instance.
In my opinion, letting the vigorous graft fruit will not slow down the growth of the other grafts assuming that there are no nutrient or water deficiencies.
Different grafts/genetics will have different vigor naturally, so what you're seeing is probably not unusual. I assume/believe that this is due to the hormone response of the buds based on sunlight, heat, orientation, and genetic factors.
Stimulating growth with nitrogen additions will encourage vegetative growth while discouraging fruiting. It is common for nurseries to get their apple trees (that are grafted, even) to be 7' tall+ in 2 years using high nitrogen fertilizer (e.g., 32-0-0) and amended soil (i.e., analyzed soil, fertilizer added pre-planting); while this is not necessarily recommended to add a bunch of nitrogen, I mention this here so that you know what the extremes are... It should be reasonable to fill out the wire on your trellis for an established tree with proper micro and macro nutrients.
If *I* were you (I emphasize "I" because this is probably blasphemy to many) I would go out and get some 16-16-16 fertilizer from Wilco, or similar, and throw about 6 ounces down around the plant and then water it a bunch. You could see how the plant responds and repeat the treatment every few weeks (watering often, especially in the summer). I would expect that next year you'd fill the wire.
Chris
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