THANK YOU, you have helped me understand more about how to espalier than any of books I have read and other videos I have watched. I am finally not intimidated. Again, thank you!
I'm so happy you found it useful! When I first tried it I couldn't believe how easy it was, because some of the references make it sound really complicated. I was amazed that the tree knew to grow 3 branches each time, but somehow it just did and we get so much fruit from our pear tree people can't believe it.
Thank you, I have a really small garden and have always thought of doing an espalier apple but not had the confidence to start. You explained it really simply so I will give it a go and thanks for all the info on the rooting stock size, very helpful.
That is such wonderful news, you've made me really happy! I was hoping that the video might help people feel like they can give it a go. Best of luck with your apple!
Welcome aboard! 😊 So glad you found it useful! If you haven't already seen it, you might also like this one about berries you can grow in small spaces: ua-cam.com/video/x5g-uVZWq-Q/v-deo.html
This was an incredibly informative video, thank you! I've started a fig tree in a pot this year and it is good to know that it can be kept in a relatively small pot and still do well. Now I want to try training a pear tree 😂
Lono that is great! I am thrilled to hear you're growing a fig, they are fabulous trees. Remember that they like to be watered regularly. They don't like to sit in water, it needs to be able to drain away, but keep up the watering and give them some liquid fertilizer that's rich in Potassium (e.g. tomato feed, comfrey feed) over the Summer and they will love you for it.
I have a mini potted fruit garden in an appprox 3 feet x 12 feet concrete space, where in just that small space I’m growing Blueberries, Wild Cloudberry, Wild Currant, Wild Dewberry, Grape & Kiwi vines. Strawberry, Dwarf Conference Pear and wildflowers, Sunflowers, Melon and Tomatoes that are growing from my homemade compost. Although I have a wall for the vines to climb up a trellis on, and most of the plants are only a couple years old so far, so I expect in the autumn when I pot them up I’m bigger tubs I will have to spread them out more. But it is still amazing how much fruit can be grown in a small space and without a garden!, 🌻🌎✌🏽
You are so right! Anyone can grow fruit, and until you've tased home grown you have never really tasted fruit! I'm guessing from your crops you are in North America somewhere? You're so lucky to have all that wonderful sunshine. I'm in Ireland, and you don't get to be the Emerald Isle without a heck of a lot of rain! I'd love to be able to grow melons and tomatoes without a greenhouse! You're garden sounds wonderful 😍
@@amykellygardening No actually I’m living in England on the East London/Essex border, so a bit further south than you, I’m not sure if my Melon will get big enough to produce anything as it’s still only got the second set of leaves that come after the first seedling leaves. So it probably won’t grow big enough in the 2-3 months of growing season we have left, really I think a greenhouse or polly tunnel is needed to start Melons off early enough where I am. But I thought I would give it a try anyway, but my grape vine that is only in its second season has 3-4 bunches of grapes just starting to grow, my wild Dewberry has signs of fruit clusters and my Blueberry is loaded with fruit. But the other fruit plants I have may need a season or two more before they produce as they are all only 2 seasons old. I have a friend who bought some land in Galway 30 years ago to live self sufficiently, and he seems to be growing most of what he needs and he is mostly a Fruitarian, although I don’t know how much of what he grows is in a Polly tunnel etc, I expect a lot of his fruit is grown that way, and probably does better with Nut Trees and wild fruit that is suitable for that climate?
@@amykellygardening I am looking for a small plot of land to buy to live self sufficiently only an Acre or so, and up till recently I was looking to Ireland to follow in my friends footsteps so to speak, but he has told me that land prices in Ireland have shot up so out of my reach. When he bought his 2 Acres 30 years ago the land was only 1k an Acre I. Ireland, so now I’m looking to Wales etc and probably buy some land with a small group of people if I’m lucky enough, with the aim of building a small Eco settlement/village 🌻🌎✊🏽
Oh - good channel - subbed. Put in my first dwarf trees last year in pots- lost more than half to drowning. On reading it says to not over water them - and here you are watering them so much? Have now planted another 20 in pots. (Including currants, raspberries etc). Interesting ideas on repotting and with so many I think I will be looking at some alternatives to pulling them all out and repotting them every year. My dads has been fruiting for many many years and never been repotted - going to have to investigate. Looking forward to training these trees.
Thanks for the Sub! Watering is always tricky because plants want to be watered regularly BUT in soil that drains really well, not sitting in a saucer of water or anything like that. It's getting a balance of enough water for them to thrive (they can't get nutrients out of dry soil, they need the water to be able to feed, but too much water causes the roots to rot). When you water the plants you should have water coming out of the bottom of the pot. You can test if it needs more water by poking your finger into the soil and seeing if it feels moist. It's find to let the top 2cm / 1inch of soil dry out between waterings, but you don't want the whole pot dry. I hope that helps! 😊
@@amykellygardening Yeah thanks. We have some large/long down pours here in Melbourne. I think the pot was on the ground, so although it had drainage the ground blocked that. I have them on deep wood chips now.
@amykellygardening Kelly this vid changed my attitude to container gardening completely. The simplicity of your explanations converted me to a subscriber. I too have limited space and use containers (whiskey barrels) and I suspect i will have to revisit this video a few times to incorporate your advice. Thanks again :) Peter = Cape Town South Africa
Peter, I'm so glad you found it useful! I envy you all that gorgeous sunshine, you'll be able to grow so many lovely fruit varieties that I can't in my chilly part of Ireland. Barrels make such beautiful planters, I'm sure they will look fabulous! If they are large barrels you can underplant, for example strawberries planted under the tree. You'll need to lift out the strawberries when you go to replace the compost, but they don't mind at all, and will love the fresh compost each year. If the barrels are too big to actually lift the tree out of the pot, try to just remove as much compost as you can to refresh it each year, and make sure you keep up the liquid fertilizer. Best of luck! 😊
@@amykellygardening yes we have sunshine galore :) as a newbie in gardening i hope to grow many varieties indeed. 😁 Thanks again for the great tips and advice and keep them videos coming 😀
Glad to hear it! I hope you find one you love. Remember if you don't get a self-fertile tree you'll need to get at least two trees of the same species e.g. Apple, but different varieties, e.g. Spartan and Greensleeves. Happy growing!
Great video. Thank you. I have trained apple and per trees in my garden, which I grew from whips. I also have plums and cherries. My problem is that I can't grasp how to prune the plum and cherry trees as they blossom/fruit differently to the apples and pears. I am worried about wrongly pruning out fruiting wood. Can you advise please? Thank you so much. Happy gardening 🙂
If you're training stone fruit really the only option is fan training, and remember to only prune in summer. Pruning is a bit hard to explain by text, but I will be doing a pruning video for all your different fruits soon! 😁🍑🍒
Great channel just subscribed and liked. Have u thought of recommending places to buy container fruit trees? I'm in the uk. Too many supplier choices and disappointing results that take years to realise. Your a fabulous communicator
Thank you so much for subscribing! This was only the second "proper" video I've done, so I really appreciate the positive feedback. Lots more good stuff to come!
Have been growing and grafting apple and pear espalier trees for three decades. Here are a few comments: Allow the future horizontal whips to grow at about a 45 degree angle, fastened to a thin rod. Fold the rod down in the late summer and fasten it to the horizontal support. For each new level start like this. These trees must be pruned twice a year. Cut back the non fruit budding branches in late winter. Always cut at angle directly after a bud. With the exception of the centre lead which will also be cut back slightly, this can be fairly substantial. At the beginning, be patient and cut a fair bit back otherwise the short branches will be much bigger than you want requiring more massive trimming in a few years time. Bind the new growth of the central lead of each branch regularly to the support to keep it growing straight. The second pruing is usually in May or early June. After the winter pruning, new shoots will develop. Leave about three buds and cut these back again. This will promote the development of more fruit bearing buds. After a few years further pruning will also be necessary to thin out the tree. Pruning the roots can also be helpful to provide new growth to support the large amount of fruit these trees provide. I have had good luck with MM #9 (Melton Mawlings) root stock. With experience, I have found that some varieties are better suited to espalier growing than others. Espalier make great borders along paths or at the end of a small area. Temperature sensitive fruits can be grown against a protective south facing wall.
Do you find even a small tree will demand more water, so could compromise other things though, because Charles Dowding has noted this in his market vegetable garden ❤
Any tree is going to need quite a bit of water, and if you're growing in a pot or container you will need to be the one to give it to the tree as it can't access water itself outside of the pot. If you're growing it in the ground then yes, you're absolutely right that it can pull water and nutrients out of the soil, so many gardeners prefer to keep the soil under trees bare of plants and just use a water conserving mulch. I tend to add plants anyway and just choose ones that don't mind the shade and dryer soil. In some dry summers it can mean more work keeping things watered, but remember that soil is an amazing ecosystem all on it's own. The roots will tap into the mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, and those fungi will feed the roots water and nutrients in exchange for sugars and carbon, so it does a lot of the work for you if your soil is in good health. I hope that answers your question? Thanks for the comment 😊
@@amykellygardening what I want to know is, is it better to root prune in fall or spring after frost? If I root prune will they still fruit after root pruning. thx
Yes, but remember a grafted tree is really 2 trees - if the cutting is from shoots coming out of the base you won't get the fruit you expect, and if you take a cutting from the top it will grow to the natural size of that tree, NOT the grafted size. For apple or pear cuttings use new growth harvested in late spring or early summer for best results.
Great video. Very helpful. I have a very small garden and on top of that it is east facing in south australia. Is there any point in trying a fruit tree?
Hello! I'm originally from Adelaide and yes you definitely can grow fruit trees! In fact you can grow things I can only dream of here in chilly Northern Ireland! Citrus will do well for you and are happy to be grown in pots, or you could grow stone fruit like peaches, plums, or nectarines. You CAN grow apples, but you'll need varieties that don't mind the warm weather, and they will do better in the ground than in pots. If you find a local tree nursery they'll be able to advise you on what is available. Being in SA you're in luck, no fruit flies to deal with, but you might find you need to protect the fruit from hungry lorikeets with netting or some bird scarers hung in the branches. In my childhood garden in SA we had Jonathan and Granny Smith apples, as well as mandarin (called "easy peelers" in the UK for some reason!), oranges, lemons, and peaches, plums, nectarines, as well as a Loquat tree, Mulberry tree, and a Fig tree that I still dream about. You're really lucky to be in a warm climate, but consider water needs of your tree (Mulch is your friend), and if you're growing it against a wall you'll need to protect it with shade cloth while it's a young tree. It can feel like there is a lot to learn if you're new to fruit tree growing, but most of it is just common sense, and if you don't get it 100% right at first, gardens are usually pretty forgiving. Good luck!
@amykellygardening Thank you for such a full and informative reply, Amy. I spotted your accent, of course hehehe. I am in Adelaide in the eastern foothills. Thanks for all the additional info. I will certainly take it onboard and try some fruit trees. They will be in pots, and I'll have to keep an eye out for possums, too! I think a good, well informed nursery will be key. Take care, and thanks again.
13:30 To avoid fruit trees producing good crop in one year and very little the following year do thinning of the fruit buds, that is removing a good number of fruit buds "say 50%" so you get fruit the following year, some trees are biennial even if you do that, but if you do thin you get bigger fruits anyway
Thanks for the reply! You're absolutely right that thinning fruit can help, and it's a pleasure to "meet" a fellow gardening enthusiast! In my experience the tree still has a natural cycle even with thinning, so I tend to just let it do it's thing and only thin the fruit as needed to ensure ventilation, ripening, and that the branches don't get snapped under the weight of the fruit, but you're right to point out that I didn't mention thinning in the video. There is always so much to cover! I'll have to make sure I do another video talking about fruit thinning and keeping birds off etc. Thanks for the great comment :-)
If you could recommend an Apple tree for container growing for eating that would be awesome. Can I get different varieties of Apple trees that fruit at different times throughout the year?
Great questions! The best apple for your is going to depend on where you are in the world. If you're in America, Jonagold is excellent (but is NOT self-fertile so you'll need a second apple tree such as Gala, also excellent), or if you only want one tree get a self-fertile variety like Honeycrisp (red and very sweet). Queen Cox is said to be a fantastic variety, although I haven't had the pleasure of growing it myself. If you're in the UK look for Laxton's Fortune (blushed red) or James Grieve (Green) which are both self-fertile so you only need one tree. Apples all fruit at around the same time in Autumn, so you don't get a really long season, but some will ripen in late August or early September, such as Discovery and Worcester Pearmain which both famously have a slightly strawberry flavour. Others ripen September, such as Spartan (red), Greensleeves (green and self-fertile), and others in October, such as Sunset (green tinged with pink and self-fertile) and Falstaff (red and self-fertile). Some apples will keep really well if you have a cool dark place to store them, so you can extend the fruit season that way. I grow a variety Fiesta that fruits wonderfully and the apples from it keep well for months. The tree has a bit of an untidy growing habit, so is not ideal for a pot unless you want to train it, in which case it would be perfect. Remember to get a tree on dwarfing root stock, and if at all possible get 2 apple trees. Even "self-fertile" apples do better if they have another tree to cross-pollinate them (if any neighbours have an apple or crabapple that will pollinate yours as well). If I didn't specifically say they are self-fertile, then they are NOT self-fertile. Happy Growing!
Yes, absolutely! Fan training will give the best results with mulberry, but bear in mind some varieties get HUGE! If you have a small garden, there are mini mulberry varieties available that are more of a bush than a tree. Look for one called Charlotte Russe also sold under the name Matsunaga.
What happens when the fanned off branches reach the maximum length you have room for? Can you just snip the ends? This was really interesting, about the different codes and things and also about removing them from the pot and trimming the roots!! I thought you’d just have to constantly get a bigger pot each year!!! 🥴 I think soil type affects cherries. I’ve a great white cherry that several tree surgeons who came to my house to do other things (I’d never let them touch *this* tree!) have said is the biggest they’ve ever seen. It’s about 12metres tall and the trunk must be several feet circumference, I should measure it! I’m on heavy clay, he’s gone nuts!!! 😳🤣 I’ve got no room for any other large trees! I’d like to try a step over or espalier, they look so darn cute!!
You got it in one! Whatever shape you are using, once it gets to the size you want it, just snip off the end of the branches. Every year it will try to grow at those ends and every year you just cut it off again. It's all about regular pruning. The RHS website has really good guides for how to prune different varieties of fruit tree. It's worth taking a look at those. If you aren't sure. I will be doing several pruning videos over the winter so make sure you are subscribed so you'll see them. 👍
@@meb4142 peach trees are best fan trained and you can keep it small with pruning, but if it is on a vigorous root stock it may be hard to keep compact. Any tree can be pruned to keep it smaller, but the results will vary depending on the root stock. Remember to only prune your peach tree in summer on a dry day. Good luck with it and thanks for the comment 👍
The varieties of apples and pears I mentioned need a certain amount of cold weather to fruit well, but in your lovely warm climate you'll be able to grow LOTS of wonderful fruit trees. You should be able to grow tropical fruit like banana and kiwi, and if you wanted to grow apples, try varieties like Tropical Beauty and Anna. I'm sure your garden will be lush and lovely!
Don't worry, sometimes they just die and it's nothing you did. I lost a plum that I grew for 3 years before it finally fruited and then I realized it had a disease called plum pocket (would have come from the nursery with it) so had to get rid of it, and one of my quinces is barely clinging on to life no matter how much care and attention I lavish on it. Sometimes you just get a tree that is sick or not right from the start. Always worth having another go! If you're in the UK, watch for bare root fruit trees in Lidl in late winter/early spring. Cheap and surprisingly good! 🍎🍐🌳
What is your opinion of the “Fruit Cocktail” trees that have different types of grafts on them? My friend purchased one a few years ago, and within one year, it began to produce fruit, and ever since, she’s been getting plums, peaches and apricots, although I do believe that an additional graft (I think for a different type of plum), failed. Also, your Espalier pear tree is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen! What an absolute joy it must be to be able to walk into your yard, and pick a pear…from the wall! 🩵
The problem with trees where multiple varieties are grafted onto a single trunk is that they are all competing against each other for nutrients and water from the same trunk. Unless you get very lucky and all the grafted varieties are exactly as vigorous as each other, you tend to find that the most dominant of the varieties takes over. Trees with just two varieties are usually better than those with three or four, but there is no guarantee either way. Some people will just be lucky and have a tree where all the grafts do really well and you get lots of lovely fruit, but in my experience (a tree with plum, peach, and nectarine) over time the less dominant grafts get out-competed. My tree eventually just became a plum tree, with the other two varieties simply not growing fast enough or strong enough to get the nutrients they needed to fruit. In the same space you could grow several smaller trees as cordons/pillars and be sure you'll get fruit from all of them. Thanks for the really great question! That pear tree cost me £7 about 10 years ago, and it's been one of the best garden investments ever. You just wouldn't believe how easy it was to train, the hardest part was just attaching wires to the wall to support it while the branches were young.
Why do you Metric people not understand that 1 dimension does not imply volume? Calling it a 30cm pot MEANS NOTHING. I seriously don't get how YOU don't get that.
Nursery pots are more or less the same depth per specific diameter. Litres would be more specific metrically but we still deal in gallons for buckets/pots/drums here in Canada…
I can understand you are lost inside your own world, but most of us understand than a 30 cms pot implies 30 cms diameter for 30 cms deep. More than enougth information for potting. Be happy in your ancient and lost world and let us enjoy our one.... 😂😂😂
This was one the most conscise detailed videos ive ever heard for backyard fruit tree growing. Thank you.
Your comment is so kind, thank you very much!
Some people also do stepover of fig trees, it looks very cool. Great concise video
Thanks for that! I've never seen step over figs, but that sounds amazing!
Thankyou. I have no space really and just rely on planting on big pots. And thankfully some bear fruits
Excellent video! I learned so much in a short time about fruit trees.
Glad it was helpful! 😀
THANK YOU, you have helped me understand more about how to espalier than any of books I have read and other videos I have watched. I am finally not intimidated. Again, thank you!
I'm so happy you found it useful! When I first tried it I couldn't believe how easy it was, because some of the references make it sound really complicated. I was amazed that the tree knew to grow 3 branches each time, but somehow it just did and we get so much fruit from our pear tree people can't believe it.
I learned a lot watching this video. You are very charming. Cheers from Ottawa, Canada🍁
Thank you very much for the kind comment, and lovely to hear from sunny Ottawa! ❤️🍁
Well done Amy thats probably the best informative video I've seen. Im now on board. Take a bow! 👐
Wow, thanks so much, that has made my day! ☺️
I learnt alot here,
I'm so glad you found it helpful 😁
Thank you, your explanations are simple and to the point. Best video I’ve seen regarding this topic😊
So glad you found it useful!
Thank you, I have a really small garden and have always thought of doing an espalier apple but not had the confidence to start. You explained it really simply so I will give it a go and thanks for all the info on the rooting stock size, very helpful.
That is such wonderful news, you've made me really happy! I was hoping that the video might help people feel like they can give it a go. Best of luck with your apple!
What an amazing idea! Your presentation of the topic is fantastic 🤩 Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge 🙏
Thank you so much for the lovely feedback!
Wow, learnt so much from this video. Thanks.
That is wonderful, thank you so much for the kind comment!
Loved your video presentation and smile. Subbed!
Thank you so much! You're comment has made my day :-)
Great video. I'm now subscribed. Recently moved and this video opened up some ideas I hadn't previously considered in the new to us space.
Welcome aboard! 😊 So glad you found it useful! If you haven't already seen it, you might also like this one about berries you can grow in small spaces: ua-cam.com/video/x5g-uVZWq-Q/v-deo.html
Thank you for the video.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching ☺️
This was an incredibly informative video, thank you! I've started a fig tree in a pot this year and it is good to know that it can be kept in a relatively small pot and still do well. Now I want to try training a pear tree 😂
Lono that is great! I am thrilled to hear you're growing a fig, they are fabulous trees. Remember that they like to be watered regularly. They don't like to sit in water, it needs to be able to drain away, but keep up the watering and give them some liquid fertilizer that's rich in Potassium (e.g. tomato feed, comfrey feed) over the Summer and they will love you for it.
Great video.
Thanks! 👍
thank you Mam from Philippines
You're welcome 😊 Mabuhay!
I have a mini potted fruit garden in an appprox 3 feet x 12 feet concrete space, where in just that small space I’m growing Blueberries, Wild Cloudberry, Wild Currant, Wild Dewberry, Grape & Kiwi vines. Strawberry, Dwarf Conference Pear and wildflowers, Sunflowers, Melon and Tomatoes that are growing from my homemade compost. Although I have a wall for the vines to climb up a trellis on, and most of the plants are only a couple years old so far, so I expect in the autumn when I pot them up I’m bigger tubs I will have to spread them out more. But it is still amazing how much fruit can be grown in a small space and without a garden!, 🌻🌎✌🏽
You are so right! Anyone can grow fruit, and until you've tased home grown you have never really tasted fruit! I'm guessing from your crops you are in North America somewhere? You're so lucky to have all that wonderful sunshine. I'm in Ireland, and you don't get to be the Emerald Isle without a heck of a lot of rain! I'd love to be able to grow melons and tomatoes without a greenhouse! You're garden sounds wonderful 😍
@@amykellygardening No actually I’m living in England on the East London/Essex border, so a bit further south than you, I’m not sure if my Melon will get big enough to produce anything as it’s still only got the second set of leaves that come after the first seedling leaves. So it probably won’t grow big enough in the 2-3 months of growing season we have left, really I think a greenhouse or polly tunnel is needed to start Melons off early enough where I am. But I thought I would give it a try anyway, but my grape vine that is only in its second season has 3-4 bunches of grapes just starting to grow, my wild Dewberry has signs of fruit clusters and my Blueberry is loaded with fruit. But the other fruit plants I have may need a season or two more before they produce as they are all only 2 seasons old. I have a friend who bought some land in Galway 30 years ago to live self sufficiently, and he seems to be growing most of what he needs and he is mostly a Fruitarian, although I don’t know how much of what he grows is in a Polly tunnel etc, I expect a lot of his fruit is grown that way, and probably does better with Nut Trees and wild fruit that is suitable for that climate?
@@amykellygardening I am looking for a small plot of land to buy to live self sufficiently only an Acre or so, and up till recently I was looking to Ireland to follow in my friends footsteps so to speak, but he has told me that land prices in Ireland have shot up so out of my reach. When he bought his 2 Acres 30 years ago the land was only 1k an Acre I. Ireland, so now I’m looking to Wales etc and probably buy some land with a small group of people if I’m lucky enough, with the aim of building a small Eco settlement/village 🌻🌎✊🏽
Oh - good channel - subbed. Put in my first dwarf trees last year in pots- lost more than half to drowning. On reading it says to not over water them - and here you are watering them so much?
Have now planted another 20 in pots. (Including currants, raspberries etc).
Interesting ideas on repotting and with so many I think I will be looking at some alternatives to pulling them all out and repotting them every year.
My dads has been fruiting for many many years and never been repotted - going to have to investigate.
Looking forward to training these trees.
Thanks for the Sub! Watering is always tricky because plants want to be watered regularly BUT in soil that drains really well, not sitting in a saucer of water or anything like that. It's getting a balance of enough water for them to thrive (they can't get nutrients out of dry soil, they need the water to be able to feed, but too much water causes the roots to rot). When you water the plants you should have water coming out of the bottom of the pot. You can test if it needs more water by poking your finger into the soil and seeing if it feels moist. It's find to let the top 2cm / 1inch of soil dry out between waterings, but you don't want the whole pot dry. I hope that helps! 😊
@@amykellygardening Yeah thanks. We have some large/long down pours here in Melbourne. I think the pot was on the ground, so although it had drainage the ground blocked that. I have them on deep wood chips now.
@amykellygardening Kelly this vid changed my attitude to container gardening completely. The simplicity of your explanations converted me to a subscriber. I too have limited space and use containers (whiskey barrels) and I suspect i will have to revisit this video a few times to incorporate your advice. Thanks again :) Peter = Cape Town South Africa
Peter, I'm so glad you found it useful! I envy you all that gorgeous sunshine, you'll be able to grow so many lovely fruit varieties that I can't in my chilly part of Ireland. Barrels make such beautiful planters, I'm sure they will look fabulous! If they are large barrels you can underplant, for example strawberries planted under the tree. You'll need to lift out the strawberries when you go to replace the compost, but they don't mind at all, and will love the fresh compost each year. If the barrels are too big to actually lift the tree out of the pot, try to just remove as much compost as you can to refresh it each year, and make sure you keep up the liquid fertilizer. Best of luck! 😊
@@amykellygardening yes we have sunshine galore :) as a newbie in gardening i hope to grow many varieties indeed. 😁 Thanks again for the great tips and advice and keep them videos coming 😀
Really helpful video. Thanks
Glad you liked it
Fantastic video, really helpful. I am away to get a 50cm pot!
Thanks for the lovely comment!
Wow, such a wonderful idea with fruit trees. Thank you so much for the educational video. Loved it. Now I need to find one for my yard
Glad to hear it! I hope you find one you love. Remember if you don't get a self-fertile tree you'll need to get at least two trees of the same species e.g. Apple, but different varieties, e.g. Spartan and Greensleeves. Happy growing!
Can the tree be kept small by just pruning it and if so will the tree still bear plenty of fruit
Thank you💖💖💖💖💖💖
You are so welcome! 😁
Thank you! Amy
You are so welcome! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Thank you #SaveSoil #Consciousplanet
☺️
Great video. Thank you. I have trained apple and per trees in my garden, which I grew from whips. I also have plums and cherries. My problem is that I can't grasp how to prune the plum and cherry trees as they blossom/fruit differently to the apples and pears. I am worried about wrongly pruning out fruiting wood. Can you advise please? Thank you so much. Happy gardening 🙂
If you're training stone fruit really the only option is fan training, and remember to only prune in summer. Pruning is a bit hard to explain by text, but I will be doing a pruning video for all your different fruits soon! 😁🍑🍒
Great channel just subscribed and liked.
Have u thought of recommending places to buy container fruit trees? I'm in the uk.
Too many supplier choices and disappointing results that take years to realise.
Your a fabulous communicator
Thank you so much for subscribing! This was only the second "proper" video I've done, so I really appreciate the positive feedback. Lots more good stuff to come!
Have been growing and grafting apple and pear espalier trees for three decades. Here are a few comments:
Allow the future horizontal whips to grow at about a 45 degree angle, fastened to a thin rod. Fold the rod down in the late summer and fasten it to the horizontal support. For each new level start like this.
These trees must be pruned twice a year. Cut back the non fruit budding branches in late winter. Always cut at angle directly after a bud. With the exception of the centre lead which will also be cut back slightly, this can be fairly substantial. At the beginning, be patient and cut a fair bit back otherwise the short branches will be much bigger than you want requiring more massive trimming in a few years time. Bind the new growth of the central lead of each branch regularly to the support to keep it growing straight.
The second pruing is usually in May or early June. After the winter pruning, new shoots will develop. Leave about three buds and cut these back again. This will promote the development of more fruit bearing buds.
After a few years further pruning will also be necessary to thin out the tree.
Pruning the roots can also be helpful to provide new growth to support the large amount of fruit these trees provide.
I have had good luck with MM #9 (Melton Mawlings) root stock. With experience, I have found that some varieties are better suited to espalier growing than others. Espalier make great borders along paths or at the end of a small area. Temperature sensitive fruits can be grown against a protective south facing wall.
Do you find even a small tree will demand more water, so could compromise other things though, because Charles Dowding has noted this in his market vegetable garden ❤
Any tree is going to need quite a bit of water, and if you're growing in a pot or container you will need to be the one to give it to the tree as it can't access water itself outside of the pot. If you're growing it in the ground then yes, you're absolutely right that it can pull water and nutrients out of the soil, so many gardeners prefer to keep the soil under trees bare of plants and just use a water conserving mulch. I tend to add plants anyway and just choose ones that don't mind the shade and dryer soil. In some dry summers it can mean more work keeping things watered, but remember that soil is an amazing ecosystem all on it's own. The roots will tap into the mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, and those fungi will feed the roots water and nutrients in exchange for sugars and carbon, so it does a lot of the work for you if your soil is in good health. I hope that answers your question? Thanks for the comment 😊
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@amykellygardening How often do you root prune your potted fruit trees and when is best time to do it? Thx
Only root prune them if they've become pot-bound, and then do it every other year when the plant is dormant in the winter 👍
@@amykellygardening what I want to know is, is it better to root prune in fall or spring after frost? If I root prune will they still fruit after root pruning. thx
Can you plant cuttings from a grafted fruit tree , and plant into a pot ??
Yes, but remember a grafted tree is really 2 trees - if the cutting is from shoots coming out of the base you won't get the fruit you expect, and if you take a cutting from the top it will grow to the natural size of that tree, NOT the grafted size. For apple or pear cuttings use new growth harvested in late spring or early summer for best results.
Great video. Very helpful. I have a very small garden and on top of that it is east facing in south australia. Is there any point in trying a fruit tree?
Hello! I'm originally from Adelaide and yes you definitely can grow fruit trees! In fact you can grow things I can only dream of here in chilly Northern Ireland! Citrus will do well for you and are happy to be grown in pots, or you could grow stone fruit like peaches, plums, or nectarines. You CAN grow apples, but you'll need varieties that don't mind the warm weather, and they will do better in the ground than in pots. If you find a local tree nursery they'll be able to advise you on what is available. Being in SA you're in luck, no fruit flies to deal with, but you might find you need to protect the fruit from hungry lorikeets with netting or some bird scarers hung in the branches.
In my childhood garden in SA we had Jonathan and Granny Smith apples, as well as mandarin (called "easy peelers" in the UK for some reason!), oranges, lemons, and peaches, plums, nectarines, as well as a Loquat tree, Mulberry tree, and a Fig tree that I still dream about. You're really lucky to be in a warm climate, but consider water needs of your tree (Mulch is your friend), and if you're growing it against a wall you'll need to protect it with shade cloth while it's a young tree. It can feel like there is a lot to learn if you're new to fruit tree growing, but most of it is just common sense, and if you don't get it 100% right at first, gardens are usually pretty forgiving. Good luck!
@amykellygardening Thank you for such a full and informative reply, Amy. I spotted your accent, of course hehehe. I am in Adelaide in the eastern foothills. Thanks for all the additional info. I will certainly take it onboard and try some fruit trees. They will be in pots, and I'll have to keep an eye out for possums, too! I think a good, well informed nursery will be key. Take care, and thanks again.
13:30 To avoid fruit trees producing good crop in one year and very little the following year do thinning of the fruit buds, that is removing a good number of fruit buds "say 50%" so you get fruit the following year, some trees are biennial even if you do that, but if you do thin you get bigger fruits anyway
Thanks for the reply! You're absolutely right that thinning fruit can help, and it's a pleasure to "meet" a fellow gardening enthusiast! In my experience the tree still has a natural cycle even with thinning, so I tend to just let it do it's thing and only thin the fruit as needed to ensure ventilation, ripening, and that the branches don't get snapped under the weight of the fruit, but you're right to point out that I didn't mention thinning in the video. There is always so much to cover! I'll have to make sure I do another video talking about fruit thinning and keeping birds off etc. Thanks for the great comment :-)
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If you could recommend an Apple tree for container growing for eating that would be awesome. Can I get different varieties of Apple trees that fruit at different times throughout the year?
Great questions! The best apple for your is going to depend on where you are in the world. If you're in America, Jonagold is excellent (but is NOT self-fertile so you'll need a second apple tree such as Gala, also excellent), or if you only want one tree get a self-fertile variety like Honeycrisp (red and very sweet). Queen Cox is said to be a fantastic variety, although I haven't had the pleasure of growing it myself. If you're in the UK look for Laxton's Fortune (blushed red) or James Grieve (Green) which are both self-fertile so you only need one tree.
Apples all fruit at around the same time in Autumn, so you don't get a really long season, but some will ripen in late August or early September, such as Discovery and Worcester Pearmain which both famously have a slightly strawberry flavour. Others ripen September, such as Spartan (red), Greensleeves (green and self-fertile), and others in October, such as Sunset (green tinged with pink and self-fertile) and Falstaff (red and self-fertile). Some apples will keep really well if you have a cool dark place to store them, so you can extend the fruit season that way. I grow a variety Fiesta that fruits wonderfully and the apples from it keep well for months. The tree has a bit of an untidy growing habit, so is not ideal for a pot unless you want to train it, in which case it would be perfect.
Remember to get a tree on dwarfing root stock, and if at all possible get 2 apple trees. Even "self-fertile" apples do better if they have another tree to cross-pollinate them (if any neighbours have an apple or crabapple that will pollinate yours as well). If I didn't specifically say they are self-fertile, then they are NOT self-fertile. Happy Growing!
Thank you the great reply. Awesome
Thank you. Is it possible to do the same to Mulberry?
Yes, absolutely! Fan training will give the best results with mulberry, but bear in mind some varieties get HUGE! If you have a small garden, there are mini mulberry varieties available that are more of a bush than a tree. Look for one called Charlotte Russe also sold under the name Matsunaga.
What happens when the fanned off branches reach the maximum length you have room for? Can you just snip the ends?
This was really interesting, about the different codes and things and also about removing them from the pot and trimming the roots!! I thought you’d just have to constantly get a bigger pot each year!!! 🥴
I think soil type affects cherries. I’ve a great white cherry that several tree surgeons who came to my house to do other things (I’d never let them touch *this* tree!) have said is the biggest they’ve ever seen. It’s about 12metres tall and the trunk must be several feet circumference, I should measure it! I’m on heavy clay, he’s gone nuts!!! 😳🤣
I’ve got no room for any other large trees! I’d like to try a step over or espalier, they look so darn cute!!
You got it in one! Whatever shape you are using, once it gets to the size you want it, just snip off the end of the branches. Every year it will try to grow at those ends and every year you just cut it off again. It's all about regular pruning. The RHS website has really good guides for how to prune different varieties of fruit tree. It's worth taking a look at those. If you aren't sure. I will be doing several pruning videos over the winter so make sure you are subscribed so you'll see them. 👍
@@amykellygardening great! I’m subscribed! ☺️
Can you dwarf any fruit tree in pots w espalier because I was gifted a peach tree not sure what type
@@meb4142 peach trees are best fan trained and you can keep it small with pruning, but if it is on a vigorous root stock it may be hard to keep compact. Any tree can be pruned to keep it smaller, but the results will vary depending on the root stock. Remember to only prune your peach tree in summer on a dry day. Good luck with it and thanks for the comment 👍
Can these fruit trees do well in tropical climate like Nigeria Nigeria (West Africa )?
The varieties of apples and pears I mentioned need a certain amount of cold weather to fruit well, but in your lovely warm climate you'll be able to grow LOTS of wonderful fruit trees. You should be able to grow tropical fruit like banana and kiwi, and if you wanted to grow apples, try varieties like Tropical Beauty and Anna. I'm sure your garden will be lush and lovely!
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I have to say I have killed most of my fruit trees
Don't worry, sometimes they just die and it's nothing you did. I lost a plum that I grew for 3 years before it finally fruited and then I realized it had a disease called plum pocket (would have come from the nursery with it) so had to get rid of it, and one of my quinces is barely clinging on to life no matter how much care and attention I lavish on it. Sometimes you just get a tree that is sick or not right from the start. Always worth having another go! If you're in the UK, watch for bare root fruit trees in Lidl in late winter/early spring. Cheap and surprisingly good! 🍎🍐🌳
@@amykellygardening ❤️❤️❤️
What is your opinion of the “Fruit Cocktail” trees that have different types of grafts on them? My friend purchased one a few years ago, and within one year, it began to produce fruit, and ever since, she’s been getting plums, peaches and apricots, although I do believe that an additional graft (I think for a different type of plum), failed.
Also, your Espalier pear tree is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen! What an absolute joy it must be to be able to walk into your yard, and pick a pear…from the wall! 🩵
The problem with trees where multiple varieties are grafted onto a single trunk is that they are all competing against each other for nutrients and water from the same trunk. Unless you get very lucky and all the grafted varieties are exactly as vigorous as each other, you tend to find that the most dominant of the varieties takes over. Trees with just two varieties are usually better than those with three or four, but there is no guarantee either way. Some people will just be lucky and have a tree where all the grafts do really well and you get lots of lovely fruit, but in my experience (a tree with plum, peach, and nectarine) over time the less dominant grafts get out-competed. My tree eventually just became a plum tree, with the other two varieties simply not growing fast enough or strong enough to get the nutrients they needed to fruit. In the same space you could grow several smaller trees as cordons/pillars and be sure you'll get fruit from all of them. Thanks for the really great question!
That pear tree cost me £7 about 10 years ago, and it's been one of the best garden investments ever. You just wouldn't believe how easy it was to train, the hardest part was just attaching wires to the wall to support it while the branches were young.
Why do you Metric people not understand that 1 dimension does not imply volume? Calling it a 30cm pot MEANS NOTHING. I seriously don't get how YOU don't get that.
Nursery pots are more or less the same depth per specific diameter. Litres would be more specific metrically but we still deal in gallons for buckets/pots/drums here in Canada…
probably referring to diameter
@@ceedee2570yes, pots are buyed by diameter
Take it easy buddy
I can understand you are lost inside your own world, but most of us understand than a 30 cms pot implies 30 cms diameter for 30 cms deep. More than enougth information for potting. Be happy in your ancient and lost world and let us enjoy our one.... 😂😂😂