16th January 2015

We looked further at different types of training and pruning of other different types of fruit trees & bushes. As I covered some of this in the first masterclass I attended I will be amalgamating some of these notes to the blog post 12th December 2014.

Pear & apple espaliers
- Shoots along the lateral are cut back to secateur length in summer, a leader is left in the middle either to start creating another tier or as replacement if necessary.
- In winter spurs are thinned.
- Shoots pointing downwards are cut off too.

- Diploid & tetraploid apples has bigger fruit and more vigour e.g. cooking apples, but these need more than one apple tree to pollinate. Diploids & tetraploids can cross pollinate between each other.

Cordons
- Cordon sticks should be pointing north to get maximum sun exposure. Set at 45°C. Similar pruning to espaliers apply.

Stepover - a training method where it is just one or two laterals.

Other methods as demonstrated in the garden:

Photo 1: The Arcure espalier.

Photo 2 is a Triple U cordon, they were pre-trained trees bought from Holland. In photo 3 the fruit tree tried to start their own from scratch as an experiment and did a Double U shape, but learnt that it was probably better to do as Triple U shape because the vigour of the branches seemed to just concentrate in the two stems in the middle.

Photo 2: Triple U cordon

Photo 3: Double U cordon.

Below is the Belgian Fence. Branches are tied and held rigidly to supporting sticks so that the stems don't move and rub again each other.

Photo 4: The Belgian Fence.

Cobnuts and filberts (Corylus avellana & C. maximus; husk of filberts are longer). These are dioecious - small tiny red flowers (starting now) are female and catkins are male, so are wind pollinated and need to be planted in a grid.
- In August growers do 'brutting' on established - handbreaking branches to encourage heavier cropping - reduces vigours, lets in more light for female buds to form of weaker growth.
- Winter pruning - Shorten brutted branches from summer to 3/4 buds. Leave short twiggy growth for female flowers. On mature bushes remove up to a third of old or overcrowded shoots. There were a lot of verticals - so these would be removed unless shortened to branch out in strategic areas. Cut them right back leaving only a 2.5cm stub; new branches will re-grow from this point. Keep the centre open and free of inward-growing shoots. Remove any suckers from the base of the tree. Good timing to prune is when male & female flowers to aid pollination.
- As cobnut & filbert industry is small - less regulations. Growers have an annual nutters meal.
- Main pest problem - squirrels.

Photo 5: Corylus avellana

We also looked at medlars, quince and mulberries (mulberries produces new growth easily when split e.g. in the middle of the trunk - truncheon cutting where you cut off a piece of truncheon size branch to propagate is like a hardwood cutting) - they are pruned more or less similar to apple and pear trees. Medlars are not grafted but kept as a standard trees here. Pears are grafted onto quince rootstock.