North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lee Reich <lreich@hvc.rr.com>]

The beauty of the Lorette method, where it works, that not only are the trees very productive but that the form of the branches remains visually prominent throughout the season.  The tracery of branches is ruined if it is hidden beneath a jungle of new shoots for much of the season, which is the case if the trees are pruned just once a season. The branches look like porcupines before they are pruned and then, if regrowth occurs after pruning, they look like porcupines again soon thereafter. 

In my book The Pruning Book I suggest redcurrant for an espalier that works well anywhere, only takes two prunings per year (described in the book), and looks pretty. (There I go mentioning my writing again; no need for anyone to buy the book because it's available in many libraries, including the NAFEX library).

Lee Reich, PhD

http://www.leereich.com/

http://leereich.blogspot.com/

Books by Lee Reich:

A Northeast Gardener's Year

The Pruning Book

Weedless Gardening

Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden

Landscaping with Fruit

On Aug 13, 2009, at 9:25 AM, Alan Haigh wrote:

Espaliers lend a lot of ascetic appeal, especially to formal gardens, in my opinion.  For avid fruit growers their benefit can extend beyond this.  An espalier against a south facing wall seems to enhance fruit quality in at least 2 ways here in the northeast. 

 

The sweetest and cleanest 20th Century Asian pears I've ever eaten were grown as such.  The reflected light and increased warmth can work wonders on some varieties of fruit up here.   I've heard that in most of England it's the only way to get sweet peaches.

 

The Lorette maintenance system is something I've only seen discussed in books- never seen it practiced.  Mostly I read of his methods as being largely dismissed in Europe as well as here.  I was taught to limit the pruning of espaliers to mostly a single event in mid-summer, late enough to discourage significant regrowth (here, that's about mid July to mid Aug).  Works for me- I get plenty of pear and apple trees loaded with fruit.  I've had decent success with stone-fruit as well, especially plums.

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