Since I had such luck with raspberries... Does anybody know of a good
reference (in actual paper form) for espalier ? The information I've been
able to find on the web (so far) is seriously lacking. My major questions
so far:
1. Can you espalier cherry with any degree of success? I might even
consider sweet cherries if I could do that (they are too big, otherwise).
2. Are there apple varieties that are particularly poor candidates? It
might be easier to list the bad ones than the good ones.
3. If you set up a 'fence' in a lattice pattern, don't you end up with
cross grafting where the branches intersect? Might that be a problem?
I have 13 apple varieties (new house, new space) coming as whips on M.9 and
Bud9 this spring. I'm thinking about training them into a fence, but I'm
not sure if it is a good idea to mix that many varieties on one
trellis. Or even how far to space them apart on those rootstocks.
I'm extraordinarily excited about the apples, as I spent my youth in the
fruit belt of Michigan, with orchards in all directions. I have probably
forgotten everything I used to know, but hopefully it will come back to
me. Unfortunately that area is rapidly turning into the 'big house on
small lot' belt. The houses are growing more quickly than the trees.
Rob
Robert G. Halgren, Ph.D.
Bioinformatics Specialist
GTSF - Michigan State University http://genomics.msu.edu
(517) 353-7236 - halgren@msu.edu