Shape Shifters

This month we explore the why and how of shaping trees using the ancient art of espalier.

- Clare Foster

Sculptural and beautiful to look at, as well as highly productive, espaliers and cordons are ideal for small spaces. We chat to fruit grower Chris Pike about age-old traditional shaping methods that inspire the shaping techniques used at Branch Nurseries in the UK. ‘In addition to their decorative and space-saving assets, espaliered trees can produce superior fruit because the pruned forms waste no energy producing growth,’ he says. ‘All the plant’s energy reaches the fruit, which improves the development of natural sugars and fruit colour. Many forms can be grown easily in pots or in gardens with restricted space.’

In theory, fruit trees can be pruned into any reasonable shape, all of which are suitable for most apples and pears, and those fruits which bear on short, knobbly shoots or spurs that form from the main branches. They aren’t suitable for tip-bearing fruit varieties that produce their fruit towards the ends of the branches on new growth. These trees would be unproductive if pruned in this way, as the technique requires reducing the ends of the main branches by a third each year, which would cut off the fruiting buds. Stone fruit such as plums, apricots and cherries have shortlived fruiting spurs and are therefore better suited for training into open fan shapes – created by pruning out the old fruiting spurs and allowing the new ones to grow and bear fruit.