Hi there.
I have asked this question on another forum without much response :(
Sooo I wondered if any of you train your fruit trees into step overs ? I would like to make a long row of them to act as a kinda of fence as well as a nice feature. I have lots of apples so I would rather not use them, any other suggestions ? I have had a look in my local nursery and could only find pears and apples at present and they were £35 each and I want 6 ! Am I best to wait until the autumn and get bare rooted stock ??? Sorry my impatience sometimes gets the better of me ;D
I think what you want is cordons.
The thing to do is to train them by bending little branches toward the area of fence.
Not exactly simple, but easy enough.
There is no reason why you should not plant trees 6 foot apart and bend the branches, gradually into shape.
It will take some years to achieve the required result. Bending, cutting and pruning.
The best time to buy is in February when the supermarkets like Ald, Liddl Netto and so on get their trees in, costing about £5.99 each.
Naturally some trees are more dominant than others but you could get. Apple, pear, cherry, peach, apricot and nectarines.
Mostly, as you have noticed they have loads of apples and pears some cherry and a few of the others. So watch out for next years 'offers' and get in there as soon as you can.
Starting from maidens you would soon have your stepover... but bare rooted is best and you have just missed the boat... I'd spend the summer looking up obscure/heritage/local apples... eg Wyken Pippin from Coventry... so you have a real variety of fruit... :)
I bought a conference pear tree from Homebase about four weeks ago for £9.99, it is about 5 feet tall in the pot and is bursting into leaf now, they also had peach, cherry and apple but not sure if the size is appropriate for your step overs?
step-over trees are a high - maintenance form of topiary. If you have the experience and knowledge of fruit tree pruning and training and also the time for the maintenance issues involved......... Go for it!! ;)
As Saddad has said, 1 year maidens, or possibly 2 year feathered whips are the way to start off. Spend this year locating and deciding on youir varieties, also in constructing your support / training wire / post arrangements. The supports will need to be from tanalised timber, or from chestnut or charred oak, with galvanised heavy guage straining wires. please post some photo's of the progress!!
rgds, Tony