I've decided to make some room on the lottie for apples and pears but obviously space is limited. I wondered if any of you good folk had any advice on how to proceed. I saw stepover trees at the Eden project whilst on holiday last week. They were planted about 4 foot apart and looked ideal space wise however the fruit looked rather small ( might have been variety don't know what it was). Would column on dwarf stock be better using arial space and have a better crop. Anyone got any answers ?
I think possibly the best for yield per amount of space taken are cordons planted at an angle. They need support though. I'm sure DebP has some great photos of what she has done with them and maybe if she sees this she'll oblige with a link.
Here's one to get you started:
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,53872.0.html (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,53872.0.html)
Thanks Grawrc a smashing link :)
Below are a couple of pictures taken recently at the chateau at Villandry. The first shows a stepover apple, the second a pear trained against a trellis arch.
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I'm not convinced of the space saving merits of stepovers, unless you've got a wide path that you don't mind narrowing to accommodate the tree(s). We've tried cordons before, but they cast a lot of shadow unless they're placed against an existing fence or wall.
We've also tried growing trees over an arch, but in spite of building what we thought was a strong enough structure, it blew down in high winds. End of that experiment!
We've got quite a few fruit trees on our allotment sites, and for us the favourite for apples is a nice goblet shaped bush on M9 or M26 rootstock. Not too much shade, doesn't take up too much room, and very productive in terms of fruit.
Thanks for the advice and pics Melbourne :)
My15 fruit trees are all trained as cordons, espaliers or fans which doesn't take much room as my 'plot' is a largish garden where they are all supported on wires or trellis. I have one spindle trained pear which gives good crops. Would have thought small bush/spindle shape would be ok on a lottie but if you can afford posts and straining wire then espaliers and cordons are worth the effort- They can divide the space up rather nicely into smaller areas and you can pack in a lot of different varieties- at least I do.
Stepovers seem a waste of space because at least air space is relatively cheap and you might as well fill it with tree.... Mind you you wouldn't need steps to harvest I suppose ;D
Thanks Green Lily I think your right about not wasting air space but was wondering if that might cause shade issues?
I've never tried growing trees as stepovers, but as Anne has mentioned, am a big fan of using them as productive screens, plus they give good yields too. I've just put some more apple and cherry cordons on my other half plot this June, pics in my gallery or below....
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l47/dlp133/Plot%2097b/030.jpg)
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l47/dlp133/Plot%2097b/032.jpg)
As you can see, they don't take up much room. I start them off at a high angle and drop them lower after a few years as they grow to encourage fruiting.
Thanks Deb, I can see shade isn't aproblem for you. Those raised beds look good.