Allotments 4 All

Can anyone tell me what we do to esplanade our apple trees?

We planted two 2 or 3 year old whips last year against a fence with wires ready for esplanading. I think we were supposed to cut them down to the first wire after planting but we weren't sure so left it. They are now growing away merrily and almost doubled in height. Should we cut them down to the first wire to get side shoots and if so when do we do this?

I think you're creating espaliers. If so it's not something I could advise on but there's a lot of advice on the net (and if nothing else this should bump the topic back to the front  :)).

Here's what the RHS says about espalier pruning:

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=319

You're quite right Barnowl, I meant espalier  ;D

ceres, thanks for your reply. We have the RHS enclopedias with these instructions, but because we left it past the first year we weren't sure if we could cut them back so hard. I guess we'll just have to be brave!!