Richard

I've built an espalier for my male and female Kei Apple plants. In the photo you see 7 ft metal "T" posts on either side of each planter, with 10 ft long 1/2" galvanized pipe attached to them for height. The 4 attached white wooden lattices are the standard 3 ft by 8 ft fare from a big box store. I'm training them so that side branches will alternate on horizontal. So the male on the left will extend left and right along the odd-numbered horizontals and the female on the right will be trained with horizontal branches on the even-numbered horizontals. In total, each plant will extend 16+ feet left to right.

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merce3

very cool concept. i can't wait to see the results

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Richard

I am also interested in the results ... especially the harvest!

Previously I built an espalier for a pair of these plants at my home in Rancho Penasquitos. It was definitely worth it; i.e., being able to harvest the fruit without reaching into a shrub with 3" to 4" needle-sharp hardwood thorns.

My previous implementation was on welded wire fencing about 4' high and 16' wide. I used a spacing of 4" between the horizontal branches. This was too cramped and too short for the canonical size of the shrub. So this time around I'm trying for an 8' to 10' height with 10" spacing between horizontals.

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merce3

now i see your reasoning (the 3-4" thorns). about how thick will it grow (forward and backward)?

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Richard

Unpruned - several feet forward and backward.

I left enough room between the fence and the lattice to trim it with a power hedger. In the front I'll use clippers. If necessary, I'll start rationing its water to control the amount of unwanted growth.

This plant develops leaves along trunks and branches. Even when pruned back to just the branches along the lattice, it will have plenty of "solar panels".

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