An Apple Affair -Trained Fruit at West Dean Sussex

Don't miss a definitive Apple Day at West Dean in Sussex

One of the best places to see what can be achieved by training fruit are The Gardens of West Dean College near Chichester in Sussex www.westdean.org.uk.The gardens feature two restored kitchen gardens of the late Victorian period;the restoration is largely the work to Jim Buckland and Sarah Wain it has been beautifully done to the last detail.

Apples and Pears trained on free-standing metal framework edged with neatly trimmed Buxus'Suffructicosa'

Comice Pear trained as a Goblet

Conference trained as a pyramid

Much of the trained fruit has been inspired from the gardens of Versailles, these newly trained apples have been tied in to thick copper wire left over by the electrian

The pear walkway produces a huge crop of excellent quality as the branches are not conjested and the air can flow freely around the fruit reducing scab and brown rot

Excellent fruit quality - close-up of conference on espalier at Wisley

Double apple cordons trained to criss-cross, rubbing branches could eventually graft naturally, they havnt yet done so here

A fan trained Merryweather Damson - of age

In the glasshouses trained fruit includes melons, figs,vines,peaches and many many varieties of heritage tomatoes as cordons-to make your mouth water

General Principles of Training Apples and Pears  

1.Horizontally trained branches are fruitful, vertical branches produce wood and not fruit much. With this in mind to fill the space to be trained vertical growth is encouraged, as the space is filled growth can be tied down to produce fruit.

2. Autumn is a good time to pull down vertical growth produced in the summer so that it will bear fruit buds the following year.

 3.Summer pruning of established trained fruit reduces growth and encourages next 

years fruit. This because it shocks the tree by removing leaves and it exposes the wood to sunlight which initiates fruit bud.

4.Winter pruning will encourage growth so should only be used on young trees to fill the 

cropping space or to rejuvenate older trees where there is not enough vigour. Of course pruning can be employed at anytime to remove diseased wood especially canker,don't delay on this one.

5.Remember trained fruit can be developed into almost any shape you like although you might have read the gardening books and magazines the fruit trees havnt, they don't know the 

difference between a cordon,espalier,palmette,fan,goblet,or a pyramid.And don't forget 

tripovers or are they called stepovers.

Stepover at R.H.S. Wisley Surrey