Staking dwarf fruit trees

nick1988raynor

Hi all, having never before planted as much as a bulb, the first thing that I am attempting to plant is 4 fruit trees from dwarf stock! I have done a bit of research and think i have a basic idea. The thing that i am unsure of is if I can put in 5 stakes and plant the 4 trees im between them? I haave an area that measures at just under 40 ft and can space out however would suit. I will attach a doodle for clarity. Ive tried to research this but cannot find any examples of it leading me to think there is an obvious problem (probably that the stakes would have to be too far from the tree to be effective??) Any advice on this or the trees in general will be greatly appreciated by a very apprehensive beginner:)

nick1988raynor

BobFlannigon

What's your reason for wanting to stake them?  Dwarf trees up against a fence? I doubt it's going to be windy enough to damage them.

Typically with staking you want to aim to stake the bottom half of the trunk so that the top is still free to move around in the wind and the bottom is anchored (thus protecting the roots).  I think with stakes inbetween the tree it will be much less effective than staking them individually simply because the stake is further away.  If you surround the trunk with a strip of wood either side it'll likely work well enough, given the position, but I think it'll require a lot more wood and more stakes than doing it individually (or not bothering) and the strips would also have to be higher up the trunks to support them properly, restricting its movement.

nick1988raynor

From other forums I got the impression this type of tree needed a permanent stake?? I was all ready to have no stake or a temporary one as you described until I was researching...

Dovefromabove

You'll see from this link that the RHS agrees with Bob that small trees rarely require staking.   https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=208 

Unless the photo is deceiving, I'm a little concerned that there will not be a lot of room for the branches of the fruit trees, even if they're small ... the bed seems a little narrow to acommodate the width of a fruit tree's branches.  

I would be training espalier or fan trees against that fence.  

Last edited: 31 October 2017 13:45:33

nick1988raynor

Thank you all, think im going stakeless and espailier with wires! Just wondering does anyone know how deep the soil has to be for roots? Its pretty good for about 18-20inches and then theres alot of brick and rubble. Does anyone know if this wil be at the detriment of the root systems??

Dovefromabove

As long as you get trees on a fairly dwarfing rootstock and look after them well they should be fine ... not the most dwarfing as they need a bit of oomph as you're going to be pruning them hard.

Check the varieties you're choosing ... for espalier apples and pears you need spur-bearing varieties, not tip bearing.

Stone fruits like cherries, apricots etc need to be fan trained not espaliered.  

https://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/articles/fruit-tree-fans-and-espaliers 

Or for the apples and pears you could consider growing them as cordons.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=87 

Last edited: 04 November 2017 08:57:28