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Breaburn ballerina to quenouille, good or bad idea?

Amanda219Amanda219 Posts: 7
in Fruit & veg
Bought a breaburn apple patio ballerina, I cut it to a height I can reach (confined to a wheelchair), at which point it now has 5 slim flexible branches. The branches have grown out equally spaced around, which has me rather fancy training it to balloon shape. Before I get that idea started, I wonder, considering the size and weight of breaburn, are the branches likely to break? Yes I can thin out, or do I pick off blossom for a year or two or more to allow the branches to settle into their new shape and strengthen?

Posts

  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 7,884
    Training 'en quenouille' is a little tricky I think, so I wish you luck with that but it will be fun to do, I try something similar with roses, adapting it somewhat, containing them tightly to obelisks with suitable pruning so I get that tight quenouille shape ...
    I don't think the stems will break because they will harden over winter, so I wouldn't worry on that score and I wouldn't have the patience to remove blossom..

    Got for it Amanda, and let us know how it turns out.. very interesting to do I think..
    East Anglia, England
  • Amanda219Amanda219 Posts: 7
    If I don't hear it has been tried and simply hasn't a hope, it shall be done.
    At this moment there is blossom up the main stem and all along each branch, can't possibly support that many apples, shall let the bees at it first then (strategically?) reduce fruit numbers.
    I'll keep photo record in case it is success, or at which point it began to fail. Following instruction from a book written 1871, tells you how to train the shape and choose new branching for replacing old, but doesn't apply the process to heavily laden fruit trees.
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