Hi Everyone, I've just about to plant a variety of fruit trees (appx 10), and grow them using the espalier technique. From the reading I've done so far everyone seems to use 1 year old 'whips'. But, at the local nursery there are heaps of 2 year old trees in temporary pots going cheap. Will the espalier technique work with the 2 year old trees, or would I be better off getting the 'whips'? Many thanks.
Two year old trees should be fine. What you should investigate is why they are so cheap. They may be root bound due to being left too long in small pots. Also they will be very close [if they havent already] to flowering. All this said, I would be tempted to grab them and experiment with them anyway if they are cheap enough. Cheers mike
Thanks Floot, The trees have already started flowering, so I guess that's at least one reason they are discounted. If price wasn't an issue, which would you go for?
G'day newcroft, welcome to the forum. Going on what I've seen and read plus my own experience, a stressed out, pot bound tree will never really reach its proper potential in terms of productivity and disease resistance. Peter Cundall is pretty big on this if you've ever watched him planting fruit trees on Gardening Australia...he gives the lecture nearly every time about not being fooled into thinking something already flowering/fruiting is ahead of the others...quite the opposite...they are badly stressed. If price wasn't an issue, I'd go for something younger and not pot bound every time...if price was a big issue I'd just buy less.
