Dormant Pruning Crabapple Espalier Trees - Palmette Verrier - February 2024

The pair of SugarTyme Crabapple trees that are planted on the southside of our house - up against the house via esapalier - are now entering their fourth growing season.  Planted in Fall 2021, they've now been through three Winters and are beginning to be in a position to LOOK more like a tree being espalier'ed.  

They flowered in their first Spring (May 2022) and I have SLOWLY pruned them into what I *HOPE* will be their final form:  Palmette Verrier Espalier.  That is a form that has horizontal branching that turns UP at the tips with the lowest branching being the longest.  The last time that I worked these trees was May of 2023 when I pruned/wired up the branches.    

I've begun to adopt a pattern of dormant pruning on my espaliers including the Greenspire Lindens and these crabapples.  

Here, below, is what they look like coming out of Winter.  These were untouched since last May:

Below is a closer look at the tree on the left - closer to the back gate:

And here, below, is the other crab - planted closer to the front yard and right next to our basement window well:

They each had some new growth that included good growth (on the branches and tips) and not-so-good growth (water-spout-ish growth and large branch growth down near the base of the trunk.  

I went out with my secauters and pruned off all the not-so-good growth, cleaned up the rest and here's how they're looking heading into their growing season below.  They currently have four (4) tiers and have branching on 17 of the 18 parts.  My plan is to remove the bottom set of branches and utilize the top three, but (for now), I'm leaving them on as a hedge.  

I've run into trouble with my Belgian Fence espalier by making the branches a little too-close together and opting for MORE branches when I likely should have gone with less.   I went through an evolution on the Greenspire Lindens that are currently espaliered into a set of Horizonton Cordons:  I started with six tiers of branches and have now pruned-down to just four.  

As a reminder (to myself, mostly), here below is an annotated image showing what I'd LIKE to see with the Palmette Verrier-form.   Horizontal branching that turns up at the tips.  This shows the bottom tier being utilized and the top NOT.  My current thinking is to swap those:  with the top tier growing outwards (currently), train the tips upward.  And, (as I mentioned above), remove the lowest tier in a subsequent pruning (when the tree has a more full canopy).

Next up are the other espaliers:  Belguim Fence, the Dogwoods along the garage and the Greenspire Lindens.  All need some attention this late Winter.