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First year espalier - only one lateral
peter.horby
Posts: 2
in Fruit & veg
My first year espalier apple tree has a good strong vertical and one strong lateral, but the other lateral never developed at all. So the espalier has only one lateral branch. Should I cut it all back to a whip and start again, or is the undeveloped lateral likely to grow well next year? Any advice would be much appreciated.
0
Posts
You've got the makings so I'd look for a new bud close to the first lateral and allow it to develop. Meanwhile, concentrate on your next level, the next two laterals. Trouble is, the tree will want to put its effort into the upper levels so it may take a few years for a new lateral to develop to useful proportions lower down. If you do start again by cutting the tree and forcing it to branch out, you'll be a couple of years away from anything useful. Bare-root, they're readily available from late November onwards. Cheaper that way, too.
H-C