Oddbean new post about login | logout Got a little espaulier action going on in my mini orchard. Arkansas Black Apples. Bank line and t-posts lol. Eventually I'll upgrade to 2 7/8" oilfield pipe and some kind of cable. I have no idea what I'm doing, so critiques are welcome! #grownostr #permaculture #apples https://image.nostr.build/d6e438fcdd501c699807b01579ee60a3a99a74658cdddff7dfec655e1f472e9b.jpg
Awesome. Glad I'm not the only one fumbling through. Look forward to seeing more. My only critique is that it doesn't look like you have a lightning wallet set up so I can't zap this note.
My plan is to post daily updates, but I work full time, online school full time, lawn care part time, have two kids and a wife, plus the nursery lol, so we'll see how that goes! I appreciate the zap offer! I haven't messed with bitcoin since 2016 so I'm way behind now. I'll figure it out eventually. Do you have any tips or helpful videos?
Welcome to nostr. 🫂 These might help... https://youtu.be/kifwECtwjJQ?si=lBa0_6GtPn5rebDz https://youtu.be/AiW1zttyblU?si=qW1mONmL_3meClKw
Thank you!!
Don't be afraid to use you intuition and cut things back if you feel its correct. Cant stress that first point enough because a single image I see via nostr is not the real thing and there is way more information looking at something in real life. If I were doing it the bottom branches look good. Is it possible to bend those branches 3rd up from the top down on to the second wire if the crotch angle allows it (aka do you think it might break in the process)? If so perhaps cutting out the second up branches and having these instead might be a good idea. Also once you have reached the top of your wire cut the main leader (aka main branch) sort of level with the top wire you want it to grow to. Once you do this the overall growth will start to become more parallel with the wires. If Arkansas black is a very vigourous variety it might be worth pruning it back a bit initially along the wires too. Not sure myself... don't even know if we have it here in the U.K, every apple variety can have its quirks. For example you will need to check its a spur bearing variety as pure tip bearing varieties like Irish peach a very early apple are no good for espalier production.
Thank you for the tips!! It is spur and tip bearing. When I put in my permanent trellis, I'm going to make it 6 feet tall instead of 3 feet like this one. I planted the trees last year and the trellis building project got away from me. My plan is to weld chain links at 1 foot spacing onto a 10 foot piece of steel pipe and cement it 4 feet into the ground. I'll use aluminum "9 wire" or something similar with a ratcheting fence tensioner on each height. I may make the spacing 18" or 2 feet if research dictates that to be more effective. Long story short, I didn't prune the leader because this is a temporary trellis.
Ah gotcha, you will be fine then. Similar situation with most things here just a case of getting round to doing it.
There is a ratchety type of thing we have here called a 'gripple plus' I use them all the time for wirework they aren't expensive and can take one hell of load for such a small item so they will never fail you for a task like this.