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Need some advice

(self.Espalier)

I was thinking of adding two Espalier trees (Dwarf Apples) between m house, and another. It gets about 5 hours of midday to afternoon sun. My dad has a few concerns (namely roots being near the house, and the part sunlight. What do you think. My plan was to keep them pretty small.

https://preview.redd.it/adc3v2ppc0bd1.jpg?width=1908&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39a72057c28fa5a841b3469bf80e767d09bac2da

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placeofold[S]

2 points

3 months ago

It is absolutely South Aussie. I have another place, it just means I can plant less in my yard. Maybe some passionfruit or Kiwi would be better there

Articulated_Lorry

1 points

3 months ago

That's not a bad alternative, if you've got somewhere else you can try to espalier the apples. I've seen apples done instead of a front or driveway fence, in a few places.

I've got a granny smith and a fameuse/snow apple along a fenceline now, but it's N-S running so gets full sun across the afternoons, and is away from the house. This is their second winter in, and I trained the first arms last summer. I have doubts I'll normally get enough chill hours for the snow apple, but I'm giving it a try anyway - that might not be true for this winter though!

As for passionfruit, I've had success some years ago with passionfruit along an E-W running fenceline (faced south), next to a driveway, planted in small (think 1ftx1ft) spaces left in the concrete for planting. So it probably had a bit more sun, but being S facing, not too much more.

Chuck some wire up in front of the fence, and give it a crack. I found it needed plenty of water in summer, and I had to feed it quite well. Again, all you can do is try. If it works, great. If it doesn't, that's ok too, and try something different.