Apple cordons

I think I'm close to admitting defeat on some of my apple cordons. All of my pear cordons are easy to prune and more or less prolific, but some of my apples are really a waste of space. I was advised that M26 is the best rootstock for apples, but I think it is far to vigorous, M27 is a much better stock for supported forms. M26 is a pretty useless stock all round, as it's far to weak and spindly to use as a half-standard form, it needs permanent staking and the branches simply can't support and weight of fruit and are prone to breaking.

Some varieties of apple are fine on cordons, ones that spur freely with compact growth (Sunset is the best in this respect). Most apples are too vigorous and the pruning required to keep a trained form manageable just encourages yet more top growth. With the exception of just a few, most apples fare best with only light pruning to shape.

The more vigorous of my M26 cordons make shoots growth in excess of 3 feet which is just a bit too thick to prune with secateurs; using a lopper results in ugly wounds, and personally I dislike having to resort to a pruning saw. It's a sign that something isn't working.

I will give them one last chance and ringbark the worst offenders next Spring, but I will also graft up some M27 versions of these trees and either make a new cordon, or grow them as bushes now that I have some more space (or both). If ring-barking doesn't work, I think I'll take them out and plant pears in their place.

Cordons: summer

The pear cordons are heavy with fruit, and beginning to lose their shape with an excess of long shoots. Although next years fruiting spurs have formed, I will wait until at least August before doing any summer pruning, although I will remove shoots/leaves where fruit is being unduly shaded. Using fruit to divide vegetable plots has worked very well so far, with neither type of crop appearing unduly compromised by competition with the other.

Not quite so well synchronised...

Second Pear cordon. From left Winter Nellis, Dr Jules Guyot (with Santa Claus and Devoe extensions) Glou Morceau and Quince Meeches Prolific. The spaces in between rows are vegetable beds that are quite productive despite root competition (and the horrible, thin topsoil that sits on a layer of water-logged sand and gravel).

Synchronised blossoming

The first group of cordons now in full bloom. From left, Doyenne de Comice; Concorde; Conference and Beth (with an extension of Goreham on one limb). The blooms open within just a few days of each other, and pollination has been good over the 10 years these cordons started to produce fruit. All are growing on Quince C.