Hi All,

I did not want to steal thunder from Wills' and Ingevald's threads on the Japanese style espalier projects they have going on.  Mine is a bit different (vertical), but may have either had it's origins from or been the origin to its style.

I am planning on growing my trees in containers in a single vertical cordon.  Many of you have read me rant about the lack of growing space I have in Colorado.  I have winter storage space for even fewer trees than I have room to grow.  If I grow single cordon trees I can line up 15-20 trees.  All of the trees will be grown to about 6' tall.  The limbs will grow off the trunk.  I'm hoping to keep the diameter of the trees to about 2' (the same as the diameter of a half 55 gallon barrel they will be in).  At the end of the season be pruned back to the second node.  In storage they can be stacked with little chance of damage.

As always, comments, criticism and accolades are welcome.

Sounds like a good optimization of space. Have you considered a flat espalier?  I'd think you could still line them up pretty well and stack them. A little more wood available could lead to more fruit, especially brebas.

Will you be pinching/pruning throughout the growing season to keep them within the 2' diameter or is that the size to prune them back to in the winter?

Bijan,
I have an idea and might be a solution to your problem.
I have been growing and training Bonsais for over20 years (as a hobby) and one of the many practices for training the bonsai is to tilt the pot they are in to horizontal position in order for the branches to grow up, which means when you bring the pot to upright position you have a vertical main branch or trunk and many horizontal branches.
So, in your case, you can do that and keep the pot positioned horizontally and have an Espalier. Every time you want to water them you need to position the pot upright and after drainage completed you need to reposition the pot to horizontal position. At dormancy you cut all the side branches which were growing horizontally and store the pot with vertical trunk in a small space that you have. 
This way you have all your figs Espaliered to give you maximum yield and will take minimal storage space in winter. :)

James,
IMO it should work quite well, regular root pruning would be the only other requirement. Attached is a modified diagram of the Japanese Tree form pruning that was linked by Ingevald in his original Posted Topic. Good Luck.
.

BTW, if you are not able to get all the branches to form in the desired location in Step 2, they will probably be formed next year after the removal of all the branches and apical dominant tips in step 4.

Thanks for the comments.  Next years the trees I have in Denver will still be small enough to go in 3.4 gallon Airpots.  Eventually they will be in 15 gallon Airpots or 25 gallon root pouches.  I will be putting the growing containers into plumbed, halved, 55 gallon buckets.  The inner sleeve will sit on rocks so the tops of the containers match the top of the half barrel (also the rocks take up volume to reduce the amount of solution needed).  I will then pump a nutrient solution into the half barrels.  After sitting for a few minute, a valve will open and drain the nutrient solution back into a reservoir... Think dutch buckets meet SIP.

Kelby,  I will be pruning back to the second node each winter.  The containers will be lined up next to each other, so I will need to prune as the season goes along to prevent the trees from growing into each other.  As they are growing, I will evaluate Breba crops and pick the best 2 or 3 to prune differently.  They can overwinter on the top of the stack.

Aaron, given the set up, I do not think it will be feasible to tilt containers.

Pete, I was hoping I explained it right.  Your diagram is a very good representation.  I'm counting on a more branches than the diagram ;)  There should be enough space between the inner container and the side of the barrel to promote root pruning.  Otherwise, I think (operative word) I can push bare rooting to every five years.

On a related note: This was my motivation to try a growing mix of 4 parts Perlite and 1 part expanded shale.  The first reason is to keep the weight down.  The second reason was I was hoping to reuse the vast majority of the mix after bare-rooting since neither decomposes.  The mix was a failure this year with hand watering.  I will try it in a few containers next year when I have the irrigation system in place.

Very nice, sounds like you've got it all planned out! My only question remaining is why not go right into the barrel halves from the 3.4 gallon airpots? My cuttings from this spring easily fill 7 gallon pots.

Wouldn't you have to have that mix on a nearly constant drop line with how sharply that would drain? I don't expect it would retain any fertilizer (except Osmocote) without organic matter in it, either. I'm imagining that would be essentially hydroponic...still interesting though.

James -   Thanks for posting about your espalier project.    I will be interested to hear how it develops and works out in Colorado!   
Byron (Ingevald)

Hi James,
we must be on the same wave lenghth,
im in the process of doing the same thing,
have just scored about 200 free 25ltr /  6.5 gal pots
and am going to line them all up in rows close together
and grow them straight up with minimal side branching.
im just going to use normal potting mix on a drip.

can you tell me more or have pictures of your
valve that is going to open after sitting for a few minutes.
peter.

The barrels will be hard plumbed together.  The half barrels are permanently (as permanently as things get anyway) to the rest of the platform they are sitting on.  I tried to think of the easiest way to accomplish my plan.  Each will have a small drain connected to a master drain line similar to this video:

James,
Your plan sounds like a Flood and Drain System.
Here's a Video that I found earlier this year of a Commercially available system which has a simple layout except for the required pumps and controller buckets. The advantage of this system is that it can be placed on the ground. The "Level Control Bucket" controls the Fill and the pump controls the Drain cycle.

Cool stuff!  Good luck and keep us apprised of your progress.

thanks for that James,
after reading your explanation and wathing the video
i have realised that i can mack an automatic opening/closing
valve using a normal small battery operated irrigation timer.

If the proper amount of drippers with the proper capacity is used you will saturate the entire root zone.  You just have to manage the dry back as if they get over dry then they will not saturate completely so in this case flooding from the bottom will offer more room for error in maintaining an even saturation.  I use 2 l/hour drippers and if I don't watch the dry back they will only saturate the part area, on a 25 gallon half barrel of medium, I need around 8 to get even saturation when I am not managing the dry back very well.  They will get about 40 litres of water per day in a hot summer, which is roughly 30-40 % of the volume of the medium which results in quiet a bit of drain.  This year they got 5 drippers and would need supplemental water from the hose. 7 gallon can use 2-3 drippers and with 4 drippers on half an hour gives 4 litres of water which full saturates the medium but will require 3-4 rounds per day when is hot to keep good saturation, if I want drier then 2-3 rounds is all that is needed.  This applies to fully grown and expanding root systems, not when establishing root systems.

Greg,

I think it was a combination of not being able to keep the growing mix wet enough and I was planting newly rooted cuttings.  This is why I am wanting to try with a few trees with more established root systems, and a more consistent watering system.