Pete,

Well it is progressing but Now I am not sure if I should bend the branches down along the  support or if I should cut them off and let them T.  I let two ground level branches grow so each plant has two trunks currently.  Just not sure which way would be better....  before and now pics.

WillsC,
Thanks... Its looking good.

If you have a main trunk with two branches each growing vertically you are already there. If you have already selected vertical branches that will be trained horizontal, I would let them grow to at least 6 feet (or 1/2 the plant spacing) before placing them horizontal, they will need to be staked. Note the nodes should be as far apart as possible (keep watered and fertilized) for better vertical spacing when laid horizontal.

Thanks for posting your progress.

Pete,

Each of the plants currently has two "trunks" they branch right at or just below ground level.   I have thought about criss crossing the trunks....so the trunk to the right would go left and vice versa.  Well spaced nodes they have.....because they have the pool cage to their south the sun they get is mostly filtered but do get a couple of direct hours so to me they look a bit leggy compared to the figs I have in full sun.

WillsC,

I believe the vascular flow will be a problem as the main trunk gets larger (older), if you change directions abruptly. One of the reasons for balancing the trunks is to allow for uninterrupted flow to the verticals, all the energy of the tree is intentionally directed to the fruiting verticals. Leggy is good : )
If you can get as much vertical growth as possible before placing horizontal, you will save yourself a lot of work.

I have 4 branches that were to be laid horizontal, they were placed on a 45 degree angle, they have now branched and have stopped growing on the vertical, and I'm 3 feet short. I now have to prune off all the branches and place it back in the vertical to gain the required height, before placing horizontal again.

I will start a thread soon, but the RdB seems to be a great candidate for this, I also started with two trunk and just trained horizontally from the get go.  Anywhere I want there to be a vertical I let grow a few leaves then pinch the top and hope there will be buds next year to grow, every 4-5 days right now I have to adjust the clip on the horizontals to keep it from moving up so I am hoping for another two feet of growth this season before I pinch the tips to harden them off for the winter which would give me about 3-4 feet of growth this year on each horizontal. 

Chivas,
I have 2 feet on several cultivars already, but they are growing vertical. I expect to have 4-6 feet before placing them horizontal in a few months. With a longer growing season, they would be taller. The reasoning behind this is to develop the largest possible caliper in the main trunk and future main horizontals, by keeping all the plants energy resources concentrated on increasing the length of those main branches. The branching will occur naturally when the limb is placed horizontal.

Picture of a vertical branch (E) placed horizontal. the only other procedure performed on this branch was removal of the apical end (tip).

I am just hoping that it will be alright doing this way, if not I will have to start over again, not a big deal for me and I will then do it the same way as you're describing, it's a second year old tree that I just planted in ground this spring so fingers crossed.

Chivas,
The "2 feet" is on 1 year olds still in 5 gallon buckets. I have not planted them in ground as yet. I'm regrowing healthy roots before transplanting.

The pictured stepover is a 2 year old vertical branch.

It will probably be OK, it may just take a little longer to reestablish the unrestricted vascular flow within the main branches (it allows for uniform fast growth of the verticals). Good Luck.

Are you guys doing anyhing special when you bend your verticle branches to the horizontal?

I lost a bunch of branches this winter.  After the trees went dormant, most of the limbs I had bent over and tied developed cracks and began to seperate from the main branch and died.  This year I am trying to catch them younger, as they're more supple, but I am constantly having to retie them as the tips want to go back to verticle.

What's your secret?

Nothing special here, bend in stages over a one week period. Maybe 10 - 15 degrees per day. I have bent 2 inch diameter branches, one day at a time.
They were also bent in spring when sap was flowing. Not in winter or when they were dormant.

<edit> I initially bend the branch until I feel some resistance, then I start the incremental daily repositioning.

Naw.  I bent em in the summer as first year growth.  They split after they hardened off.  What I didn't do was to bend them a little at a time, in stages, like you do.  I just pulled em horozontal from the get go and tied them off.   That may well be the problem.  Thanks, Pete.

Dave wanted an update on my stepover project and it has been awhile so here goes.  



The first picture is in March before I planted the cuttings I started in November but shows off the rebar support I welded up and cemented in.  It surrounds my pool cage on 2 sides.  The entire project is VDB.




This picture was taken in June.





These 3 were taken just now.  The plants are now over 6' tall and left 2 stems per plant one will be bent each direction.  






I know I should not have left the figs on but could not bring myself to tear them off.  




The plants are now big enough to I think just fill in the rebar supports........not sure if I should bend them now or wait till they go dormant, thoughts?  

Looking GOOD.  I know what you mean abut not wanting to strip off fruit the first year.

I would bend them  before they go dormant.   They're more supple now.   Just be careful and don't bend too much too soon like I did (see my post above).

I would not have let them get that tall before I bent then. I would have bend them when they are small, tying them down as they grow. That is just my though.

See post #61 (above) by ascspete.

I presently bend as they grow too, but I like his idea, and he says he's doing it successfully.   I'm just not disciplined enough to get out there day after day and bend branches in small increments, or I'd do the same.

I really did not want to bend them now as the chickens and ducks will take the fruit......I will see what I can do about that.  

That are you going to do with the chicken and duck when you bent them? Next year your figs are going to be close to the grown.

Bugs,

You bend the trunk down to form a long horizontal trunk.  The fig then sends up new stems from the nodes that grow upright so you basically have a curtain of 4 foot tall stems coming off the main horizontal trunk so they are chicken and duck safe:)  

I decided to bend the figs down this morning and it was very easy and the plants were still amazingly supple.  There was no need to bend them in stages as they conformed to the position I wanted effortlessly.  
  



The plants filled in quite well with lopping about 6" off the end of each stem for the loss of apical dominance.  







I did have one setback......on all the other VDB's I allowed two stems to develop at ground level for one branch to go each direction.  On one cutting it just would not cooperate so it was branched 6" up instead of at ground level.  When I tried to bend it I could see the acute angle was going to be a splitting hazard and just knew at some point it would split.  I bit the bullet and cut it off near ground level removing the entire 6 foot tall stems Ouch......I will let them regrow from the ground as two stalks so all the plants look the same.  It will set it back but in the long run it was the right call.  




A thank you btw to Dom, Chivas and Jpeaspanen as it was their cuttings that made the project possible.

That is going to be spectacular!  I have found in my shaping that minor loss of planar shape is not noticed as the trunks grow in diameter, the differences become less apparent.  I would have advised to leave a "hump" in the shape where the now-cut trunk had been bent down.  Nevertheless, with patience you will now get a more asthetically pleasing form.  Keep the pics coming!!

Why a hump? 

When leaning the tree over to run parallel to the ground, you found the trunk too stiff and feared breakage if you went with a 90 degree turn, so he instead cut it off and will grow new branches.  I was saying you could have gone for a lesser angle and bow/curve the tree for a short distance before reaching down to the rebar, thus leaving a "hump".  Calvin's point is well taken, though, although I haven't had trouble with my tree.

edited to change "he" to "you", as I didn't see that you were the stepperoverer. . .

Gotcha......well in any event it would not have matched the others so for me it was best to cut it and let it regrow.  They grow so fast it will catch up before long.  

Hey Wills.

I'm fully set and ready to start a few of these myself this season. I just have to decide which "version" I want to go with. Haven't decided if I'm going to do one horizontal trunk with a single row of verticals or if I want to try two rows of verticals (both coming off of single main trunk) leaning in opposite directions. May just end up experimenting with both or even a 3rd or 4th option just to see which one(s) I like best.  

How are your stepovers looking so far this season? I'm guessing they've started to put on some early growth for you already-?

I also really like Dave's project here. Like yours, he gives such clear photographic detail: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Espalier-sort-of-5407398  

This whole fig growing thing just gets more fun every year ;) !