after seeing the post about this last week I had to do it I took a LSU Gold and a Chicago Hardy and braided them together I don't have many young trees the same size except for these 2  my wife came up with the idea of putting a light and dark fig together that will look cool down the road when they bond together  next time I try this I want to do 2 trees that have totally different leaves I am sure that will have a different look also , I know it's not the best time of the year to repot but it's been 4 days so far and the leaves haven't drooped at all I am keeping them out of direct sunlight for awhile Let me know what you think? Dave

Dave...

Beautiful job!  That's how its done.  If two branches, each growing different color figs, sprout from the same locations, twist them together too.

When the trunks start to thicken and grow fatter, they will eventually fuse into one trunk.  This will happen much faster if you grow in-ground for a few seasons.  Keep them in the pot, but sink the pot into the surrounding soil for more root-run without restrictions.  Lift the pots for storage if necessary, at the onset of Winter weather.

Very novel, and very interesting.  Please shoot photos of seasonal progress.

Thanks for sharing a very interesting process.

Frank

VERY cool.  This is something I may try next year if I ever get caught up around here.      I am wondering if one of the two will dominate or if they will both retain their different charateristics and put out a  balance of distinct growth and crop.

Thank you for your excellent pics.  Please keep us updated.

This is the good idea of how beautiful tree can look even nicer, i likes the idea. But i think you should make some cuts on your trees where are trees touching each other so then band together, that will look cool. Just cut the bark on both trees and tape them together and they will band in 4-6 weeks.

Very cool, nice job. Wonder how many more varieties I could fit in my yard if I pleached a bunch.

I can't wait to see this a year or two down the road. Keep us posted Dave.

Anyone use this technique on other fruit that needs "two to tango", like apples, pears? 

Two trees in one hole,  doubles your growing potential.

Frank

Wonder if I could pleach a couple Pawpaws, anybody know? 

wow, impressive! I will have to try this down the road.

Looks great!  It'll be fun to see how it progresses.  I have a white and a black triana I could do this to.  But then you never know which branch is which when you want cuttings  :)

I think you need a bigger pot   :)

BLB...

I think someone posted about twisting two Pawpaws together to guaranty fruiting.  I don't see why you couldn't use this technique with two Pawpaw whips.  You can't lose anything...go for it.  Post photos, please.

Frank

I am testing out rooting a cutting straight in my SWC. If it works, I plan on doing this with 3 varieties spaced 3 inches away from each other within, then braiding ever so often.

Only problem comes with failure of one or more in the first year. Higher probability of success after 6 months.

Barry-

You can do it to a paw paw. Although for pawpaw I'd suggest a graft

I'm thinking pleach 2 Pawpaws together and just plant that in one spot as I don't have much space for multiple planting. I have one grafted variety and several seedlings which are from named varieties. I'd be a bit worried about losing the grafted one though, I understand grafted Pawpaw are pretty sensitive early on. Might try it with 2 seedlings. Don't know what I'm gonna do with them when they grow up anywway, no room.   

Great job Dave! Thanks for sharing the illustrative. Can't wait to see pictures of how it grows and develops.

I saw this technique at the old Belleclare Nursery...only done with 3-4 different trees.  They wrote the names of the trees, with magic marker, to identify the varieties.  I was amazed that someone thought to do this with figs.  Back in 2006, I had no idea that figs could be grown in a container!  The old Belleclare Nursery was a "candy-store" for fig lovers.  I wish they were still around.

Good luck with the experiments.

Frank

About a year ago someone on LI was selling a braided fig tree from Belleclare on Craigslist. I forgot the price but it was HIGH!

This whole topic is interesting to me because I ran across a post somewhere, and ended up purchasing an ebook from pooktre, so I could learn how to make chairs and a table for wine from living grape vines.  Trust me, they do have affiliates, but I am NOT one!  Not selling their book, but highly recommend.

Ficus Benjamina trees are always for sale braided, but did you know it takes 3 trees to make a braid?  I'd love to start some of one kind from green cuttings, and let them grow together from the beginning in one pot.

In pleaching they do some amazing things.  They make fences, Gates, arbors, all kinds of neat stuff!

Part of the reason we want acreage!

Keep us posted!  Great job!
Suzi

Wow, how cool is that!!!! Definitely something I'm going to try next spring. Please keep the pictures coming!!

Famous Axel Erlandson circus trees (pleached):
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701&va=circus+trees

Many now relocated to Gilroy Gardens:
http://www.gilroygardens.org/learn/circus-trees.cfm


Sue

I love the idea of chilling in a living tree, without having to climb the thing!

Suzi

Barry- have you thought about grafting the seedling onto the grafted tree?  I can get you as many seedlings as you need in case it takes a few. 

No I really hadn't considered that Tim, I know Bass has done a lot of grafting, but I have never tried. Plus I have heard that Pawpaw is notoriously hard to graft, so I wouldn't attempt a first try with them. 

do you think because they are both green wood they will bond together anyway? I was going to make cuts  but I didn't know if the tree would lose too much sap ?

thanks everyone for the thumbs up I'll show some pictures as it grows. One tip I do have for you if you try this try to get 2 or how ever many trees you are going to put together  make sure that the trunks are the exact same size  when I did this one one trunk was a little bigger than the other and it made it very hard to get that braided look the thinner trunk wanted to just wrap around the bigger trunk after three tries this is what I ended up with , thanks again, Dave