How do I grow apples as a cordon?

A cordon is a single stem grown at an angle and kept permanently short by summer pruning, so that instead of branches it makes fruiting spurs along its whole length. Six of them fit in four and a half metres. It is the highest-yielding way to grow apples in a small garden, it solves pollination because the neighbours are right there, and it depends entirely on one annual job being done at the right time of year.

What you'll need

• Maiden trees on M9 or M26 (or Quince C for pears)
• Two end posts, 2.4m, with a strut or straining bolt
• Galvanised training wire, 2.5mm or so
• Bamboo canes, 2.4m, one per tree
• Soft ties
• Vine eyes if fixing to a wall (optional)

Step by step

1. Build the structure before you plant anything.End posts driven at least 60cm into the ground and braced, with three horizontal wires at roughly 60cm, 1.05m and 1.5m. On a wall, use vine eyes that hold the wire 5–8cm clear so air can move behind the tree.
2. Choose spur-bearing varieties.Cordons depend on spur formation, so tip-bearers such as Bramley, Worcester Pearmain and Discovery are unsuitable. Pick varieties that ripen at different times to spread the picking over months.
3. Plant maidens 75cm apart, leaning at 45 degrees.A maiden is a one-year unbranched tree. Lean them all the same way, usually with the row running north-south so both sides get light. The angle is what slows the sap and pushes the tree into fruiting rather than growing.
4. Put the graft union on the upper side of the lean.The graft is the weakest point on the stem. With the union uppermost, lowering the tree closes the joint rather than opening it, and the stem does not snap at the graft.
5. Tie each tree to a cane, and the cane to the wires.Never tie the tree directly to a wire — as the stem thickens the wire cuts in. The cane spreads the load, and the ties get checked and loosened every year.
6. Do nothing in the first winter except remove any feathers below 45cm.A maiden should be left with its leading tip uncut so it extends. Cutting the leader makes it branch, which is exactly what a cordon must not do.
7. Summer prune every August, and treat it as compulsory.Shoots growing directly from the main stem, longer than about 20cm and woody at the base, are cut back to three leaves above the basal cluster of leaves at their foot. Shoots growing from existing spurs or side shoots are cut back to one leaf above their basal cluster.
8. Tidy any late regrowth in early autumn.Warm wet Septembers produce secondary shoots from the summer cuts. Cut those back to one bud in late September or October.
9. Stop the leader once the cordon has filled its height.Once the tip reaches the top wire, prune the leading shoot back each May to about 1cm of the previous year's growth, which holds the length permanently.
10. Thin the spurs in winter once they get congested.After five or six years the spur systems branch heavily. Cut out a proportion of the oldest clusters in winter to keep fruit size up.
11. Thin the fruit in June.A cordon carries a lot of fruit on a thin stem. Thin to one or two per spur so the fruit is worth eating and the stem is not overloaded.

Tips

• August is the right month across most of the UK. Prune too early and the tree regrows strongly; too late and the cuts do not have time to settle before winter. In the far north, late August into early September is closer.
• The basal cluster is the rosette of closely spaced leaves at the very bottom of a new shoot. Counting three leaves means three above that rosette, not three from the tip.
• Cordons can be grown at 45 degrees as described, or vertically. The angled version fruits earlier and is easier to reach; verticals are the norm for gooseberries and redcurrants.
• A single cordon fence of six varieties gives fresh apples from August to November and solves pollination entirely.
• Pears cordon beautifully on Quince C and are, if anything, easier than apples.

Common mistakes

• Winter pruning a cordon instead of summer pruning it — Winter cutting stimulates growth. A cordon pruned in winter turns into a thicket of shoots and never settles into spurs.
• Tying the tree straight to the wire — The stem thickens and the wire girdles it. Always tie to a cane and tie the cane to the wire.
• Cutting the leading tip of a young cordon — It makes the tree branch. The leader is left uncut until the cordon has reached its final height.
• Planting a tip-bearing variety as a cordon — It will not build spurs along the stem, so summer pruning removes its crop each year and it never performs.

Keeping on top of it

• Summer prune all shoots to the three-leaf and one-leaf rule (Annually, August)
• Cut back secondary regrowth to one bud (Annually, early autumn)
• Check and loosen ties (Annually, winter)
• Thin congested spur systems (Every few winters on established cordons)
• Thin fruitlets to one or two per spur (Annually, after the June drop)

Questions people ask