What’s the best shape for your tree?

You can shape your tree in the way you want through different pruning techniques. Remember, there are seven major styles in which one can prune the tree and each one has its own advantages for specific conditions. Always chop off the un-needed branches during the growth of the tree while tie the required branches in proper shape. This will allow you to shape the tree in the certain way you want. There are some very advanced shapes of trees but of course for them you need equally advanced pruning methods. You can make use of many books on this topic available in library.

Always get your tree to a certain shape when it is not giving fruits or equivalently we can say that all the tying and pruning should occur in the fall because this encourages the shape to stick. Let us expand on different shapes from which you can choose:

• Every one knows about the standard trees and they don’t need any detailed explanation. Just remember, the shape which comes in your mind first when you think about a tree is standard shape. To give your tree a standard shape simply let it grow and prune normally.

• Bush tree is the second type of tree shapes. One can turn the standard tree into bush tree through pruning. Bush tree differs only from standard tree in length of the trunk or stem. Branches take the same shape but trunk is little shorter than that of standard tree. The significance of such tree becomes clear when you need to grow a tree but don’t want to block the view. I once grew my tree as bush tree just because I did not want to block the awesome view of Rocky Mountains.

• Most of my readers will not be familiar with a type of tree known as Cordon. The most interesting thing about this tree is that it has only one stem and has no branches at all. It is planted at a specific angle so that it arches up over the earth. Branches are removed manually as quickly as they are grown. They are beneficial in a situation when you don’t have much space for the tree or you have to fit it in a square footage. The only thing that may be a point of worry for many is that this type of tree does not give much fruit.

• Espalier trees have one single vertical trunk in center while many horizontal branches on each side. They give a lot of fruits unlike Cordon tree and can be easily grown in long rows. Always use this tree shape if you grow orchard because you can fit many orchards in the area you have using this tree shape.

• There is a very little difference between fan trees and Espalier trees. In this shape there is again a single vertical branch but the other connected branches grow as a standard tree, they are not horizontal. This tree shape is best when you have to save space and are used as an alternative of espalier trees for certain types of trees that do better with sloped branches.

• Step over Espalier is another type of Espalier tree. It is not so much different from Espalier. Step Espalier has only one horizontal branch which is very near to earth surface. They offer lots of fruit and at the same time gives border for what you wish. This tree shape is amazing at least for me because they fence my garden so well and bears a lot of fruit….. I am loving it!!!

Each shape has both its merits and demerits and you should think a lot before choosing the shape for your tree. You can finalize your decision after taking good help from local nursery employees. Getting your tree to a specific shape is not difficult task at all and you just need some guidance from experts at the beginning. Once you get the initial kick the rest of the process is very easy and simple.