I agree with Terence and Dave,
Their experience and concerns have been borne out here in Ireland over the past
number of years, where it has been survival of the more dense (orchards rather
than orchardists). Obviously there are limits, but in our own case, for our
single line orchards we have opted for 4 ft. x 11ft., and we have found this a
good spacing for the more vigorous Elstar variety (more vigorous than Golden
Delicious or Jonagold at least). We do not grow the trees as high as at lower
latitudes (more mutual shading from taller trees when you come this far North),
and have found that a limit of about 5 ½ to 6 feet height of cropping wall
works well. In practice, this wall commences about 2 feet above the ground, and
finishes at 7.5 feet, facilitating all harvesting and pruning from ground level.
Con Traas
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