In the apple tree, in addition to the natural growth form, there are the bush, the half-trunk and the standard trunk as refined trunk forms. Apart from smaller espalier, columnar and spindle trees, the half-trunk is now the most common in private and commercial horticulture.
What is a half-trunk apple tree?
A half-trunk apple tree has a crown 80 to 120 centimeters high, making it easier to care for and harvest. It is suitable for small gardens as it allows for several apple varieties and can also be trained as a trellis on tension wires.
Mediocrity can also be perfect
In the past, tall treetops of apple trees with standard trunks dominated the landscape, as they kept space free for agricultural work in the fields in between. Today, however, apples are increasingly only grown in specialized companies and in private gardens. The effort involved in harvesting and general care should be as low as possible. An apple tree with a half trunk usually forms a tree crown with a maximum height of four to six meters. This means that work with the ladder during regular tree pruning can still be managed and the majority of the fruit can also be harvested from the ground. Interestingly, even weaker growing apple trees usually bear more apples based on their overall size than their tall relatives with a standard trunk.
Uses for a half-trunk apple tree
An apple tree with a half trunk offers various advantages due to its manageable dimensions. For example, even in smaller gardens, several different apple varieties can be planted, which not only enables staggered harvests, but also mutual pollination of the trees. Half trunks can also be used in apple trees to create a trellis, in which the tree crown is formed as a narrow wall along tension wires.
Refine a half-trunk from an apple seedling yourself
With a little patience and luck, you can grow an apple tree yourself from a core. After about three years, you will have to remove all side branches from this seedling in order to maintain a suitable grafting base with a straight trunk. You can then graft a suitable scion onto this at a height of around 80 to 120 centimeters to create an apple tree with a half trunk. For grafting you need the following things:
- a tree as a base
- Scion
- a sharp knife
- clean planting scissors
- bindings
- Wound Closure Wax
Tips & Tricks
Basically, if the tree crown is about 80 to 120 centimeters high, it is called a half-trunk. Lower specimens are called bushes, while higher branched trees are called standard stems.
