When Claus Hamann goes out to his Orland orchard, he always brings his clippers.
That’s because he has a lot of pruning to do: his fruit trees are kept short and trained to grow flat along cables.
Hamann, a retired physician, started the first of his three orchard plots after inheriting some old apple trees upon moving in a decade ago. Now he has around 250 two-dimensional trees, including apples, pears, peaches, quince and elderberry.
Called “espalier,” the ancient method he uses to train them lets him grow numerous varieties of fruit close together in a small space, keeps them easy to maintain, makes harvesting simple and is ergonomic to work with as he ages.
Espalier trees aren’t a common sight in Maine’s fruit tree landscape, but they’ve been used sporadically around the state for centuries and have made keeping an orchard rewarding for Hamann. Bangor Daily News archives include several recommendations for the method from the 1850s onward as a space-saver for frugal farmers or kitchen gardeners looking for a high return on investment.
Fruit trees in one of Claus Hamann’s espalier orchards show years of careful pruning to encourage light, air and production. Credit: Elizabeth Walztoni / BDN
“I take great pleasure in seeing these things grow,” Claus Hamann said of his roughly 250 fruit trees. Credit: Elizabeth Walztoni / BDN
Quince fruit stored in Claus Hamann’s garage for the winter. Some of his fruit trees have three or four different varieties grafted onto one base to maximize variety available in a small space. Credit: Elizabeth Walztoni / BDN
With the espalier method, trees are trained to grow on several levels on horizontal cables. It’s a technique dating back centuries that can also grow decorative trees flat along walls. Credit: Elizabeth Walztoni / BDN
In general, the trees are pruned to two or three branches on each side that are then trained to grow horizontally, often along a wall. Most use dwarf tree rootstock, which are naturally smaller. Hamann uses standard stock, a choice he said can live for a century.
He knew of the method from family members for years, he said, and kept it in the back of his mind to try. As someone who eats a lot of fruit, Hamann figured he might as well grow his own.
The orchards have expanded informally over the years. One near Hamann’s house overlooking the Orland River was joined by another nearby and a third at the head of the driveway, terraced beneath several large seedling-grown trees that are at least 50 years old.
Wild apples that grow from seed are not identical to their cultivated parents – conventional varieties are multiplied by grafting branches onto “rootstock” bases – meaning there’s a wide range of tastes, not all of them pleasant. But Hamann is willing to try.
“I almost have not met an apple I would not eat at least once,” he said.
After taking grafting classes from the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, he was able to start creating his own orchard, sometimes adding three or four different varieties on one base.
The pruning principles are generally the same for espalier orchards as with typical trees: maximize light and air around the tree while encouraging fruit growth by taking off leaf buds and strategically thinning fruit buds.
Hamann, family and friends eat plenty of fresh fruit, but also make sauce and dehydrate slices. He’s also started foraging for wild apples to make cider using parts of a repurposed vintage juice press in the garage, rigged up by an engineer on Mount Desert Island.
To Hamann, the variety found in seed-grown apples is similar to the unique makeup of each person from the combination of their parents’ traits. Working in primary care, he saw patients move through phases of their lives; now, he watches the trees grow and change.
“This is growth, and life, and it will long outlast me,” he said.
