The following was received via email: I have a 4-variety apple espalier. One of the laterials is thicker than the one beside it and is growing more vigorously. I'm concerned that this may cause the thinner lateral to wither. How do I balance lateral growth? I put the problem to the managers from Hunter's Garden centre. It seems unbalanced lateral growth is inherent with 4-variety espaliers. This could cause the less vigorous lateral to wither. I am going to try control by pruning and reducing the fruiting on the more active lateral. Is there anything else I should do?
Using pruning, especially during the active growing season, should work; but reducing the fruiting of the active lateral will make it grow faster. Another technique that should work quite well is to girdle the active lateral near the trunk in the spring, around the time of blooming. I've used girdling to reduce excessive suckering on an old apple tree that was heavily pruned to reduce its size. There is plenty of information about girdling techniques on the Web.
