- 1). Purchase a dwarf or semi-dwarf variety of peach tree from your local fruit tree nursery. Look for a small, young tree that naturally has a one-plane spray of branches as compared to one with a full branched canopy with twigs radiating out in 360 degrees. Also buy a variety of peach that suits your needs, such as a plant that produces freestone, yellow or mid-season ripening fruits.
- 2). Plant the peach tree in a hole that is twice as wide but equally as deep as the root ball. When the tree is in the planting hole, the trunk should be 6 to 12 inches away from the facade of the wall. Orient the tree so that the majority of the branches radiate out like a flat fan parallel to the surface of the wall.
- 3). Trim off any twigs or branches growing at an angle that will eventually lead them to grow into the wall's surface. Make a pruning cut with a hand pruner 1/4-inch above the twig's connection to the peach tree's trunk or main fan-like spray of branches that is parallel to the wall.
- 4). Train branches on the peach tree to grow at a horizontal or angled-orientation from the trunk over the growing season. When you look head-on to the tree against the wall, you want the branching structure to look like an open hand with fingers widely spread apart. Too many vertically oriented branches diminish fruit production.
- 5). Maintain the size and structure of the fan-shaped peach tree espalier by midsummer once you know where peaches are developing. Trim back long branches or those you wish to maintain to 1/4-inch above a leaf or dormant bud. New growth will sprout from this new tip. It will mature and flower the next spring. In late fall feel free to casually trim away any new twigs growing in a direction not parallel to the wall.
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