faulker085

Check out this great article about building a trellis out of electrical conduit.  If you replaced the string net with wire, this would be a great way to build support for the smaller fruits.   I'm not sure it would be sturdy enough to hold up an apple or pear laden with fruit but it would work wonderfully with currants, gooseberries, or even raspberries. Urban gardening from a country perspective: Do it yourself (and easy!) garden trellis

The first step for any espalier is to create a support system to provide a place to tie down limbs and support the weight of the tree and its fruit. You can use any sturdy structure. I choose the posts and wire method because it was inexpensive and relatively easy to put up even with no carpentry skills. This post is meant to demonstrate one type of support.  It is not a step-by-step tutorial so make sure you read all the way through before you start. Obviously you're going to need to set some wooden posts. How you should do this will depend very much on your climate so I will leave it to you to research this yourself. Keep in mind these posts need to be very sturdy. Imagine a fruit tree full of apples being blow around by a summer thunderstorm. You need this to withstand quite a bit. In Wisconsin, we have hard winters with lots of frost heave so these posts are set 4 feet into the ground and are surrounded by concrete. The stuff you'll need. On top is some braided wire....