The article describes a new apple and pear training system called Guyot training. In Guyot training, the tree stem is laid horizontally to form a cordon 0.5 meters above the ground, with vertical branches growing upwards. This creates a narrow canopy around 0.3-0.4 meters wide. Yields in young Guyot trees are around 8-12 kg per apple tree in the second year. Mature Guyot orchards can yield 50-85 tons per hectare. The Guyot system allows for narrow tree spacing and may enable mechanization, precision horticulture, and use of anti-hail nets compared to traditional spindle training. However, it requires significant labor during the initial training phase to shape the

1. See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338595250
Guyot training: a new system for producing apples and pears
Article · February 2018
CITATION
1
READS
4,176
2 authors:
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
Pedestrian apple and pear orchard View project
Alberto Dorigoni
Fondazione Edmund Mach - Istituto Agrario San Michele All'Adige
20 PUBLICATIONS 374 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
Franco Micheli
Fondazione Edmund Mach - Istituto Agrario San Michele All'Adige
3 PUBLICATIONS 1 CITATION
SEE PROFILE
All content following this page was uploaded by Alberto Dorigoni on 15 January 2020.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

2. Info
Guyot training: a new system for
producing apples and pears
The Guyot system
for apple and pear
Is the slender spindle
in apple going to be
replaced by narrow
hedge systems? The
advantages of narrow
hedges (fruit walls)
are, among others:
more light (skin col-
our), better labour ef-
ficiency and the pos-
sibility to automate
cultivation measures
and (in future) even
to robotise them.
During the last few
decades, researcher
Alberto Dorigoni of
Fondazione Edmund
Mach in San Michele
all’Adige (Italy), has
done research into
narrow fruit hedges
and matching tree
shapes. In 2005 a start
was made with trees
with two central lead-
ers (Bibaum®). In the
following years trees
with 3, 4, 6 or 8 central
leaders were planted.
In this article, he pre-
sents the advantages
and disadvantages
of trees with several
central leaders: the
multi central leader or
Guyot system.
Alberto Dorigoni
Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy
alberto.dorigoni@fmach.it
Franco Micheli
Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy
franco.micheli@fmach.it
Like most fruit plants, apple and pear trees can be grown in very different systems. From
medieval times monks used complex shapes to train productive and beautiful trees around
their monasteries. In modern commercial orchards, tree training must be simple and aimed
at productivity. Spindle training in its various forms was introduced into Europe more than
fifty years ago and is still spreading into new areas of several developing countries.
At the same time, most nurseries have introduced
refined techniques to prepare trees with many
long feathers, suitable for spindle training. The
result is that planting 3,500-4,500 spindle trees
per hectare is nowadays the universally accepted
model in most apple growing areas of the world,
both in the West and in the East. In countries
like Russia and China, thousands of hectares of
entirely new apple orchards have recently been
planted in regions previously farmed extensively
with arable crops.
Nevertheless, after decades of spindle training,
the experienced growers are aware of the limits
of such a training system. The difficulty in keep-
ing the vigour of spindle trees balanced makes
it necessary to have basal branches that are dif-
ficult to manage and hinder mechanization. The
tendency of fruit trees to move the crop upwards
and outwards over the years is the primary rea-
son why spindle orchards are normally grubbed
up before reaching 20 years of age.
In 2007 Bibaum®
, a plant with two leaders, was
patented by Mazzoni Nurseries in Italy to obtain
a balanced tree without basal branches. The
increasing number of hectares (over 2,500 by
now) planted each year all over the world and
Photo 1: Guyot training system shortly after planting the trees. Dorigoni
EFM 2018-02
18

3. Drawbacks of Guyot
training
Guyot training is obvi-
ously not suitable for
every grower, in par-
ticular for those who
cannot invest time on
young trees. It takes
a lot of work in the
first 2 years, also be-
cause at present there
are no specific trees
designed for Guyot
training. Bibaum® can
be transformed into a
double Guyot, while
the standard spindle
can be shaped into
a single Guyot. With
less than 2,000 trees
per ha of extensive
Guyot it is not pos-
sible to reach the
early yields achieved
by 5,000 spindle
trees per hectare. To
overcome this, new
trials will be started
this year with 3,000-
4,000 trees of Guyot
per hectare. While
there are several
highly productive per-
manent multi-leader
orchards more than
10 years old, we lack
long term experience
of branch replace-
ment to understand
how long it allows the
orchard to produce a
good quality crop.
the recent purchase of the license for producing
Bibaum by other nurseries confirm its success,
due to the high productivity and suitability for
any form of machinery.
The trials
In the trials on training systems at Fondazione
Edmund Mach in San Michele all’Adige, Italy, a
progressive reduction of the width of the canopy
was obtained by increasing the number of lead-
ers per tree. Starting in 2005 from the double
axis or Bibaum apple and pear trees, we moved
progressively to 3, 4, 6, 8 permanent leaders and
more recently, to ‘Guyot’, an entirely different
way of training trees.
In Guyot training, a term that brings to mind
grapevines, the traditional concept of permanent
vertical leader(s) is abandoned. The shape of the
tree was rotated by 90°. The primary structure
of the tree, the stem, was laid down to form a
horizontal cordon 0.5 metres above the ground.
Because of this severe bending of the stems, the
secondary structure of the tree, the limbs, spring
vertically from the stem(s) like watersprouts. Their
number was not fixed, ranging from 10 to 25 per
tree, depending on the tree space and vigour.
The goal was to promote the growth of a popula-
tion of 20,000-30,000 vertical limbs per hectare,
all of them starting very low, at 0.5 metres above
the ground. Any branching of these limbs was
trimmed back mostly by summer pruning. When
limbs grew excessively, they were removed leav-
ing a stub above the horizontal cordon(s). The
goal was to achieve a 2 dimensional canopy 0.3-
0.4 metres wide, with fruits directly attached to
the vertical branches.
The planting distance of Guyot is profoundly dif-
ferent to that of the spindle. In 2009, in the first
set of trials with double Guyot trained Bibaum
trees, the inter-rows were 2.75 metres wide, while
the space between the plants in the row was be-
tween 1.5 to 2.8 metres depending on tree type
and rootstock vigour (Table 1). In a second set of
Photo 2: ‘Lorette’ pruned pear trees.
Dorigoni
Photo 3: Guyot from single leader trees has the ten-
dency to form vigorous shoots mostly on the first
part of the curved stem.
Dorigoni
Table 1. Tree spacing in the row suitable for Guyot apple and pear training according to tree type
and vigour
Tree type Low
vigour
Medium
vigour
High
vigour
Single leader 1.2-1.4 m 1.5-1.7 m 1.8-2.0 m
Double leader 1.5-1.8 m 1.9-2.2 m 2.3-2.8 m
The goal was to promote the growth of a population of 20,000-30,000
vertical limbs per hectare, all of them starting very low, at 0.5 metres
above the ground
19
EFM 2018-02

4. trials in 2015, double Guyot trained Golden, Gala,
Fuji, Red Delicious and Cripps Pink Bibaum trees
were planted at 2 metres between the rows and
2.4 metres in the row.
Results and discussion
During a first visit to a new Guyot planting, one
can be surprised by how short and empty the
orchard looks compared to a standard spindle
orchard (Photo 1). In fact the height of the canopy
is given by the length of the feathers developed
in the nursery. This means that a 2-metre high
tree with feathers of 50 cm in length results in
Guyot trees 1-metre high (0.5+0.5 metres). This
system therefore can be used whenever grow-
ers aim to create pedestrian or semi-pedestrian
orchards. It takes 2-3 years to fill the 1.5-2.0-me-
tre space between the cordon and the tree top,
which is normally controlled in summer. We no-
ticed a good reaction to the summer or ‘Lorette’
pruning of both apple and pear trees (Photo 2).
In general, double Guyot from Bibaum, which
has two cordons instead of one, showed better
balance in the vertical branches than Guyot from
single leader trees. These have the tendency to
form vigorous shoots mostly on the first part of
the curved stem (Photo 3).
Guyot is not suitable to reach standard heights
of 3.5-3.8 metres, nor is it suitable for spacing
between rows wider than 2.5 metres. In fact,
Guyot can also be applied with double rows at
about 2.2+1.4 metres, that makes it suitable for
replanting existing orchards under traditional
anti hail systems with spacing of 3.5-4.0 metres
between rows (Photo 4). Despite the highly in-
tensive look of mature orchards, the number of
trees per hectare of Guyot can range from 1,800
to 2,500, making it a low or medium-low density
training system (Table 1).
Reduced width of canopy
Since branches are developed vertically instead
of horizontally, the width of the canopy is re-
duced to 0.3-0.5 metres. This implies that inter-
row spacing of just 2 metres allows 1.5 metres
of free passage for standard orchard tractors
and machinery. Inter-row spacing of 2.75 me-
tres proved excessively wide for this tree form,
resulting in a waste of land and loss of crop. With
very small tractors and in orchards inaccessible
Photo 4: Double row of Cripps Pink Guyot system under hail net.
Dorigoni
Photo 5: Double Guyot pear trees in second leaf.
Dorigoni
Conclusions (1)
After 50 years of,
among others, sin-
gle-leader spindle
and solaxe training,
and after more than
10 years of Bibaum®
success, multi-leader
Guyot training is an al-
ternative that, thanks
to the great plant
plasticity, changes
significantly the fruit
tree architecture. The
training phase of Guy-
ot is more complex
and more time-con-
suming than spindle
training. It requires
frequent inspections
of the new orchard in
the first 2 years. Once
the training phase is
completed, MLT (Mul-
ti-Leader Tree) pro-
ductivity and quality
is as good as or better
than the best spindle
trained orchards. Its
management be-
comes simpler for the
grower and projected
toward the future.
Table 2. Costs of planting and training in the first 3 years of different training systems
Training
system
No. trees per
hectare
Costs for
trees Tree planting Pruning at
planting
Bending
stems
Tying leaders
to wires
Summer
pruning year
1-3
Winter
pruning year
1-3
Total Costs
year 1-3
Spindle 3,571 17,857 € 1,190 € 298 € 0 € 1,163 € 0 € 1,050 € 21,558 €
Guyot 2,222 11,111 € 741 € 370 € 556 € 3,689 € 850 € 500 € 17,817 €
Double
Guyot 1,778 10,667 € 593 € 296 € 593 € 5,239 € 850 € 500 € 18,737 €
The training phase of Guyot and double Guyot is extremely important
and takes a lot of care
EFM 2018-02
20

5. to machinery, like those on very steep slopes,
inter-row spacing can be reduced to 1.5 metres.
Training Guyot
The training phase of Guyot and double Guyot
is extremely important and takes a lot of care.
About 250 hours per ha are needed in the first
year to shape trees, bend the stems progressively,
tie the shoots vertically, remove fruits from the
tops and remove unwanted growth. The tree
training in the first year must be done gradually,
by 5-10 interventions in spring and summer. Pear
trees are more difficult to mould because their
wood is less flexible and their response to bend-
ing is stronger (Photo 5). Another 80 hours per
year are necessary in year 2, 3 and 4 to complete
the tying of about 25,000 vertical branches per
ha using rubber rings to reduce labour (Table 2).
Tree quality influences yield
Yields in the second and third year depend on
tree quality in the nursery. With good-feathered
plants it is common to have 8-12 kg per apple
tree in the second leaf and 25-30 kg in the third
(Photo 6, Table 3). Williams pear trees yielded
3.5 kg in the second leaf (Photo 7). Since Guyot at
2,000 trees per hectare is a medium-low tree den-
sity system, it is not as precocious as spindle or
super spindle training at 4,000 or 6,000 trees
per hectare.
Photo 6: Production in second leaf of double Guyot Fuji trees.
Dorigoni
Photo 7: Production of Williams in second leaf.
Dorigoni
Table 3. Yield of double Guyot planted in 2015
Cultivar Fuji Gala Cripps Pink
Year 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017
Fruits per tree 24 112 50 149 43 108
Kg per tree 8.2 29.7 11.9 24.9 11 27.6
Tonnes per hectare 17 60 24 50 23 57
Fruit weight (g) 341 265 238 167 256 245
Fruit size (mm) 91.7 89.8 84.2 73.8 87.0 84.0
Over colour % 78 83 96 81 89 85
Table 4. Yield of mature multi-leader semi-pedestrian Guyot planted in 2009
Cultivar Fuji* Gala** Golden**
Year 2016 2017 2016 2017 2015 2016
No. trees per hectare 1,276 1,276 1,515 1,515 1,515 1,515
Fruits per tree 199 274 191 289 165 244
Kg per tree 50.7 47.8 36.7 45.7 34.2 56.1
Tonnes per hectare 65 61 55 69 59 85
Fruit weight (g) 269 225 197 157 215 234
Fruit size (mm) 88.6 83.5 78.2 72.3 81.7 85.8
Over colour % 76 68.5 87 84 - -
* 2.75 metres between rows; 2.8 metres between trees, ** 2.75 metres between rows; 2.4 metres between trees
Conclusions (2)
Multi-leader Guyot,
although not suitable
for every grower, can
offer new opportuni-
ties to the growers
who can see them,
due to the tree shape
and spacing that re-
semble those used
in modern vineyards.
These opportunities
include pedestrian
fruit walls, precision
horticulture, mecha-
nization of many
cultural practices and
harvesting, and mi-
croclimatic modifica-
tion through nets and
new microsprayers.
21
EFM 2018-02

6. The quality is very good because most fruits are
held on spurs directly on the vertical branches
that create very little shading. It is likely that
the standard limit of height/width ratio 1:1 can
be exceeded (Photo 8). In fact, on mature trees
the yield of the first trials with double Guyot at
2.75 metres between rows is of very good quality
(Photo 9), but yields suffer the poor light intercep-
tion of the entire orchard planted at 2.75 metres,
which is too wide for such a system (Table 4).
Growth as a dynamic system
All trees, including the ones bearing fruit, are
dynamic systems, they grow and evolve. From
planting year to maturity, the production of ver-
tical spindle trees tends to move upwards and
outwards. Pruning techniques limit more (short
pruning) or less (long pruning) this natural trend,
mostlybyheadbackcutsandrenewalcuts,which
try to bring back the production.
Similarly, the ‘productive barycentre’ of fruiting
trees moves according to vegetation, upwards
and outwards until it reaches a point that is un-
manageable, ending the life of the orchard. How-
ever, in a Guyot trained tree, the only source of
growth, 1 or 2 horizontal stems or cordons, is
located 50 cm above the ground. Feathers and
suckers originating from the stem turn into ver-
tical fruit-bearing branches in 1-3 years. There-
fore, the productive barycentre, at least in theory,
should not move upwards or outwards because
it is possible to regenerate the whole productive
wood of the tree by replacing the old vertical
branches (Photo 10) with new ones (Figure 1).
Once established, the 20,000-30,000 branches
per hectare can be fully replaced at a given rate,
forexampleat10%peryearin10 years,byleaving
stubs on the cordon, the same way an old grape
vine supports feeble, new shoots originating
from its big stump. Trees grafted on rootstocks
more vigorous than M.9 can be trained with this
system as attested by the Fondazione E. Mach
M.26 and MM.106 trials.
Orchard investments
Guyot orchards cost a little less than standard
planting. The high number of rows per hectare
is compensated by the short and light posts
needed. Since the whole tree canopy is given by
vertical limbs, the crop is entirely visible at once.
The consequences are manifold, in particular the
possibility to use Precision Horticulture. During
pruning the number of buds can be adjusted
like in vine production. The number of fruits af-
ter the June drop can be spotted and counted
on a per metre basis. Simple calculations can
then accurately predict the crop at harvest. For
example, with 20,000 2-metre-long branches per
hectare, it takes an average of 10 fruits per metre
(Photo 12) to get 400,000 fruits per hectare (70-
80 tonnes depending on the cultivar). This is a
very simple indication even for unskilled workers
that perform hand thinning in summer. Unlike
with the standard spindle, any fruit unsuitable for
the market can be spotted during summer and
removed. Most apple growers underestimate
Literature cited (1)
Buler, Z., and Mika, A.
(2004). Evaluation
of the ‘Mikado’ tree
training system versus
the spindle form in
apple trees. J. Fruit
and Ornamental Plant
Research. 12, 49-60.
Dorigoni, A.,
Lezzer, P., Micheli, F.,
Dallabetta, N.,
Pasqualini, J., and
Guerra, A. (2009).
Parete fruttifera
stretta per mele
redditizie e sostenibili.
Informatore
Agrario. 48, 54-58.
Dorigoni, A., and
Micheli, F. (2014).
Possibilities for multi-
leader trees. European
Fruit Magazine. 02,
18-20.
Photo 8: Height/width ratio of Guyot Gala trees in third leaf.
Dorigoni
Photo 9: Good quality Fuji on nine year old Guyot system.
Dorigoni
Figure 1. Schematic view of the Guyot cultivation system
EFM 2018-02
22

7. the crop in normal orchards. Only during the
harvest do they realise that many hidden fruits
should have been removed.
Mechanisation
Another aspect concerns the suitability of Guyot
to almost any form of mechanization. Actually,
there is no need for expensive platforms in pe-
destrian orchards and even in semi-pedestrian
orchards, there are simpler and cheaper ways
to safely pick fruit from the upper 0.5 metres
of the trees that cannot be reached from the
ground. Mechanical pruning can be easily used
on Guyot, even with short cutting bars, the same
light equipment used in viticulture. Mechanical
thinning can be performed, maybe with a slight
modification of the standard strings. Vineyard-
like partial defoliation can be introduced on late
cultivars like Pink lady to promote the red colour.
Compared to the spindle, crop protection of
Guyot can be substantially improved. Given the
narrow and short canopy, tree spraying for pest
control can be applied every other row. Posi-
tive results are being seen from the preliminary
trials at Fondazione E. Mach for spraying each
row without a fan or by fixed spraying systems.
Whatever the spraying system chosen, compared
to the standard canopy of a 3.5-metre high spin-
dle, the drift reduction is always considerable
and particularly suitable to delicate sites near
houses or ditches.
Looking into future applications, Guyot training
may be among the most suitable ways of pro-
ducing fruits that will be picked by non-humans.
Scouting systems like the Intelligent Fruit Vision
technique, the first step toward robotic harvest-
ing, work better on 2D trained trees than on trees
in traditional orchards. As for the second step, the
apple picking, there are quite a few companies
working to on it. Vertical limbs without branching,
bearing fruits just on spurs, is an ideal scenario
any company that addresses robotic harvesting.
Literature cited (3)
Robinson, T., Hoying, S., Sazo, M.M., DeMarree, A. and Dominguez, D.
(2013). A vision for apple orchard systems of the future. New York Fruit
Quarterly. 21(3), 3-7.
Wünsche, J.N., Lakso, A.N., Robinson, T., Lenz, F., and Denning, S. (1996).
The bases of productivity in apple production systems: the role of light
interception by different shoot types. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 121(5), 886–
893.
Literature cited (2)
Dorigoni, A., and
Micheli, F. (2015). The
fruit wall: are tall trees
really necessary?
European Fruit
Magazine. 06, 10-23.
Lauri, P.E. (2009).
Developing a new
paradigm for apple
training. Compact
Fruit Tree. 42, No. 2,
August 2009. p. 17-19.
Lorette, L. (1925).
The Lorette system
of pruning. Martin
Hopkinson & Co. Ltd.,
London. 166 pp.
Masseron, A. (2002).
Pommier, Le mur
fruitier. Ctifl. 112 pages
ISBN: 2-87911-183-8.
Palmer, J.W. (2011).
Changing concepts
of efficiency in
orchard systems. Acta
Hort. 903, 41-49.
Robinson, T. (2007).
Recent advances
and future directions
in orchard planting
systems. Acta
Hort. 732, 367-381.
Photo 10: New branches develop after removing the
old ones. Dorigoni
Photo 11: Old branch that should be replaced.
Dorigoni
Since the whole tree canopy is given by vertical limbs, the crop is entirely
visible at once
23
EFM 2018-02
View
publication
stats
View
publication
stats