23
Understanding Rootstocks
Imagine the scene, you have bought your tree and you have placed it where everyone can see it so that you can show your friends how ‘green’ you intend to be.
You say “I want to eat fruit that hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides, so I decided to grow my own!. And I can grow it in such a way that the whole tree will be within easy reach, no stools or ladders for me!”.
Your mate says “Wow, how will you manage to do that?”
You “Easy, this is a Dwarf type tree. They grow from 3 to 15 feet high“
Your mate “So how big will your tree grow?“
You “This tree will grow about 10 feet“
Your mate “How do you know?“
You “Erm….it said so on the label!!!!“
End of conversation…….and boy, dont you feel an idiot.
What you should have said was “See that knobbly bit on the tree just above the soil?. Well the bit above that is the actual tree and the bit below it is called the rootstock and that is the part that keeps it dwarfy“.
You can buy rootstocks from reputable suppliers and ‘graft’ them to your tree. But this is beyond the scope of this site (although I may just write a piece on how to do this at a later date). Rather, I prefer to keep things simpler and explain how rootstocks work, what types are available, and what rootstock you should ask for when ordering your tree, so that when your tree arrives you will know the answers to most questions and be comfortable in you own mind how you can expect your tree to perform……..good eh?.
Now, the actual subject of what rootstock to ask for will be covered independantly for each fruit type. This is because there is no ‘magic rootstock’ that can be used for all fruits. Apples use different rootstocks than cherries for example. When you call your supplier to order your tree, he may not have the rootstock variety you want but dont fret!!…….as long as you have an idea of the height you want (at maturity) and you understand some of the requirements needed to keep your tree happy, you wont go far wrong.