Rootstocks

What the heck are they and why are they so important?

Surely you can just plant a pip and get a tree for free right?

Er...not quite.

You see, pips are like the child of the parent. If you have kids yourself then you know that one child is taller than the other. Or is one child more academically tuned in than the other? Perhaps one child is more 'sporty' ?

Pips carry the characteristics of the parents but do not duplicate the tree you got the pip from. It's not impossible to grow a tree from a pip but you need to realize that if you want to grow an apple from a pip, then you are going to have to accept that your tree will not be the variety that you got the pip from and you will need to wait many years before you get something approaching a fruit tree.

The best way to get a tree of the variety you want is to take a cutting of the branch of the tree. Then you need to join it (graft it) to another piece of wood (rootstock) and let it grow.

Welcome to the world of Rootstocks!!

If your not aware, go and have a look at fruit trees in your local garden center and look at the base of them. You will see the tree in a container and a knobbly bit a few inches up the tree stem. The bit of the tree in the soil is the rootstock, and the rest of the tree is the branch of the variety of fruit attached to it.....(the scion to those in the know ). The knobbly bit that joins the two together is where the rootstock and scion have been 'grafted' together.

Okay..so now we understand that for best results you should not grow a tree from a pip, and that instead, you should attach a branch of your tree to a rootstock.

So what rootstocks should you use?

Fortunately for most us this isn't an issue because that decision is made for you when you buy your tree. You wont know the rootstocks of the tree but there will be a label attached to it telling you the expected height and width when it matures.

But information about rootstocks is readily available so there's no reason for you not to know a little bit about them.

Different rootstocks are required for different fruits!!

There have been (and still are) some very clever people that have been making trials over the years to determine which rootstocks are best to use for which variety of fruit....yeah, you heard me right..for which variety of fruit. Unfortunately there is no such thing as a single rootstock type that you can use for all your trees. Different rootstocks are required for different fruits. And it's from here that our knowledge gets down to the specifics.

But as a beginner dwarf fruit tree grower I say leave the specifics to the experts, I would just like to know some facts about them to satisfy my curiosity. Rootstocks have been developed over the years to improve the yield of your tree, to introduce hardiness to the variety, to withstand attacks from aphids and deseases and of course determine the height and width of the tree.

The East Malling Research Centre (based in Kent, UK) was one of the first to really look into experimenting with rootstocks. They named them with the prefix 'M' (among others)....MM10626 for example. Over the years rootstocks have been developed privately from other parts of the world. Each having its own name. This has lead to many prefixes and types being available and they all ultimately strive to improve the welfare, growth and yield of your tree. 

Okay. Now that we know a little more about them and their importance what are the types and characteristics

The typical apple tree you buy from the garden centre is probably grafted on MM106 rootstock, and produces a nice-looking tree about 12ft-15ft in height and a similar spread.

But for our purposes this isn't what we want, MM106 is far too big for us. What we want is a tree that will be about 6ft high or less and because this site is specific to Dwarf Fruit Trees then that is where we will concentrate.

Some Available Rootstocks

M26
Used for Apples
The tree reaches a height of about 8 foot, crops in the second or third year and needs no staking unless you live in an exposed location. Trees can be planted around 12 feet apart.