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bonsaist

Rootstock for different stone fruit

bonsaist
13 years ago

I need to graft plums, apricot and peach into a rootstock that is compatible with all these species of Prunus. Is there one type of rootstock for all three?

I know that P. Myrobalan works well for Plums, but for peaches and apricots would it work?

Bass

Comments (10)

  • Scott F Smith
    13 years ago

    I think nemaguard and citation are compatible with all three. Well, Euro plums I have never seen on nemaguard. Citation is an interspecific hybrid which gives it great compatibility. It is off-patent now so the price is down I hear; sometimes its called purple-leaf. I have had very good luck with Citation, it is very precocious and no particular problems with it. So I would recommend Citation.

    Myro is a plum stock, its iffy for cots and no good for peaches.

    Scott

  • theaceofspades
    13 years ago

    "I need to graft plums, apricot and peach into a rootstock that is compatible with all these species of Prunus.'

    Peach seedlings also are great for grafting plums apricots and peaches but Apricots do better on their own roots.

  • bonsaist
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks for the advice.
    I didn't find any place selling Citation rootstock, so I have found that Krymsk rootstock is a suitable for all these types of stone fruit, I ordered a few of those.
    I also have a few peach seedlings I'm gonna use those to graft some peach on it. I have tasted several peaches at the UCDavis collection in California last summer, and I picked one peach that really stood out for me.
    I have grafted an apricot on a peach seedling years ago at my sister's house, it kept it really dwarf, and flowered, but it didn't produce too well.

  • theaceofspades
    13 years ago

    Right bonsaist! should say; Peach seedlings also are great for grafting plums and peaches but Apricots do better on their own roots.

  • olpea
    13 years ago

    Bass,

    I've had peach rootstocks under peach, apricot and Japanese plum. They all seemed to be perfectly compatible.

    From what I understand Nemaguard is not very cold hardy, and so may not be a good choice for PA, but I've never tried it.

    It's strange the peach rootstock dwarfed the apricot. From what I've read apricots have greater vigor on peach roots, than on their own. This mirrors my experience.

  • Scott F Smith
    13 years ago

    I also have apricots on peach and they are not dwarfed. I am going to do more of them this spring, I need more room for 'cots and have some peaches needing topworking.

    Bass, Krymsk 1 is probably a good choice. I don't have as much experience with it but I have grafted apricots and Jap. plums on it with good results. The only concern I might have is runting out, several of my K1 trees have not grown much at all. But it could very well be because their locations are not good, the stocks are too close to neighboring larger trees. Hey speaking of these, if anyone wants a Lasgerdi Mashaad or Chinese Sweet Pit apricot or Sprite cherry-plum on Krymsk for the shipping cost only, just drop me a line. I don't have room for them.

    Scott

  • brotherjake
    12 years ago

    No one sells Citation rootstocks that I am aware of. You can buy a multi variety of peach, plum and apricot (fruit cocktail)on Citation, cut off the existing branches about 4-5 inches up the branch, and graft the varieties in that you want. Most nurseries will give you scion wood if you buy a tree from them. From what Dave Wilson Nursery reports about Citation, it is a pretty amazing rootstock. It is precocious, increases fruit size, and handles just about any soil you throw at it. I have heard of several instances, however, of it runting out peaches. Check the Dave Wilson website for the rootstock pros and cons.
    One Green World sells St Julien, a plum rootstock that has high compatibility with all three of the stone fruits you mentioned. They claim that it will make a tree that is 10-15 feet tall, but being that the test trials indicate that it is semi-vigorous, I think that you will have to prune for height to keep it at 15 feet.

    Good luck and happy grafting.

  • franktank232
    12 years ago

    I have Hunza with a citation rootstock. I was going to chainsaw the tree because of poor yield. Maybe I just need to graft it over to something else.

  • Scott F Smith
    12 years ago

    Thats interesting to hear about citation runting peaches - I have two peach trees I planted in 2003 that are 4' tall now and I now know why - they are on citation. They finally seem to be putting on some growth. In their defense they got crowded out pretty bad for a period there. I lost several other peaches on citation, but also some of my best peach trees are on citation. Overall I would revise my above positive comment on citation down a bit on the peaches. For plums it has been awesome, ditto for cots.

    Scott

  • franktank232
    12 years ago

    I'm going to try budding some hybrid plums (Superior/Alderman) onto some peach seedlings. Have no reason to think it won't work?