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| Merry Christmas to all fellow gardeners. When the weather gets cold and all of my 2015 garden plans are almost done I usually start looking for something to do differently in the yard and espaliering some apple trees has peaked my interests. Over the last couple of weeks I have been researching the different rootstocks that are available and have come to the conclusion that it is very confusing, so with that being said I will ask a few of my Q's. For doing espalier in michigan is there a specific rootstock that I should use? I would like the trees to get about 6 to 8 ft. tall when it is fully grown. I know that there are a lot of variables when choosing rootstocks so maybe it would be easier to ask which ones to avoid. Or would it be better for me to just buy some trees already grafted to a particular rootstock? I surely have many more Q's but will wait for now.
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Here is a link that might be useful: Garden pics
Follow-Up Postings:
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| TPP In the link below has good infos about apple rootstocks for espaliering. Wow you have a massive garden. What do you do with all the extra veggies? BTW, I like how you keep your garden weeds free. Tony |
Here is a link that might be useful: Rootstocks
This post was edited by tonytran on Thu, Dec 25, 14 at 8:46
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- Posted by thepodpiper 6 (My Page) on Thu, Dec 25, 14 at 11:25
| thanks tony, good link. Can rootstock be bought at any time of the year and can i put them in pots and grow them in the house until spring? Family and friends enjoy the benefits of such a large garden as much as I do. |
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| TPP Apple rootstock still need to go into dormant. It is not an evergreen. You can put it under growth light in January for a head start. Tony |
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| You could bench graft to your dormant root stock. Then bring those grafted trees to life indoors if you were bored or wanting a jump start on spring. |
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- Posted by thepodpiper 6 (My Page) on Fri, Dec 26, 14 at 9:14
| A little bored and a little excited to get started on trying something new. Seems there is much more to it in regards to picking what to grow and what to grow it on. There is also the dilemma of fitting 6 trees in a 32' row (is this possible?) |
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- Posted by thepodpiper 6 (My Page) on Fri, Dec 26, 14 at 9:15
| A little bored and a little excited to get started on trying something new. Seems there is much more to it in regards to picking what to grow and what to grow it on. There is also the dilemma of fitting 6 trees in a 32' row (is this possible?) |
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| Bud 9 rootstock is a dwarf, cold hardy rootstock that you can easily fit 6 trees in the row if you go with a trellis type system. |
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- Posted by thepodpiper 6 (My Page) on Fri, Dec 26, 14 at 14:34
| I will be doing espalier so that would work for me. will all apple scions be good to graft onto this rootstock? I would like to have a different apple for each tree. |
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- Posted by Appleseed70 6 MD (My Page) on Sun, Dec 28, 14 at 2:27
| Most apple cultivars will be compatible with Bud9, if you have any doubt, just search nursery availability for the cultivar in question and see if they offer it on Bud9. Very non-vigorous varieties may be slow growing on a dwarfing stock. You may want them all to grow as uniformly as possible and if so you may want to choose all vigorous varieties or all non-vigorous. Since espalier takes some fiddling with to look real nice anyway, I'd choose vigorous varieties to speed growth. I'm shooting from the hip here though, as I've never tried espalier before. Have thought about it though. |
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- Posted by thepodpiper 6 (My Page) on Sun, Dec 28, 14 at 12:10
| Makes sense to me Appleseed. I will get all vigorous varieties once i choose the rootstock that will do best in zone 6. |
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- Posted by Appleseed70 6 MD (My Page) on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 4:42
| Fact check me on that before you do. It may be the case that vigorous varieties are difficult to maintain in a neat appearance. Personally I like to get on with my projects and get them to fruition as quickly as possible, but that may or may not be the best way to proceed depending on what you want. |
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