Tag Archives: apple trees

How to Choose Rootstocks for Fruit Trees – The Easy Way

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Rootstocks on fruit trees bought from our Nursery:

Rootstocks cause a lot of unnecessary worry. A rootstock controls the growth of a tree and there are many different ones in existence.
This post is a long winded way of saying do not worry about rootstocks when you buy fruit trees from us; we choose the best ones for the job.

In short, we grow all of our 2 largest sizes of fruit tree, Bushes and Half Standards – on “semi-vigorous” rootstocks that produce a nice size tree for a garden or orchard.
Our 2 smallest sizes, Maidens and Cordons (only apples & pears are grown as cordons) are grown on either “semi-vigorous” or “semi-dwarfing” rootstocks depending on the variety. Whichever it is, it will be suitable for growing as a restricted, wire-trained shape.

Just What is a Rootstock?

All the fruit trees that you know and love are clones, from Granny Smith to Victoria Plum.

More than just clones, they are living in a Siamese twin relationship with another tree’s roots.

So, there is only one Granny Smith apple tree from a genetic point of view.
Cuttings of new growth from that one tree, called scions, can be grafted onto a rootstock chosen from a range of different sapling apple trees.

Grafting a scion onto a rootstock is a much better way of cloning a fruit tree from a cutting than just getting the cutting to take root itself.

The key benefit is that each rootstock type has known attributes and a predictable effect on the new tree’s growth.

The practical reality is that people either want a medium-large fruit tree or they want to train fruit tree on wires, usually against a wall or fence.
As described above, you only really need 2 rootstocks to be able to grow any normal size tree or restricted shape like fans, espaliers, step-overs or arches.

Fruit Trees and the Mile High Club

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You will often hear people say that you can’t grow apple trees at more than 500 feet above sea level.

While there is a germ of truth in this – as in many old wives’ tales – it is only a germ.  I know of an enormously successful commercial orchard that grows at beween 800 and 850 feet above sea level and crops heavily every year.

So here are a few, rather random, thoughts about where to put your trees if you are thinking about planting an orchard.

Think hard about “the slope”.  The worst thing that can happen to your average fruit tree is to be frosted while in bloom. No fruit that year. Period.  So the first, and most important tip is to plant your fruit trees on a slope.  Don’t go silly and try to plant them where only eagles dare, but make it a slope. You do this because cold air is heavy and falls. It comes to rest in valley bottoms and in hollows and dips where it can fall no further and gets trapped. That is where you get late frosts. Oddly, in falling, the cold air drives out the warmer air that was there before and pushes it UP. In so doing it creates what is called an “inversion” layer.  On cold nights this generally exists at between 100 and 300 feet above sea level.  When fractions of a degree are the difference between crop life and death, the temperature gradient is measurable and can be critical.

Think hard about the wind.  One of the major drawbacks of slopes is that parts of them can be really windy. And wind is bad for fruit trees; pollinating insects work hard enough as it is without battling with head winds.  Bees are not the most aerodynamic at the best of times….  Therefore only plant an orchard on a south-west facing slope if it is sheltered or if you can plant a shelter belt to break up the wind.  This is important as the prevailing winds tend to be at their strongest at almost exactly the time fruit trees are in bloom.  A sheltered north facing slope is preferable to a windy southerly incline.

Think height. Because of frost pocket risks, don’t plant too low and recognise that it does get colder as the land gets higher (at a rate of about 1 degree farenheit for every 300 feet). This temperature fall off delays the day fruit trees come into flower and so reduces the time available for them to ripen their crop. I have mentioned shelter belts and these help enormously in raising ambient temperatures, but unless your position is remarkable, don’t try to grow fruit at much more than 700 feet above sea level and try to chose varieties that crop (as opposed to flower) early.

Think soil. People are always surprised when they are told that the human body is more than 80% water. Well, given how solid the body is and how juicy a ripe apple or plum can be, it is not surprising to learn that fruit is generally more than 90% water. So while fruit trees like nourishment and can be productive in relatively poor soils, they cannot do well without enough moisture. The key to moisture retention with plants is soil structure.  Fruit trees will die if their roots drown in winter, so there must be drainage and their fruit will be undersized and deformed if there is not enough water in summer.  If the soil is thin, or if it is heavy clay, be prepared to incorporate masses of well rotted organic matter. Don’t just put it in the hole (in fact on heavy clay, don’t put any in the hole) either work it in all over the orchard or just spread it as a mulch and let the worms do their thing. Soil that is in good condition can both allow great drainage and hold an astonishing amount of available moisture.

Think protection.  Orchards are a magnet for scrumping children, theiving adults, sheep, horses, goats and the like.  You can’t keep them all out, but not having a fence is asking for trouble. They are also a magnet for wildlife and in this ever industrialising world orchards are now recognised as crucially important safe havens for an enormous range of animals that are under pressure elsewhere.  So leave a little room for some brambles, make a log-pile, have a bit of a pond if you can and cut down on those chemicals (of which there is more coming soon).

Sit back and watch your fruit trees grow.

Fruit Trees at Altitude

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We get hundreds of enquiries a year about growing fruit trees at altitude and our andwers usually start off with something like:

“Unfortunately your location sounds beautiful but (from the perspective of fruit trees) terrible. You site is high up and almost certainly windy given that you are south facing and prevailing winds are south-westerly….”

Because we are nice friendly people, we try to explain why this is a problem:

“You will face two problems. The first is that air temperatures will be lower in spring and autumn than on lower ground and so fruit trees will come into flower later and have less time to ripen. The second is that wind and pollinating insects do not go together…. if you do see any insects they tend to be traveling very fast.”

We would love to sell as many orchards as we can, but without a windbreak they are a waste of time and money at altitudes over 550 feet unless peculiar circumstances apply.

To the would be alpine fruit grower, our advice would be:

  • Start with soft fruit which have much later flowering times, mature more quickly and so will ripen in time. Also, because they are closer to the ground pollination is less of an issue as well as they provide better shelter for the odd flying friend.
  • If you are determined to have a fine stand of apple trees and the odd pear, cherry and what-have-you plant a windbreak and wait at least 4 or 5 years while it establishes before you plant an orchard.
  • Or you can try to grow your fruit trees as cordons against a south facing wall where they will be warmer and ripen more quickly.
  • And above 650 feet don’t bother.

Good luck