Rootstocks govern the growth of fruit trees and there are quite a few to choose from. 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. From a genetic point of view, there is only one Granny Smith apple tree. Anyone can use cuttings of a fruit tree to graft onto another tree's roots, which is called the rootstock. 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. Mostly, people either want a medium-large orchard tree, or they want to train a fruit tree on wires, usually against a South facing wall or fence. As described above, you only really need 2 rootstocks per fruit type to be able to grow any normal size tree or restricted shape like fans, espaliers, step-overs or arches.

Want to graft your own?

You can buy apple, pear, cherry and plum family rootstocks from us.