I'm looking into the posssiblity of raising some new apple trees from my old trees, and have a specifc question about propogating / increasing rootstock.

Lets forget the grafting of the scion for a moment.

The question is, lets suppose I can get hold of or buy a small quantity of rootstock, would I then be able to increase this stock myself. Put another way, if you plant some rootstock without grafting onto it I'm assuming it will grown into a bush / tree? I'm then assuming you could take cuttings / layering to increase stock.

Is this practical? I'm assuming one of the disadvantage is you need time (several years) on your hands for the rootstock to estabish to the point that it can be used to produce further stock?

nfr wrote:
I'm looking into the posssiblity of raising some new apple trees from
my old trees, and have a specifc question about propogating /
increasing rootstock.

Lets forget the grafting of the scion for a moment.

The question is, lets suppose I can get hold of or buy a small
quantity of rootstock, would I then be able to increase this stock
myself. Put another way, if you plant some rootstock without grafting
onto it I'm assuming it will grown into a bush / tree? I'm then
assuming you could take cuttings / layering to increase stock.


Yes, yes.

Is this practical? I'm assuming one of the disadvantage is you need
time (several years) on your hands for the rootstock to estabish to
the point that it can be used to produce further stock?

It is done all the time by commercial growers so clearly it is practical.
Whether the time required is reasonable for the result obtained only you can
answer. This kind of thing is taught in horticulture courses regularly at
technical and trade colleges. I would expect that you could get (maybe
borrow) a book from them that will tell you all about it so you can decide
if it is worth the trouble.

D

On 10/4/2011 2:23 PM, nfr wrote:
I'm looking into the posssiblity of raising some new apple trees from my
old trees, and have a specifc question about propogating / increasing
rootstock.

Lets forget the grafting of the scion for a moment.

The question is, lets suppose I can get hold of or buy a small quantity
of rootstock, would I then be able to increase this stock myself. Put
another way, if you plant some rootstock without grafting onto it I'm
assuming it will grown into a bush / tree? I'm then assuming you could
take cuttings / layering to increase stock.

Is this practical? I'm assuming one of the disadvantage is you need
time (several years) on your hands for the rootstock to estabish to the
point that it can be used to produce further stock?



The traditional method for reproducing a rootstock is to make a stool bed.
http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/apple72.html

Steve wrote:
....
The traditional method for reproducing a rootstock is to make a stool bed.
http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/apple72.html

very interesting.

plenty of old wild apple trees around
here with very little chance of them
being covered by any sort of patent.

i'd be surprised if i'm the only person
living someplace that has old wild
apple trees. seeds from them can be used
to develop rootstock. if there are laws
against that anyplace i'd be surprised as
they'd be nearly unenforceable.


songbird