[NAFEX] P. americana rootstock

John Bunker jbunker at gwi.net
Fri Feb 13 10:03:38 EST 2004


It's been interesting to read the wildly varied reports on P. americana.  I
suspect they are all correct.

I have grafted many hybrids onto P.americana.  I have seen it sucker
profusely and I have also seen it not sucker at all.  If I were to guess,
I'd say that some P.americana seedlings (or maybe populations) have that
tendency and others do not.  In an effort to increase the chance of
successful pollination, I often simply graft some of the root suckers with
other varieties.  The suckers I don't want, I cut to the ground.

I have not had Jim's experience of the graft strangling the rootstock and
some of my hybrids are now 20+ years old.  I also have no experience
grafting P. domestica onto P.americana so I can't help there.  I have mostly
used P.cerasifera (Myrobolan) as a  P.domestica rootstock.  With good luck.

I have also planted root sprouts of various self-rooted  P.domestica
cultivars.  Most have suckered profusely when planted on their  own roots.
P.americana is not the only culprit there.

I think Robert Scott's project could be very interesting.  If you do
proceed, I would suggest giving a lot of attention to where the P.americana
comes from.  I know Lawyers nursery gets their seed from a variety of
sources and does not segregate populations from one another.  Rootstock from
them would be a random mix.  It might add a great deal to the experiment to
pay special attention to different strains, sources, etc.

On a related topic, I suggest you read the article, Plums on the Prairie by
Rick Sawatzky.  I thought it was quite good.

What a fun topic,

John Bunker

Fedco
PO Box 520
Waterville ME 04903






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