Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [nafex] the evils of grafting

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Alexander Brands <abb7@Lehigh.EDU>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [nafex] the evils of grafting
  • Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:41:12 -0500


Quoting nafex-request@lists.ibiblio.org:



Pro seedlings: I can't believe that a plant of any kind on its own roots will not do better than one that is grafted.? It only makes sense.?

This will depend on the environment, at least in some cases. Certainly rootstocks vary in their performance under different conditions (soil composition, moisture levels, diseases prevalent in the area etc). It's unlikely that a seedling is going to outperform every rootstock under every condition. Maybe someone here can confirm, but I've heard that Honeycrisp almost didn't get to trial because it grew so poorly on its own roots.

Also, when you say "do better"......do better for who? The tree or the grower? Dwarfing rootstocks certainly help out the grower if that's the kind of tree they want, even if the tree is not as vigorous as it would be on its own roots.


Not to mention, seedlings are fun and exciting: can't wait to see what I will get... when they finally fruit!? I have seedling apples, pears, plums and apricots; unfortunately, they put out their first blossoms last year when I was transplanting them so I had to remove them.? Got my fingers crossed for this year though!?

I agree it is a fun part of gardening. I have several seedling pawpaws, progeny of excellent cultivars, and I'm very excited to get fruit from them!

Alex

----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page