North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["HDessureault" <inter.verbis@videotron.ca>]

To Northern Nafexer enjoying the sunshine for a change,

 

To follow up on Charles Paradise comments, here Prunus Pennsylvanica is called Pin cherry.

It is a tree that does not last very long and is very susceptible to disease. And it does run under ground in every direction and spreads. However, it is wonderful to turn a sandy sterile hillside into a more productive environment, if you can put up with it for a while.

As far as getting rid of it, that is another story. To pull up the rambling laterals, you sure have to be determined. One approach is to leave all those roots and cut the new growth all the time as you would rough lawn or use the new growth as mulch. I have been using the second approach for a few years now on a section of land which I am slowly turning into an orchard.

Once you have cut the main trees (up to 3", you can turn the secondary shoots the next year (up to 3 feet a year) into mulch. It is a much easier approach than to have to pull up all those lateral roots that requires a lot of strength, not to mention dedication and time. Here, those shoots are ready to be used as mulch at the end of June. Just when it becomes necessary to mulch most year. Here some local boys offer their services with a chipper for a fee, as a summer job. At the end of the day you have a big pile to move quickly to the base of fruit trees. It is not a cheap way to get a pile of wonderful mulch but helping local teens is a good cause.

The idea of using Prunus Pennsylvanica as rootstocks is that it is readily available, I think.

Once you have a take, it is most important to transplant your grafted tree to bury the graft union below ground so that the variety can hopefully make its own roots. Further, if you have poor sandy soil, it will help the tree adapt to the conditions. I read that many varieties of Prunus rootstock require heavy soil.

Prunus Pennsylvanica is somewhat brittle and it helps to graft after a generous rain. It transplants really well the following Fall.

Hélène, zone 3-4

(Like many others, I am not too sure about my zone anymore!)