North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Mauch1@aol.com]

Del, since your original question seems to have gone the way of the Black 
Walnut :-), I thought I'd try to give a personal answer to your question.

>Question 1: How important is it to get the individual roots >of a clonal 
>rootstock layed out in its own path?
>By just throwing dirt around it they all clump together - >?>but they are so 
>fine and tangled it seems rediculously laborious to seperate >them, 
>especially if there are a lot to plant.
I'd guess I'd come somewhere "in-between", I'm a hobbyist and planting a few 
at a time (although I typically don't have much time :-(  I try to spread the 
roots out a little bit, but I don't make sure that each of those roots has a 
seperate path.  If you were using a tree planter, I'd guess you'd barely have 
time to get the tree in the soil.  


>Question 2: I prune seedling roots somewhat like I do a >tree, how does one 
>prune the masses of little roots of clonal rootstocks?
>My thought is to remove half of them right at the base - >rather than 
>cutting 
>the tips (thinking of 5 years down the road - and all those >tiny roots 
>strangling each other)
Well, I typically try not to trim roots.  I try to make my hole wide enough 
to harbor all the roots.  I'll even allow them to make a slight spiral as 
long as the roots aren't actually wrapping around the hole.  As to the clonal 
stocks, I think they root prune themselves.  When you did them up after 
they've grown, only a few of the roots will have survived and become 
dominant.  I (think) it will look pretty much like the seedling stocks (but 
no tap root).

-- 
Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6
40° 5' N    75° 51'W
~650 ft elevation