North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["tanis cuff" <tanistanis@hotmail.com>]

Thanks.  I tried to google for this, and couldn't find anything about 
timing.

The stems I'm working with were year-old when I added the compost in late 
May.  My 2- or 3-year-old MM111 apple trunks grow roots if they are just 
shaded too much, Bud.118 is almost as bad.  I'll try to remember to post 
what I find on the OHxF pear next spring.


----Original Message Follows----
From: "Lon J. Rombough" >
To: North American Fruit Explorers <>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] stooling-bed timeline?
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 17:12:53 -0700

Commercially, they stool them (mound soil around them) in the spring and dig 
them the next winter.  In other words, this coming winter or early next 
spring.
Or to give the process in detail, the mother tree is cut off low in early 
spring before buds break.  When shoots are about six inches tall, soil, or 
more often baked sawdust, is hilled around the base of the shoots so that at 
least half the length is covered.  The sawdust is kept moist and more added 
as the shoots grow until the mound is at least a foot deep.  In the winter, 
the sawdust is pulled back and the now-rooted shoots are cut off at the 
base.  The process is repeated for several years until the mother tree gets 
too knobby and large to handle  easily, then the field it pulled.  
Meanwhile, a new one has been started elsewhere, ready to take over.