Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Mark and Geneva Rootstock and Ottawa-3

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: David.Maxwell@dal.ca
  • To: nafex <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Mark and Geneva Rootstock and Ottawa-3
  • Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:56:21 -0400


<SNIP>
A few trees started elsewhere on Ott-3 are also doing noticeably well here,
but Ott-3 is
difficult to impossible to use for benchgrafts because roots on stooled
rootstock starts are
scant; Ott-3 needs to grow for a year before survivors are grafted.
>
> Pete Tallman
> Longmont, CO zone 5 or so

I regrafted 60% of my small orchard to O-3 about 5 years ago (from M-9). In
addition I have
a number of trees on Alnarp with an O-3 interstem. Both these are doing
well. I agree that
O-3 is extremely difficult to stool, and produces miserable little roots.
But growing them out
for a year is in itself a problem, as O-3 very much dislikes being moved.
Even if one can get
the rootstock to produce decent roots before grafting, as soon as you put it
out in the orchard
it will simply sit and sulk for 1 to 2 years before deciding to grow. One
good way around both
of these problems is to nurse root graft the O-3: using just a piece of
seedling root (or
anything else that is to hand), graft it to a stick of O-3, then bury the
whole graft, leaving just
the top of the O-3 scion sticking out. Rather surprisingly this actually
works. Or, use the O-3
as an interstem. (And actually I rather like this because it gives a much
better rooted tree
that does not need to be staked.)

David Maxwell, in Nova Scotia (in the non-existent Dominion to the North)
Zone 5a






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page