North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[sherwin dubren <sherwindu@comcast.net>]

The quality of rootstock's from big suppliers like Treco
appears to lack consistency.  I have seen large orders
of rootstock's from them via Raintree and the condition
of the roots varies.  Out of 100 Bud 9 rootstock's, you
may see 10 percent, or more with sparse roots while
the others have varying degree of roots.  Treco sells
something they call 'regrades' which are reportedly
of lesser quality for a 20 percent discount.  Some
of the regular rootstock's I mentioned look like they
belong in the regrade category.

In the old Nafex Grafting Handbook (p.106), there is some
mention of how to buy a rootstock.  There, something
called 'liners' are described as something grown by
most suppliers planted out in the dormant season, intended
for eventual budding.  These are described as under
developed for sustaining a newly grafted scion.  It further
states that liners of clonal rootstock's are more likely
to have sparse root formation.  It that what I am seeing?
One suggestion is to grow your own rootstock's, which I
would not undertake as a backyard orchardist.

Some nurseries are selling 'premium' rootstock's at a
higher price than Treco.  Are these any better, and
why?  Larger size rootstock's may have bigger roots,
but they are harder to graft onto.  Maybe this is
still preferable, if the larger rootstock's have larger
root structures.

It seems now like buying rootstock's is somewhat of
a c__p shoot.  I had all nine of my Bud 9 grafts
fail last year, possibly partly due to poor rootstock's.
Admittedly, there are lots of other factors involved,
like proper callusing of the graft, hydration, etc.,
etc.  I have had much better success with other rootstock's.
Besides, Bud 9 is a very hard wood and difficult to do
whip-and-tongue grafts.  Some of the better grafts, like
bark grafts are not suitable for joining two small size
scions and rootstock's.

                     Sherwin Dubren