North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Caren Kirk <quirky@videotron.ca>]

 I'm seeing more and more of the "4 in one" or "5 in one" fruit trees, 
i.e. a pear, apple, plum or cherry with 4 or more different varieties 
grafted. They're all over the large surface DIY stores, but they're also 
being sold in several higher quality garden centres. Obviously trying to 
appeal to those of us with not a lot of space that want to try fruit 
growing. I totally get the concept.

However I question the scruples of selling these trees to an uneducated 
public. I am by no means an expert but I am trying to learn a lot about 
fruit growing and have investigated and have some experience with 
certain varieties for my zone. I have seen plums with 3 japanese 
varieties and 1 self-sterile european. How is that meant to work? They 
have pears where only 2 out of the 4 varieties are hardy in our area. 
Not to mention the sweet cherries which are practically all for a zone 
or 2 warmer.

Of course then there are the issues of pruning, spray requirements etc 
for multi-grafted trees. There is no or very little information given on 
rusticity, care etc with these trees, especially from the large surface 
retailers.

I am all for experimenting and pushing the limits with fruit growing and 
I know that multi-grafted trees can serve a purpose, However I just 
think that Joe Public has no idea what they are getting themselves in 
for, and people are exploiting the concept of a perfect tree to a 
somewhat ignorant consumer base.

Any thoughts?

Caren Kirk
St. Jerome, QC