North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>]

Caren, back in the 1970s I asked an employee at a garden centre at 
Ottawa why they were selling Bing sweet cherry which would not even 
survive much less bear fruit. He told me almost in so many words that 
they were not in business to lose money by telling customers what they 
should not buy. If a customer wanted to buy something, they would sell 
it. I fear that a lot of businesses still operate on that principle.


Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada


On 23/05/2011 11:44 AM, Caren Kirk wrote:
>    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
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