North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Alexander Brands <abb7@Lehigh.EDU>]

> Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:18:33 -0500 (EST)
> From: Steven Covacci <filtertitle@aol.com>
> Subject: [nafex] Multiple fruit trees IN SAME hole - so that they fuse
> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

> What would happen if you planted 3 varieties of, for instance, sweet  
> cherry in the same hole, all on the same rootstocks; but not plant  
> them 12" to 30" apart, but just 3" apart.  Undoubtedly, they would  
> eventually fuse (inosculate).  Since you would, typically, maintain  
> the tree with pruning, why couldn't you control the tree's ultimate  
> structure so that the most dominate variety or varieties do not  
> prevail over the least vigorous with a pruning program?
>
> I'm thinking of planting all of my cherries in the same hole; then  
> all of my pears in another; etc.

Steve,

The trunks may fuse, and you would wind up with something similar to a  
multi grafted tree, but why would you do this?  What would be the  
advantage over a multi grafted tree?  What's the advantage over  
spacing them further apart?  It doesn't seem like you'd save that much  
room over spacing them in a 2 foot circle or whatever.

  My preference would be a bona fide single trunk, rather than three  
trunks fused together, mostly because I think the interface between  
the trunks is likely to be a source of problems.  How do you imagine  
the top of the fused region?  It seems to me that once the trunks are  
in contact at the bottom, you will always have an area, analogous to a  
tight crotch with included bark, that will collect debris and water,  
never drying out, and prone to rot or fungus.  If one of the trunks  
does die, it seems like that would be trouble for the other trunks  
once to starts to rot.  If they were really inosculated, it would  
leave the other two with an open barkless strip for the length of the  
fusion.

Alex



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