North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Alexander Brands <abb7@Lehigh.EDU>]

Quoting nafex-request@lists.ibiblio.org:


> Pro seedlings: I can't believe that a plant of any kind on its own  
> roots will not do better than one that is grafted.? It only makes  
> sense.?

This will depend on the environment, at least in some cases.   
Certainly rootstocks vary in their performance under different  
conditions (soil composition, moisture levels, diseases prevalent in  
the area etc).  It's unlikely that a seedling is going to outperform  
every rootstock under every condition.  Maybe someone here can  
confirm, but I've heard that Honeycrisp almost didn't get to trial  
because it grew so poorly on its own roots.

Also, when you say "do better"......do better for who?  The tree or  
the grower?  Dwarfing rootstocks certainly help out the grower if  
that's the kind of tree they want, even if the tree is not as vigorous  
as it would be on its own roots.


> Not to mention, seedlings are fun and exciting: can't wait to see  
> what I will get... when they finally fruit!? I have seedling apples,  
> pears, plums and apricots; unfortunately, they put out their first  
> blossoms last year when I was transplanting them so I had to remove  
> them.? Got my fingers crossed for this year though!?

I agree it is a fun part of gardening.  I have several seedling  
pawpaws, progeny of excellent cultivars, and I'm very excited to get  
fruit from them!

Alex

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