To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Are interstocks on pecans common?
Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2007 13:44:10 -0600
At 01:45 PM 3/6/2007, Hans wrote:
Are some nurseries in the North of the USA sometimes using other
rootstock than Pecan for their Pecan graftings?
Most nut tree nurseries that I am familiar with - whether in the
southern or northern/midwestern US - use seedling pecans as rootstock
for pecan/hickory/hican varieties. There *may* be a few northern
nurseries that are using shagbark hickory as an understock for pecan,
but I would not find that to be a desirable choice here in zone 6, as
the pecan would likely overgrow the slower-growing C.ovata
understock, and be predisposed to break-over at the graft union at
some time in the future; additionally, I would anticipate smaller nut
size &/or poorer kernel 'fill' with C.ovata rootstock, as
C.illinoensis continues to push vegetative growth farther into the
growing season than does C.ovata.
It's unlikely that many would be using C.cordiformis, as it is known,
at least anecdotally, to be incompatible with many pecan and hickory
selections.