Understanding Fruit Tree Labels
And why the rootstock label is important.
Before we delve into the mysterious world of deciphering fruit tree root stock information, here’s what’s happening over on the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast this past week:
Tuesday, Feb. 20: Episode 310 Q&A - Homegrown Chicken Food?
Here's a question that came in to gardenbasics.net. It's from Joshua, he lives in South West Missouri, and he has a chicken question. He asks, "we own chickens and are trying to become more self sufficient and sustaining. Instead of buying feed for them, is there a way to grow their whole diet in the garden? I've looked online but the only nutrition info about a chicken's diet is mainly their protein percentage needed. What about the other macro and micronutrients?" Joshua says he lives in zone 6B, in southwest Missouri. He goes on to ask, "Is there a list of crops to grow that would make a balanced nutritious daily meal for the egg layers? So far, I've done the math and about one and a half cups of soybeans would meet all the daily protein needs for my six chickens. But I have no idea about everything else. Also, how different will a chickens diet need to be if they are meat chickens?"
This thought - and questions - are not uncommon to Urban Chicken Consultant and Certified Poultry Inspector Cherie-Sintes Glover, who oversees the website, ChickensForEggs.com . The problem, though, is this: not only do chickens need differing nutrients through five distinct life stages, the home gardener would also need to be a vertically integrated grain farmer-miller-scientist to come up with the right, healthy answers for your backyard flock. And have a ton of money, too. Cherie has good advice, though, for those pursuing a sustainability course of action for their chickens. Give it a listen, or pass along this link to those you know who are raising chickens so they can listen to this episode or read the transcript.
Friday, Feb. 22: Episode 311 - Tomato Seed Starting Tips
Last week (in Episode 309), we gave you tips for starting your pepper plants from seed. Today, we have tips for starting your summertime tomatoes from seed. And now’s the time to begin, Again, we get a little help from America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture Professor, Debbie Flower.
She has ingenious ways of determining if your old tomato seeds are still any good. She has advice on which media is best for starting tomato seeds. And, the importance of cleaning your pots thoroughly, before planting tomato seeds. And if that wasn’t enough, Debbie talks about the importance of light and wind for those young tomato seedlings.
It’s all in Episode 311 of Garden Basics - Tomato Seed Starting Tips.
Understanding Fruit Tree Rootstock Labels
If you drop by your favorite nursery this weekend, you’ll notice that there are plenty of deciduous fruit trees in stock. Of course, what you’ll see this weekend will be bare trees, so you’ll be picking out a fruit tree based on the information on the label.
After you're done salivating over the fruit's juicy picture tag as well as the details listed on the back of that tag attached to that stick of a tree, pay attention to the bottom label. The lower tag contains the rootstock information, critical in determining whether the tree will live or die in your soil and growing conditions.
Fruit trees are grafted onto various rootstocks to extend the range for that tree, giving it the ability to grow where it might not normally be possible. Rootstocks also help control the height of the tree or offer greater drought, disease, and cold tolerance. However, no single rootstock is perfect. Each has its pros and cons. Here is a list of some of the more commonly available rootstocks for peach, plum, apricot, pluot, cherry, prune, and apple trees. The information primarily comes courtesy of wholesale fruit tree grower, Dave Wilson Nursery:
• Nemaguard (peach). Pros: root-knot nematode resistant, vigorous, strong tree. Cons: susceptible to root-lesion nematode, prefers sandy (not clay) soil, susceptible to oak root fungus and bacterial canker.
• Lovell (peach). Pros: slightly more resistant to wet conditions than Nemaguard but still prefers well-drained soils. Slightly more resistant to bacterial canker than Nemaguard. Cons: susceptible to root knot and root-lesion nematodes and to oak-root fungus. somewhat susceptible to bacterial canker.
• Citation (peach/plum/apricot). Pros: Dwarf peach and nectarine tree height to 8-14 feet; apricots and plums are held to 12-18 feet. Increases size and sugar content of fruit. Very tolerant of wet soils. Resists root-knot nematodes. Induces heavy bearing at a young age. Cons: Not drought tolerant (drought induces early dormancy in dry soil). Susceptible to crown gall, bacterial canker, and oak root fungus, intolerant of viruses on peach or nectarine.
• Myrobalan 29-C (plum, pluot). Pros: makes a large tree, immune to root knot nematode, tolerates wet soils, less sucker development than on Marianna 2624 rootstock. Cons: Tree may tend to lean, susceptible to oak root fungus.
• OHxF 333 (pears) Pros: Dwarfed to about 2/3 the size of standard pear trees, about 12-18 feet if not pruned. Widely adapted, disease resistant. Cons: according to Washington State University, it is not very precocious (you may have to wait a few years for fruit) and gives few fruits with reduced size.
• M-111(apples) Pros: Excellent all-around rootstock for apples. Tolerates wet, dry, or poor soils. Resists wooly apple aphid and collar rot. Induces bearing at a young age. Cons: Unpruned tree height is 80-90% of a standard apple tree, about 15-25 feet, but can be held to any desired height by summer pruning.
• Geneva 969 (apples) Developed by Cornell University. Pros: Well-anchored. Dwarfs to 50% of a standard tree. High resistance to woolly apple aphids and fireblight. Few suckers. Cons: medium resistance to crown and root rots. Needs adequate drainage.
• M-7 (apples) Pros: Unpruned, it can keep an apple tree at about 2/3 of standard height, about 12-20 feet. Induces early and heavy bearing. Resists fireblight and powdery mildew. Good anchorage. Cons: only moderately resistant to collar rot (phytophthora).
• Maxma 14 brokforest (cherry) Pros: dwarfing to about 2/3 of standard sweet cherry trees. Induces early heavy bearing. Good tolerance to wet soils. Resistant to bacterial canker and nematodes. Well anchored. Very little suckering. Cons: Less dwarfing expected in fertile, loamy soils. Crop management may be needed for productive varieties in the early years.
• Mahaleb (cherry) Pros: Induces bearing at a young age. Resists crown gall, bacterial canker, and some nematodes. Cons: not tolerant of wet soils.
• Mazzard (cherry) Pros: Vigorous and more tolerant of wet soils than Mahaleb. Resistant to root knot nematodes and oak root fungus. Cons: Still needs good drainage. Trees can get to 30-40 feet tall but can be held to any desired height with summer pruning.
If that information is too much to digest before you go fruit tree hunting, there is a much simpler answer. Your local, independent nursery will have the combinations of fruit trees on rootstocks that will generally work best for your area’s soil.
Thank you for also listening to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast! It’s available wherever you get your podcasts. Please share it with your garden friends.
Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes to ride his bike(s).