Geneva rootstock comparison chart changes

General Fruit Growing
#1

I was thinking about how many G.41 rootstock to order and looked that their comparison chart. II noticed some changes in the Geneva rootstock chart. http://www.ctl.cornell.edu/plants/GENEVA-Apple-Rootstocks-Comparison-Chart.pdf

Since the version I had saved on my harddrive -

G.65 and G.11 were dropped and G.213 and G.814 were added. G.65 has disappeared so no surprise about it. G.11 is still pretty common so I am surprised it was dropped from the chart. G11 isn’t replant tolerant but I do not think I’ve read of virus issues with it. Cummins shows about 6000 G.11 for sale and another 2000 trees on G.11. I wonder why it got removed from the chart instead of G.16 which has its share of problems.

New line added for virus sensitivity.

Slight adjustments the tree size class, G.890 changed from M7 to M7/MM106, G.969 reduced from M7/MM106 to M7, and G.222 changed from M26/M7 to M26…

G222 noted for more suckering now. I pulled out some suckers from my G222 trees this summer. Each looked like it had a root attached so I clipped the leaves and stuck them in a flower pot on the back patio. Looks like they are hanging on and might be t-buddable next summer.

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#2

I have just about all of those RS on my trees that were planted last year. I have 3 trees on G16 that have done very well, with good growth, and nicely angled scaffolds. The two trees on G202 have done fair, but my G222 tree has been the worst of all of them. Not much growth at all, and hardly any scaffolds. But, it may be its location, poor soil and a bit too much water at times of heavy rains. I also have one tree each on G890 and G210.

I have 5 M7 trees, and they have done pretty good. My Rox Russet tree I planted last year has done very well on G30. I planted two more trees on G30 this year and my first tree on G11.

It’ll be interesting to see how all these RS perform in the future.

I noticed that I have not seen any trees in Cummins’ inventory on G16. I wonder if they’ve stopped using that RS because of the virus issues?

How have your trees on G222 done, other than the root suckering?

#3

I have a handful of Cummins grafted trees on G30, G890, and G222. Plus my grafts on G222, G41, and G11. I would have used G.890 or G.969 instead of G.222 but Cummins doesn’t usually show those in stock. They do show 2000 G.16 available even if they don’t have many grafted trees on it.

Planted from Cummins in 2015, Redfree on G30, Williams Pride on G890, and Winecrisp on G890 all have grown nicely. The G890s are a little bigger. I think all are staked. The Redfree and WP had some apples last year and all three had a nice crop this year. A little smaller on G222 is a Wickson crab that had a lot of fruit this year and needed staking as it was leaning. I planted a Puget Spice crab on G222 in 2016 that did almost nothing and has done a bit better this year. I won’t let it fruit next year.

The rest of my G222 are my bench grafts or Tbuds in 2015 or 2016. I guess none have done fantastic and a few struggled the first year. My weed control in the orchard for some of these has been lacking. Growth on some B118 grafts has not be impressive either so I would not blame the G222. In my nursery, I have a Galarina that has grown great this summer with some feathers and a honeycrisp next to it that struggled to get past 2ft tall.I am not looking a big tree where I put the G222. I’ll know in a couple years if I am happy with the trees or not.

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#4

I planted some trees on G11 and G41 after reading about them here. All varieties on these RS are growing like crazy. After just one year they are as big as most B9 trees after three years. Hopefully the Geneva rootstocks will grow apples as well as they grow trees.

G935 is the suggested RS for my area at this time, but some reports show significant numbers of trees on this RS are dying, perhaps due to some type of virus sensitivity.

#5

Thanks for the reply. My lone 222 tree is a Golden Russet, so prob not a good sample size. At any rate, I think I will move it next March to more fertile soil, along with some other trees that aren’t doing so well.

My 890 tree is a Goldrush, and the 210 is a Honeycrisp. The GR has done OK, but not as good as I hoped. The HC has struggled as well, it just hasn’t put out many scaffolds. Plus, it got hit pretty bad by J beetles. I also have a Winecrisp, on 202, but it has not done well.

I have also lost a lot of leaves on my other fruit trees and sour cherry bushes, so not a RS problem there. We’ve had a very dry month or so, so that probably contributed to leaf loss, along with the beetles.

I don’t have any of my trees staked, as they’re not tall and top heavy enough to need them. I do have 6ft T-posts if needed.

I hear ya about weed control, I just finished up weeding and mulching the last of my trees. I have to enclose them in 3 or 4ft circular caging to keep deer out. I mowed around the cages but was lax in keeping the weeds out inside the cages. Maybe the weeds kept the trees from doing better? I know trees don’t like competition with weeds and grasses.

As far as fruiting, two G16 trees are Grimes Golden, and I think they could support a few apples next year. As well as my Rox Russet on G30. We have a big Winesap that we got from Lowe’s last year, and it is at least 10ft tall, so it should be able to handle some fruiting. I think that’s an M7 tree, the label just said ‘semi-dwarf’, plus it’s had some root suckering, which is an issue with this RS.

I have two large pears that were planted last year, a Pineapple has got about 12ft tall, and a Moonglow is about 10ft, so they could maybe be allowed to produce. But I know pears take a while.

#6

What trees do you have on those RS? When do you think they’ll be ready to fruit? I planted a G11 Alkmene this spring and it’s done pretty well. Did you have to rig up support for them?

Yeah, when I was ordering my apples this year, I almost got some on G935. Now I’m kinda glad I didn’t. I ended up getting them on G30.

#7

I have Pink Lady on G41 and Golden Delicious, Fuji and Granny on G11. Also have about a dozen varieties on B9 from 4-6 years old. Fuji on G11 is the most vigorous and most of the leaders have grown at least 6 feet this year. Pink Lady on G11 is the least vigorous of the new Geneva trees, but I can’t say for sure how much of the vigor comes from the variety compared to the RS. I have learned that B9 produces a tree too small to be useful in my climate even with drip, good weed control and a lot of N. Unfortunately, I have a bunch of them!

My trees are clipped to a 4 wire trellis for support. If the Geneva RS trees look good next year (year 2), I will allow each tree to produce about a dozen apples.

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#9

All the Geneva trees are growing quickly. The G11 are larger then the G41 trees, but the rootstock shanks on the G41 trees were so long I could not get it deep enough in my shallow soil and I had to leave the graft union a few inches too high.

The G41 trees from Waffler Nursety looked a lot better than the the G11 from Vaughn when they first arrived, but almost all G11 have reached the 9 foot wire and filled in their space at 4X12. I’m set up to have a lot of apples on the G11 trees unless bitter rot strikes again this year

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#11

Anyone have experience with cotton (Texas) root rot and geneva rootstocks? My M111/Goldrush trees have done great for 3 years but I lost 3 this year to cotton root rot. Thinking of planting G890/Goldrush to replace.

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#12

That is a tough question. I have been reading about Geneva rootstocks in my spare time.
Cotton Root Rot | Texas Plant Disease Handbook.

Do you have high pH soil, as is suggested by the link?

This has some good info on Geneva stocks, and even has M111 for comparison. They specifically list G41 as being suitable for warm climates(Mexico). The data suggests it does well in higher pH clay soil. G890 and G969 seem to show promise as free-standing trees, but there is less data out there.
05-09-11.pdf (352.9 KB)
Reig-Pages-3-8-from-NYFQ-Fall-Book-2017.pdf (1.1 MB)

I have found some info that may be useful. I would like to grow dwarf Honeycrisp without bitter pit, so I was looking into the Geneva rootstocks for info on calcium uptake. I am still collecting data, but I think some of the good/poor rootstock/scion/soil combos can be explained by page 7 of the second file.
For example, I have been told that Jonagold makes very good apples on M26 stock. I have found multiple sources that claim Jonagold is hungry for K and Mg. At least 1 source claimed that Jonagold will often produce delicious apples one year, only to have next year’s crop turn out insipid. Long story short: they blamed the potash consumption.
I don’t know if it helps you plan your orchard, but it is food for thought.

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#13

Thanks much for the article and thoughts. I do have high pH soil. 7.8 on average. Also, it’s clay loam. I’ve been adding lots of mulch and small amounts of gypsum/sulfur in the winter on top of normal fertilization. I have them on raised berms to help with drainagae and have them trellised due to our high winds in Texas.

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#14

I should probably note that Cornell recommends grafting Geneva rootstock 6" above the soil line. Also, G41 is prone to root breakage during transplant if the rootstock is mature. They recommend planting maiden whips on G41 to avoid the problem.

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#15

My orchard is only in 2nd year, but I’ve had a little experience. Last year I planted Akane on G.890, Arkansas Black on G.41, goldrush on G.222, William’s pride on g.210 , stayman winesap on m111., Red rebel on m111 and Revered Morgan on m111. There are also pomegranates planted between each group of cultivars, to decrease the speed of the cotton root rot.
This year, the cotton root rot took out one of my pears, and then took out the winesap directly north of it. It then took out a William’s pride on g.210, in the middle of the row, then a Red Rebel on m111 in the middle of a different row. Those trees were not next to each other, and it hasn’t spread from those spots. I haven’t dug up the winesap or red rebel yet, but I did see cotton root rot strands on the william’s pride and the pear. That William’s pride had a weird looking graft and got knocked over last year, so maybe stress made it more susceptible? The winesap was doing ok, as was the Red Rebel. Neither of these were growing as vigorously as the geneva rootstocks.

G.890 and G.41 have shown the best heat tolerance. I honestly thought the first tree to fall to cotton root rot would have been the goldrush on G.222. I know we can grow goldrush in our area, there’s a guy in Mason that gets away with it. But my goldrush, while vigorous, has leaves that fold at 45 degree angles as soon as it gets hot. The other trees will have leaves that fold, but not as bad as this.
The G.890 has grown the best. I um…lolly-popped my trees though, and I’ve had to stake this rootstock as a result.

My pH is above 7.5, and I have to occasionally add chelated iron, as well as other fertilizer.

On a side note, it’s been a bad year for cotton root rot in my area (Fredericksburg). I’ve seen some die around town and the local research orchard we have here is starting to lose mature pear trees up the row. Of course it went around the worthless one that never produces(or it just hasn’t had it’s chance yet).

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#16

Have you talked with the local extension office? I’m moving to Texas soon and very concerned about cotton root rot. From what I understand, it affects all apple rootstocks.

#17

To rephrase that question, from my understanding, all rootstocks are equally susceptible to cotton root rot. But if anyone has information to contradict that, I would be very interested.

#18

Interesting. I’ve thought about moving more towards dwarf stocks like G41 instead of G890 hoping they wouldn’t catch as much wind. They’re staked with conduit but we can get 60 mph winds on the plains.

#19

I’ve talked to the extension office and they say it’s almost pointless to try apples in a cotton root rot area. My oldest trees are now 5 years old. I’m noticing some survive better than others but can’t really find any info on cotton root rot trials with apple rootstocks.

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#20

G-41 has reported issues with breaking in high wind. You would probably want a strong trellis.

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#21

It’s not almost pointless but our Texas Extension Service treats it this way. I think what happened in the Kerrville (TX) area really turned them off. I have seen yard trees in Fredericksburg that have survived and produced. There are a couple of apple orchards in the granite soil area around Mason and Llano that seem to be persisting. The M111 rootstock is supposed to be the best (drought and heat tolerance), but they haven’t trialed the geneva series at all. That’s part of the reason why I planted my orchard.
I don’t think they will ever find complete resistance in a rootstock, but if they can find partial resistance like what pecan trees have, that is workable. For grapes flutriafol fungicide has been shown to help them resist cotton root rot, but I don’t think it’s labeled for apples. It is also prohibitively expensive.

#22

Does anyone have experience with the newer G213 rootstock?