Lovell/Citation Rootstock Purchase

Does anyone here know where I can purchase Lovell and/or citation rootstocks? or their seeds?

Thanks…

You can try Lawyers Nursery in Montana, they have a seed dept… Not sure they would have any seed remaining at this time of year though.

When I was looking I found this place. They are kinda pricy for small orders though.

http://www.ripleycountyfarms.com/rootstock.htm

Ahmad,

So far I haven’t found an appreciable difference b/t the full sized peach rootstocks Lovell, Bailey, Halford, Guardian, Tenn Nat., ect., and regular peach seedlings I’ve grown myself.

I just save seed from later cultivars, as supposedly it germinates better than seed from early cultivars, plant the seed in the fall as the peaches come off the tree and they come up pretty good next spring. My germination the following spring rates from about 75% to 25%. Some pits which don’t germinate the first spring, go ahead and germinate the second spring.

If you plan on selling trees, that may not work for you, as customers probably want peaches on a rootstock they’ve heard of.

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http://fps.ucdavis.edu/treelisting.cfm?treegroup=rootstock&seedorder=yes
http://fps.ucdavis.edu/treeprice.cfm

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Good luck with them! 3 strikes and they were out for me. Never have anything available when they do answer the phone and most of the time they dont return calls. I was excited to find their website since they are located relatively close to me, but after 2 years of trying I have given up on using them.

Thanks to you all. I love this forum for all its members who are always very generous with their help…

Stan,

I remember seeing this website before on this forum, but I searched for the previous posting yesterday and could not find it. Thanks for sending the links.

If you are near Baltimore any time you are welcome to some seedlings growing in my orchard. I don’t have the heart to kill them and I use a few to replace trees. I probably have 30 of them now.

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Thanks for the tip Olpea. If I start from a seed as you describe this summer/fall, how long will it take me until I have a small tree that I can graft onto?

Many thanks Scott! I’ll pm you to arrange.

If you saw a seed in Fall '18, it will sprout in Spring '19 and will be ready to bud onto in Summer '19 or graft onto in Spring '20.

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Stan is right. It takes one season’s growth to be able to graft or bud. I sometimes keep rootstocks I haven’t grafted for a second season, but by that time they are getting pretty big. Two year peach rootstocks still bud OK (not as good as single season rootstocks) but two year roostocks don’t graft well at all (unless you graft high up). Two year trees are also harder to dig up and replant. Much bigger replant hole is required.

This is in my area where we have long growing seasons. In the Northeast, where you are, seedlings may not grow as rapidly, so two year rootstocks may be just fine for grafting and budding.

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Burnt Ridge sells Lovell. Just got their catalog.

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@Ahmad I purchased Lovell from Burnt Ridge. They were pretty small so, I planted them for a year and will graft to them this spring. Well, that’s the plan : )

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I’ve been looking for some Lovell as well. I put in a scion wood order earlier with Burnt Ridge but somehow overlooked their rootstock offerings. Thanks for the info.
Also, Raintree has K1 which can be used for peach.

If you use K1 for peach, I suggest you graft Redhaven onto it first as an interstem for any other peach/nectarine. Redhaven has been proven to have very good compatibility with K1 in tests conducted by multiple universities. Also, letting K1 to establish for one year will improve the chances of grafts taking and growing well.

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Stan,

The UC Davis website indicates that the available propagation material are either seeds (which I know how to plant :slight_smile:) or “Rootstock Cuttings”, which I am not sure how to plant. Would these cuttings produce roots and sprout upon planting them in moist soil material, the same way that fig cuttings behave?

They also noted that their minimum order is $25, which would give me 250 seeds or 25 cuttings ($0.1/seed and $1/cutting), I wish they did not have this minimum order, as I am not planning to start a commercial orchard…

Citation roots very well from dormant cuttings, the same way as figs do; this is how it’s propagated commercially. Lovell, I think, is mostly propagated by seeds, I didn’t see its rooting ability discussed in the literature.

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Lovell is seedling of the Lovell peach variety. I don’t know about rootstock cuttings but my guess is it is a piece of root. Plant it and it will sprout new top growth.

If you only need a couple Burnt Ridge or Raintree should have something. I got my prunus rootstocks from one of those two or from Cummins.

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