Rootstock for Goldrush to combat low vigor

I planted several trees on that rootstock in a windy site about 12 years ago and one broke off about 6 years ago- the rest are growing strong. It was a Kidd’s Orange Red that snapped off but two more of the same variety are thriving. Still it was a weird break, as though the tissues of the rootstock and scion didn’t truly merge.

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@alan (and others), when does Kidd’s Orange Red ripen for you? Thanks in advance.

Here in NY it ripens around the 2nd week of Sept. By Oct there is nothing in the tree.

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@fruitnut hank you for telling me about your experience with Gold Rush. We do have very hot summers here in central Georgia, but also get a decent amount of chilling hours…averaging around 900 the last few years.

Maybe that will allow it to grow a bit bigger than yours?

@alan Thanks for the reminder that hopefully a lot of the growth will be under my control.

Thank you everyone for your advice and opinions. I’ll probably just go with the G30 and cross my fingers and see what happens. it really seems to depend on your location how successful it is, as there is a wide range of results in this thread.

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Soil type is huge also. I have customers with deep clay loam where the trees grow to twice the size as my healthy trees, same clones above and below, but mine is a sandy silt that doesn’t hold much water long. I don’t like growing fruit trees in a deep, rich farm soil. They are easier to manage and produce somewhat higher brix fruit in less rich and fine soil.

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Awesome suggestion. As a newbie myself, understanding pruning strategies will be extremely helpful, especially as it relates to the specific types. Thanks.

One more thing I would do differently if I had it to do over–find a more vigorous rootstock for Goldrush. In 1992 I grafted 5 of them onto M27 for a section of a Belgian Fence, and one more for a freestanding tree elsewhere on my suburban property (northern Illinois). The 5 espaliers are runts, not even reaching the 6 feet tall that the other 2 sections of 5 each of Empire and Blushing Golden, which I put on at the same time. The freestanding tree is equally runty.

I had to go with G30 with my Suncrisp and Zestar trees that I ordered from Cummims. I would’ve liked to got G935’s, but waited too long before I decided to actually buy them.

But, we’ll see what happens. I’m not too worried about it. I can always stake them if need be. I planted a G30 Roxbury Russet last spring and it grew very well.

I planted several G30 trees 15 years ago on a windy site. A Kidd’s Orange Red snapped off about 7 years ago with a seemingly weak graft union. All the other trees, including 2 Kidds, are functioning beautifully on G30, bearing heavy crops and holding up to the wind.

I have a Goldrush on B9. Yup, it’s a runt. I bought it at a time that I had convinced myself that B9 was the perfect rootstock. Now I wish that I didn’t have any B9.

Y’all gave me an Idea though… I have some seedling rootstock that I don’t know what to do with. The problem is that my GR is so runty I might not be able to find a Scion.

With all these horror stories of runty GR’s, should I buy it on B118 if I want it like an M7/G30 size?

I know if I do that, though, it will grow 25 feet tall…

I’ve posted this picture before but for my purposes of pruning per the tall spindle method with around 5 foot spacing I find my G-11 rootstock to be great for my Goldrush tree. It is my most productive dwarf apple tree, seems to fit the spacing well with very little pruning or pulling down branches needed.

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I cut my runty GR on 106 back to stubs so as to get scions for T budding this summer.

Beautiful tree

Mike

Chris

Great looking tree!

How did you get the tree to produce so many small branches?

Which all my trees looked that good. The tree was planted I fall of 2012. Seems like the batch of trees I got from Cummins that year were pretty much all whips so I did the notching technique above the buds around bloom to get more branching. The Goldrush seems to have responded well to the notching but maybe because it is naturally a more grower friendly tree.

I learned you got to be careful with notching, the following year I notched a bunch of young trees right before bloom, then we had lots heavy rain during bloom time and I had me a really bad fireblight outbreak on my hands, pretty sure the notching contributed to the outbreak.

I’ve got Goldrush on EMLA.111 from Boyer’s. It is growing fairly well, and I feel pleased with the combo so far. It tries to fruit every year, but last year fell victim to the June drop. Two years ago it produced a few truly divine apples. I also have Suncrisp and Cherryville Black budded on that tree. The Suncrisp is trying with some success to dominate and outgrow the others.

I also have Goldrush multi-budded on G.935, a more recent addition. No fruit yet. Beautiful looking tree. Nice wide crotch angles. It shares space with Candycrisp and Baker’s Delicious.

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Thanks for the info! Decisions, decisions…

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I also have GR on G935, sounds like a good combo.

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Goldrush now on EMLA.111!

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