Apple rootstock question for zone 7a

General Fruit Growing
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Last year I grafted several scions onto M111, this year, due to space and precocity, I was wanting to graft onto a dwarf or a smaller semi-dwarf rootstock This is a quote from a Missouri extension publication

“Over time, a spur-type cultivar on M.9, Bud.9, G.11, G.41 or G.16 will “runt-out” and produce a small crop of apples. Nonspur-type cultivars grafted onto a dwarfing rootstock should produce a consistent load of apples each season over the life of the tree”.

Until recently I thought all apples were spur bearers, I now know this is not the case but I can find no site that consistently states if a cultivar is spur, tip or intermediate bearing. I ask three different AI’s and results were very inconsistent, especially in regards to the none spur types. Grok listed nearly all my cultivars as spur bearing, ChatGPT listed about half as spur bearing and the remainder as tip or intermediate, and Google listed the spur types mostly consistent with chatgpt but listed more tip bearers.

I can list the cultivars that I will graft if needed, but really just want a reliable reference that states the bearing tendency of a given cultivar.

I also was questioning the validity of the above quote. If it’s true, ( I have no reason to doubt), and I know for sure which are not spur bearers I can graft those to dwarf and use M7 for the spur types.

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This is the website you need.

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I have not run into issues with spur bearers per se. P.2 semidwarf does not grow well with anything less then moderate vigor. Heat however is a factor though. B9. B10, M26 runt out bad in hot humid summers.

Spur bearers are usually heavy producers; but if you thin it is not a big factor. And it helps with regular annual fruiting.

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4

I’m pretty sure people have pretty old dwarf apple trees that are spur bearing.

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It’s a great site and it does state the bearing type for some cultivars, but many are not stated. Would it be a safe assumption that if not stated it’s probably spur bearing?
Orange Pippin is also a site I have used that seems OK.

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Many apple varieties come in both spur and non-spur variants.

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In southeast Missouri I have hot humid summers. I have about 8-12” of loam over 3+’ of clay.

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Honestly, you could still rejuvenate runted out dwarf spur bearers by providing dormant pruning which encourages more vigorous growth.

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I have also struggled with the inconsistency of information when it comes to tip or spur bearing. fruitID.com seems to be more reliable than other sites. It’s heavily biased towards UK heirloom apples and based on the NFC at Brogdale but they are adding more.

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Lol…Some apple varieties have an identity problem. And fruit on spurs AND tips.

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This may help. I just posted a list to the reference section. It includes over 1,000 apple varieties and organizes them based on whether they are spur-bearing or tip-bearing.

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