Mostly just curious. I may try grafting a few trees at some point with various rootstocks, including seedlings.
Is there any real difference between seedling rootstocks grown from one variety or another?
Does Antonovka provide any additional benefit over standard seedling rootstock in warmer climates that don’t need the cold hardiness?
Has anyone ever tried using other species like Malus floribunda or Malus angustifolia?
I had a couple apples this year on a 2019 graft to an Antonovka rootstock. It’s a healthy rootstock, seed-grown, not from a stool bed.
And I’ve found in planting seeds, Fuji seedlings are the least bothered by scab and rust of any I’ve tried to grow from seeds I saved myself. (And Opal is the pits, along with Granny Smith).
Yes, there is a difference in seeds for growing rootstocks.
But, I can’t tell you the best ones.
Maybe some study exists somewhere?
I keep thinking Arkansas Black…and I’ll be planting some of them for seedlings this spring.