I would like to ask for assistance from the brain trust. Summers here in Georgia are hot and dry, and I would prefer to plant trees, especially bare root, in September and October so they can get established during these cooler months of the year. I have been searching for MM111, Geneva 41 and Budagovski 9 rootstock, MM111 being the most important to me. I’ve checked the places that occurred to me first. Raintree Nursery lists all three, but when I emailed them earlier today they said “All rootstocks come into the Nursery late February and ship out after that.”
Should I simply order MM111 from Burnt Ridge Nursery and forgo the others? They are intended solely for receiving grafts of Clark’s Crabapple.
I checked on a handful of field grafts on wild apple rootstocks from this spring. 2 out of 5 survived the heat and drought. One of those was a Clark’s Crab. Now to see if it can survive a central MN winter after being stressed all summer/early fall.
I dug around in the grass (while listening for the train) and found three doing nicely. I’m pleased because they are in a row of 10 or so grafts and they’re the only ones that have survived. I have them on seedling roots. Due to a fencing project there’s a time warp … they are last years grafts. So they took AND survived a winter - time to finish this fence and get them planted out.
Wanted to remind everyone that i highly recommend growing these seeds. These are wild selected seedlings i grew. The genetics on these apples are pretty amazing.
Have had people message me like @benfordlepley looking to buy a small amount of these apples or others to try. We have a severe drought in my area but @39thparallel orchard has a well and he is closer to the river where more water is available. If you want to try a small quantity of pears or apples it would be best to contact him if you want to try them before you graft a tree or buy a tree. His Roxbury russet apples are delicious as well i highly recommend you try those if your in the area! Many people have contacted me for many things like this in the last couple of years.
Hi there, James from Raintree. All of our rootstocks are bareroot, not grown in containers so they get dug once the last leaves drop (November usually).
If I were you I’d call Michael at Burnt Ridge and see if he has any potted ones you’re looking for. Good luck this season!
I ordered a couple Clark’s bareroot from 39th parallel as well. I’m a little concerned about doing a late fall planting, but it sounds like a great apple tree and I was more concerned about inventory not lasting until the spring.
There is enough Clarks Crab being grown in different areas that we should be able to get a pretty good idea how well it performs at different locations. I think but don’t know that this apple will do well at many locations.
At my present location I’ve had trouble with apples ripening all the way to the core. I’m curious if a smaller fruit will be a better match to the climate.
@39thparallel, it says you cannot ship to Washington on your site. Is that new, because I noticed a few WA growers with a Clark’s crabapple tree? Or should I just ask a fellow grower for a scion? I am in WA.
I have a state ag inspection certificate can ship anywhere in the US. I limit sales to states where agricultural inspections might delay / prevent delivery. Pacific NW states have more restrictions. My bare root trees pose zero risk of introducing Japanese beetles. I send a lot of scion and some rootstock to WA, OR and CA. without issue. I have sent some trees to the Pacific NW. without issue. I could send trees to WA, but there is a possibility of problems with delivery.
Thank you i hope to bring other unknown improved fruit trees to maturity in my lifetime. Only God knows if i will accomplish that. The Clarks crabapple has potential to produce thousands of better varities. It reproduces very close to type. The next generation of seedlings produced by Clark’s crabapple will be exceptional. Since i did not trademark or patent it anyone can graft as many trees as they feel like. Seedlings from those seeds will be highly variable but unmistakably child fruits of Clarks crabapple.
For those looking for these crabapples https://39thparallel.com/ has them in stock. There was a big demand on them last year and they sold out quickly. I don’t make money from them in any way, that would defeat the purpose of me growing them. Most of us are or were long time scion / seed etc. traders. It is good to see a project i worked hard on for years yield an apple this good. It made the hard work worth it to know this apple will be around a long time. It was the best of the seedlings i grew. As i said i did not patent or trademark it so it is completely free to distribute , propagate, or make new crosses with it. The apple seedling propagation was a long term pet project of mine. New Apple Seedling Varieties . I would encourage everyone to check out other seedling apples like those @SkillCult is breeding New Seedling Apples, EIGHT years later! Late October 2019 — SkillCult. I honestly feel many times our apples are as good or better than those from the university breeding programs. They have rules and we really do not. To breed a non red apple like what i did offends the best apple breeders now. They need thick skinned apples that store a long time with red skin for the grocery store. Red delicious was one of their greatest accomplishments in their opinion. People buy apples based on appearance not taste, yield , earliness to bear, disease resistance , length of storage without refrigeration etc. That i was concerned with.
