Edible Landscaping sells Goldrush apple on Geneva 11 roots. Was ready to buy then I recalled reading somewhere about a serious problem with G 11 but can’t track it down. Was it graft incompatibility with certain varieties? Would you buy Goldrush on G 11?
Maybe you’re thinking of G.16 (virus sensitivity) or G.30 (brittle graft union).
I’m ordering Sansa on G11 from Cummins for spring delivery. I haven’t read anything negative about it. Will watch this thread as I really want that rootstock.
Matt- yes I think you’re right- must have been G 16. I’m famous for picking the wrong rootstock and learning about it after the fact. I will go ahead with G 11 assuming I can grow if above deer browse height in say three years???
hambone, I have around 20 varieties on G-11 in their 3rd year that range from around 7 to 10 feet and show no signs of topping out. Seems to a good choice for rootstock, claims to be fireblight resistant but i had 2 trees killed by a fireblight outbreak a few months ago
Chris- what were the two apple varieties killed by blight?
hambone, I they were Wickson Crab and Crimson Gold. The rootstock may not have mattered, the FB was pretty vicious and killed 7 other trees. The remainder of the obituary: Dr. Matthews and Aunt Rachel on B-9, Hawaii and Newtown Pippin on G-16, Boskoop and Sweet 16 on G-41, and Suncrisp on an unknown semi-dwarf. I am going to try again on Sweet 16 but no mas on these other varieties.
My condolences. I had FB trouble here with Aunt Rachel. Newtown Pippin was a disease magnet for me. Having good luck so far with various Limbertwigs.
Chris, did you have enough experience with G.41 to have any thoughts on it? I was considering getting Pristine on it.
The 5 Limbertwig varieties I’m growing got thru the fb blast with little to no damage.
Bret, my only observation so far on G-41’s is they are growing at about the same rate as the G-11’s. 6 foot in row spacing seems to be about right but you could get by with less
Awesome. Thanks muchly for the info Chris. The two trees I am ordering from Cummins will be one of each, 11 and 41, and approximate size need is the same so that works out really well for me.
G.41 is supposed to have superior fireblight resistance.
Even better. That would make the Pristine/G.41 fairly bulletproof (I hope).
Thanks Matt. That tree is looking more like a definite order. I really want some summer apples and the less issues the better.
Check out this table (Page 2), if you haven’t already seen it:
Does having a FB resistant rootstock make an otherwise FB sensitive variety resistant?
If YES, we have a miracle cure…
If NO, what is the excitement? If the upper tree upper tree dies, do we really care that the rootstock survived?
What am I missing in the way FB works?
Mike
I read an article a while back on it, when I was researching the G rootstocks in general (I had it saved in my favorites):
http://www.nyshs.org/pdf/fq/2000-Volume-8/Vol-8-No-1/Fire-Blight-of-Apple-Rootstocks.pdf
I think the issue can be that if the scion gets FB and it travels downwards through the trunk circulation to a susceptible stock, the girdling at the graft line will do the tree in more quickly and more conclusively then just the scion infection might.
But it doesn’t seem like the connection is entirely understood yet. Erring on the side of caution seems to be the advantage here even if the mechanics aren’t clear.