do you make your mound of organic matter or potting soil? Or do you use native soil?
I live near Minneapolis, and have been told several times that dwarf trees are not hardy enough here.
The raised bed/mound was several yards of garden topsoil delivered, which allegedly was a mix of composted manure + soil…
composted manure is mostly organic matter, which will break down and leach into the soil or “evaporate”. Topsoil is mostly mineral based. And should remain. I’d use native soil for the mounds. And top them of with mulch to avoid soil erosion.
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i have 6 cultivars growing on a sargents crab in ground against my concrete well casing at the bottom of a very large hill that is doing great in my heavy clay, rocky soil. the last 2 apples i planted in soil and not on mounds or raised beds died slowly in 2 years. that tells me that this crab is very water tolerant. got it from arbor day as a freebie from a order of other trees.
Here is a whole discussion that contains most of the information you’ve just been given and more. Good luck!
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80 June berry seeds weigh 1 gram
count by weight.
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P.18 is tolerant of wet feet, but it’s a standard. It is also very winter hardy. Check the description @ Treco.nu , they even state it’s useful as an inter-stem.
P18 seems quite “new” (with new i mean it has not been extensively tested)
I don’t see any obvious advantages compared to MM111.
MM111 has more bur knot problems. But overal seems more disease resistant. And has been more extensively tested.
Do you have any experiance with P18? or a good source i can use to learn more about it.
if found Apple Rootstock Info: P.18 – Apples
already 
I have approximately 65 trees on P.18 (still young, not yet producing fruit). I have not done any inter-stems with this or any other root stock. I chose this as one of my root stocks because I have a section of my orchard property that has standing water in spring when snow is melting off. In comparison to B.118 and M.111 it is not initially as vigorous (first year of graft) but second year, once established, it takes off (purely anecdotal). I don’t know of research on this root stock, I found the same source as you, which does note NC140 has trialed it in several states. However, I’m not finding information on these trials readily available.
good suggestion, thats probably why they appear to have “sunk” over the years.
The interstem suggestion sounds like the way to go. I found a few videos from Skilcult on the same topic and his goal is similar to mine.
- tree size minimizing the need for ladders AND supports
- deep root system not needing babysitting through drought
- wet feet tolerance (with M.111 allegedly).
I’ll pickup some M.111 rootstocks in spring try grafting…
The only problem will be deer. I plan to solve that with a 5 foot welded wire fence.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions…
Only problem will be deer? That may be an understatement. Best wishes in your endeavor.
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Going to attempt to grow some apples from seed this year for fun and for rootstock. There’s no legal protections for the offspring of club apples, right? I could propagate seeds from those apples as normal?
as far as i know this falls under breeder exemption rights. So you’re even free to market and sell the offspring, as long as it’s not practically identical. (which in the case of fruit tree’s who are largely not true to type from seeds is usually true.)
The exceptions would be if the tree in question passed on a patented gene. (from GMO for example)
Or if the variety has been bred to be true to type from seed. (and thus your seedlings would be considered the same variety as their mother and as the variety that’s protected)
The name of the mother plant might have been trademarked. So you might not be allowed to use that name in any marketing etc.
I’m not a legal professional in this field though. So this is just as far as i know from a fellow armature on the internet. I’m not responsible for your actions.
However for what you say to plan to use them for, i can’t imagine you ever getting into trouble.
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How do you tell (other than picking one) if it’s time to pick an apple?
I have a first time crop on my Aunt Rachel dwarf apple. One apple, in particular, is huge! All of the fruit on the tree looks great. I have a dwarf King David next to it - and it has a nice crop too.
How do I know if it’s time to take fruit off the tree???
Also - should I be concerned about the area around the stem on the last photograph? Is that apple scab? I think the stripes on these are very appealing . . . or maybe I should spell that ‘apple-ing’ ! 
(as my kids would say - ‘Corny MOM Joke’.
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the area around the stem is a slight russeting. Nothing to worry about.
picking time is tricky. I usualy hold pears horizontal, and if they then “release” they’r ripe. With apples that sometimes works. But generally you develop a “feel” for it. I usually pick 1 if i think they might start to get ripe and taste it. If there’s only 1 fruit that’s a hard choice though.
Either way, picked to early or to late, you’ll get more next year
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For apples and pears, you can use a tilting test. Just gently tilt the fruit in an angle. Ready to pick fruit will come off easily. If you have to tug hard, it is not ready.
Not sure about the apple. …?
But that dollar bill looks dead ripe to me .
I would pick that. And save seed !
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I asked my husband if he had a quarter on him . . . he didn’t. But he handed me the dollar bill. Actually - it stayed put, so I could take the picture - better than a quarter! It should have been a $100 bill - actually. That’s probably closer to what THAT apple cost to grow!
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