So my maniacal master plan of obtaining something, anything, on Rootpac-R rootstock has be temporarily foiled.
I found it as a rootstock for an apricot from Groworganic earlier in the summer on an out of stock listing and was hoping it would be available this winter. The listing changed and no doesn’t show it now.
I know it’s too early to be asking nurseries what they will be receiving from their various growers.
Having said that, in the coming months if anyone finds any tree grown on Rootpac-R, please post here.
I’d like to get that for my soil conditions for grafting as it has good qualities for my soul especially it’s tolerance to wet soils.
Be careful with this firm. I consider them a source of last resort. Their site contains a lot of inflated claims about their products and (my pet peeve) mis-information about fertilizers, esp. “organic”. Their suppliers of plants are very good for the most part. This last fact has kept them off my “do not buy” list.
So my expensive as all get out Rootpac-R showed up today.
2500 miles and a bit worse for the wear as far as the box goes. First one I’ve had a box broken in two.
The trees look fine though. So not even knowing, these are Desert Gold peaches grafted on the Rootpac-R. I was thinking it was just going to be the rootstock grown out.
Will re-graft in spring. Soooo much time to think, rethink, and change my mind a few times.
One bad thing was because of the timing of shipping, it showed up locally but sat 3 days until today since UPS doesn’t deliver on weekends.
I can’t get over my astonishment.
But what the hell is happening in the United States with rootstocks?
They are rootstocks, they are not a Bugatti Veyron.
Let’s see a rootstock has its price in Spain, in the United States and in Fernando Poo.
The price of a rootstock paying its breeding fee is worth 1.5 Euros, and the same in American dollars, and if they charge you a higher price I consider it a scam.
And don’t let them tell stories about retailers, because they are sold individually in any nursery in my country (and with their corresponding phytosanitary certificate).
I asked my friend Alex, who lives in Valencia and uses Rootpac-R, and last week he was removing Rootpac-R suckers from his peach trees, and there was plant material to make a bonfire and roast chops.
It’s sad to have to spend that amount of money to get 5 rootstocks.
Phil look, this is a mediocre nursery in my country, and if you look in their rootstock section, he looks at what they have:
And all the varieties cost between one Euro and one and a half euros with impressive quality.
But if I tell Vicente Aguirre (the owner of the nursery), that due to problems with the plants, they have not taken root well and 10 rootstocks have dried up (for example), when purchasing the following year, he discounted from the price.
Unfortunately for us here in the US, this is the way it is. Western Europe has infinitely longer history than we have in the US for community farming.
You are benefiting from the long history of how things are done there. In such a vast country like the US we don’t have those many hundreds of years before the internal combustion engine was developed to develop connected communities. We have very large companies doing the vast majority of fruit growing and production, certainly in comparison to Europe at least.
These were grafted trees I bought, so the right comparison would be for a first year grafted peach tree (in this case Desert Gold Peach). At $25 a tree, that is not outrageous given the market here…
I paid an arm and a leg for shipping as it was about 25lbs shipped 2500 miles. That also is the way things are in the US for shipping.
So I can’t lament too much over it as I can’t change it anyway.
Regardless, I spoke with the gentleman at the nursery after my trees arrived. He also confirmed rootpac-r does sucker some, so that isn’t a bad thing for me and I shouldn’t need to ever buy this rootstock, or any other, again. I will try to stool using the modified method you spelled out in the cherry thread.
It is the same price at which I buy here in Europe (in Eastern European countries at half that price).
25 dollars for a Desert Gold peach tree (which is not a variety to shoot fireworks), is quite expensive.
But I know perfectly well, since almost every year I buy trees from North American nurseries, that the price of a tree is around 35 dollars.
I believe that in the case of Agromillora (breeder of the rootpac series), its delegation in the United States, is focused on the large plantations of the North American fruit states, and they are not interested in selling half a dozen rootstocks to an amateur (that is not business), but damn it makes me angry that you have made such a huge outlay of money, to obtain a handful of rootstocks.
But hey, you already have them in your house and now it’s time to multiply them.
Through mound layering system, you will obtain rootstocks for yourself, and for half a forum.
If you leave one or two of them as “mother plants”, when they are semi-adult, you will perfectly obtain 20 or 25 rootstocks from each tree annually, through the mound layering system.
It’s done and they are here as you said. As a comparison for fun the distance these shipped to me would be the equivalent to you getting trees shipped from St Petersburg, Russia to your place in Spain.
Since it’s going into fall (though it’s still 90°F here for highs) I will probably put 4 of them in a raised bed I have free. 2 feet by 5 feet by 20 inches deep. These will be grafted and transplanted in spring.
The last 2 (I got 6) will be mother trees for future rootstock. Since they have peach grafted on them, l wait until I see bud swell then remove the graft and let the rootstock sprout out…hopefully.
I’ll find a suitable spot in my yard for the mother trees.
Phil, the price of transporting a package with 12 cherry trees, 1.60 meters high (5.2 feet), from this nursery:
From Kostrzyn in Poland to my house 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) is 24 euros or dollars with the GLS company.
You won’t even think about cut your trees in a vegetative state.
The process is this:
Now, plant the trees in your orchsrd , and you do not prune anything at all
Next year you let them grow freely
The following winter, when the frosts have passed but the trees are in winter dormancy, cut just below the grafting point and cover the cut with pruning putty.
When the shoots that emit have a height of about 35-40 centimeters, you can now make the mound in layers (make good wounds in the cambium and apply powdered rooting hormones), cover with soil of your orchard , leaving at least a third of the shoots exposed to the air , and water periodically.
If you cut them this winter, they do not have enough vigor to resprout, and they may die if you cut them.
My friends have just confirmed to me that Rootpac-R, which is a hybrid of almond x mirabolan , at least in its juvenile period, usually emits some underground suckers.
Yes Phil.
You must find their final location in your orchard , let them grow freely for one year, and the following winter is when you will cut them just below the grafting point.
You need them to grow for at least a year in the field, so that they grow and gain vigor, so that when the cuts are made in winter , they have enough strength to resprout without risks.
Are we just speaking of the mother trees I want to propagate into future rootstock, or we talking about the others as well that I want to graft over to another fruit other than the peach that came with them?
Phil, I would personally do the following with the remaining three plants.
I would transplant them in winter, in a state of dormancy, to large pots with good fertile soil from your orchard, since in spring-summer they will have a fantastic caliber to carry out two different grafting methods:
In early-mid May you can graft using the Chip Budding system, with winter latency cuttings that you will have kept refrigerated.
In the month of June you can graft with the T Bud system, with buds of cutting in vegetative state.
Both methods are good.
Tell me which varieties you want to graft, and I will tell you if it is better to graft onto the Desert Gold peach scion, or directly onto the Rootpac-R rootstock (for compatibility reasons).
Don’t take risks with grafting systems like Cleft Graft or Whip and Tongue, as they are riskier systems and I wouldn’t want you to lose any rootstock.
I had thought of keeping the peach and use it as an interstem also. I just didn’t know if it would lessen compatibility, as you mention.
I’m going to use 2 of the 6 (I got 6 trees) for propagation of the rootstock, which you’ve already indicated I should grow out as is and cut back the following late winter (2025).
So I have 4 I want to graft next year. As I narrow down my choices I’ll post and if you know better, you can recommend if I can keep the Desert Gold and graft to it or not.
Right now I’m thinking Flavor King pluot, Dapple Dandy pluot, Mariposa plum, and Laroda plum.
Thanks very much.
I have 15 gallon (56. 8 litre) grow bags I can use for the 4 I want to graft in spring. I’ll plant them tomorrow.
EDIT:
Planted the 4 to be grafted next year into a large raided bed. They’ll spend the winter and early spring there.
Their pots are perfect, since you can graft comfortably with the pots on a table, and you can have the plants very controlled in terms of watering and nutrition.
Hahaha, I knew it.
I knew you’d lean toward good plums and pluots for two reasons.
They are very tasty varieties
They will give you fewer fungal problems.
I like Flavor King and Dapple Dandy pluots, as well as Mariposa plum.
For the Laroda plum variety, I prefer Elephant Heart.
I know that Japanese type plums have good graft affinity onto peach trees.
I know that the pluots have graft affinity on the almond tree, and on the GxN 15 Garnem rootstock (almond x peach tree), so I assume that there must also be good graft affinity of the pluots on the peach tree.
Put my two Rootpac-R rootstock in the ground. These will be my propagation trees.
I’ll let them grow as they want next year then head them the following late winter. Currently Desert Gold peach grafted. One tree has a rootstock shoot already. If that pushes well next spring I might remove the graft on that tree sometime next summer.
