Hi, I was hoping someone could help me with a little guidance. I ordered a few vigorous apple trees on G935. I ordered Goldrush on G30 since I read it was low vigor. But now reading on here as to how Goldrush has a real tendency to runt out, should I get it on a rootstock like 111 or B118 if I want it in the neighborhood of 10-12 ft tall, or will the G30 be enough?
Anything else I should do to create a decent sized tree (pick off blossoms/fruit the first few years I imagine?)
Tree size varies a lot by location, soil type, climate, and other factors. Often apple trees in warm, low chill climates lack vigor compared to cold climate areas with good soil.
I’m putting Goldrush on 111 and another vigorous tree I have that may be seedling. I’m only wanting 8-10ft tall. Still might need to remove the bloom for a couple of yrs.
G30 has been vigorous for me
There is no reason you can’t avoid runting out Goldrush, even on something as low-vigor as M26. You just have to prune back spurs to upright shoots and reduce the number of spurs if there are much more than needed- especially those on the underside of scaffolds. This weekend I will start a topic on the subject of how to prune spurry varieties compared to wood pushers. Spurry types are much easier to manage than wood monsters.
My GR is vigorous on g30. It’s probably way too vertical. The leader wants to go way up. I had to do some notching to encourage more laterals. Even so, it’s 14’ tall after 2 summer in the ground. It is very tall and narrow. Lower branches are spurring up nicely. Had 5 apples on 2nd leaf. I expect many more this year.
GR produces spurs, but not lots of branches, although I’ve never had a problem getting it to send out scaffolds where needed or resorted to notching to achieve this. It is secondary branching that I find lacking. I simply allow for extra scaffolds on young trees and gradually develop the branch system I really want by removing the extras as the tree matures, but sometimes using the extras as a place to tape uprights from my permanent scaffolds to develop more horizontal secondary wood. I need to use the taping method more with what I consider much more upright growers than GR, such as Northern Spy or Baldwin.
My Goldrush is exactly the same, even though it’s on g41. Very vigorous, vertical, produced a few apples second leaf. Since you and I are in the same climate, I wonder if that’s the factor that’s making it behave this way?
Yeah, when I mentioned how GR grows, I should have mentioned climate. However, even here varieties growth varies a great deal depending on soil conditions, but GR grows much the same here in all soils- at least on 111.
My Goldrush is on G.30 and seems plenty vigorous (on good Iowa soil), no excessive branching but good crotch angles and strong leader. I’d like to keep the tree 12-15’ so it sounds like I may have to work at that a bit on this rootstock, we’ll see.
Here with low chill and weak soil my GR on 106 stopped at 4ft. On 111 after 4 yrs it’s at 7ft. A skinny and scraggy 7ft, maybe 6’ 5"…lol
I went out and actually measured my tree on 111. It’s 5’ 10" x 2 x 3ft. Guess I over cropped it, about 10 apples last yr.
My GR on M7. Planted in the spring of 2014. Like to reach for the sky. Had a couple of flowers last year but nothing to cross pollinate with. Look like it set a few more flowers this year.
Very nicely pruned apple tree mamuang! Looks like textbook shape and how you want a apple tree on M-7 to look like, branches seem to be a perfect angles. 
I create a similar bowl around my tree to catch the rainwater. but not mounded up quite as high, but my ground has a gentle slope so I don’t have to worry about wet roots during hard rains.
Since some of you guys’ G30 trees have got so high in a short time, do you have to stake them?
I have a Goldrush on G890, planted last year, and the only G30 I have is a Roxbury Russet. The GR didn’t out out a lot of small branches, but the RR did better in that aspect. Both of them were 11/16" caliper trees.
Here’s mine. I staked just in case due to reports of weak graft union. Lots of small branches after notching but they stopped growing after 12 -18 inches. I’d bet mamuang’s tree would look nearly identical if it had not been headed back a couple of times. I have not headed mine back yet.
Goldrush comes as close to any variety I’ve ever grown to being self pruning. Very little guidance needed- as it grows here in the S. NYS area, of course.
I do not believe in selecting permanent scaffolds for apples until the trees bear their first full crop, except in my nursery trees because they are planted too close. I’ve found that most apple varieties will size up much more quickly and begin bearing meaningful crops the less they are pruned beyond removing excessively thick scaffolds. .
Barry,
Our GR are twins 
I headed it back once last spring. I want it to be 8-9 ft tall only.
I usually bend branches of my trees to a wider angle that most people do. That may help slowing it down. It does not have many branches so there is almost nothing to prune off except a few small twigs that were too close to one another. .
Haha. That’s the height I want too. I’m not sure when to head back. My plan is to cut it back if it fruits well this year. There are some nice flower buds up pretty high on the leader. Maybe that will slow it down if those carry apples.
Does G30 have a history of breaking at the graft union with all varieties? I thought they might with certain cultivars like Gala, Red Delicious, and so on.
The natural wish of both Geneva roots and Goldrush to bear fruit should probably really slow it down. I have a Liberty (also said to be a fruiting machine) on G.935 that really slowed down this year compared to lightly cropped or no crop M7 trees. Though I guess it depends on where you look whether G.935 is in the same class as M7. G.935 might be closer to M26 in size, and G30 supposedly = M7 in size.
I have only seen that post on Gala, even so I keep my G30 trees well supported. I did loose a Baldwin on G202 that broke at the graft. I think breaks like that are from strange wind currents in thunderstorms.[quote=“Levers101, post:19, topic:8845”]
bear fruit should probably really slow it down.
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In my orchard, G41 really slows down after fruiting, 935 and 202 both have slowed some. Chieftain on G30 just keeps going up.
