This topic might already be discussed sporadically throughout other threads but I’m not finding a clear answer to my question. Could be my searching skills though.
I’m curious about the concept of the juvenile phase, or the idea that there is a vegetative phase a seedling must go through before it’s even capable of flowering.
The part I’m not clear on is, can this juvenile phase be overcome by grafting? If a seedling has enough growth in the first year to make a usable scion, and I graft it the next spring to a precocious dwarfing rootstock, will it flower sooner than if I just let the seedling grow a few years before grafting?
I’m mostly interested in apples and pears right now, but would welcome feedback from those with experience growing other fruits from seed as well.
Yes, many plants such as apples and pears can take a long time until flowering from seed. But grafted/budded onto a more mature tree they may bloom next year. Routine with professional breeders.
On the flip side breeder’s such as Michurin found juvenile wood’s first blooms more receptive to foreign pollen so he regularly kept re-grafting a supply of his new clones juvenile wood for future pollination.
Two years ago I grafted Obilnaya scion to my mature cherry tree. Last year that scion had 14 fruits that would have fully ripened had a squirrel not climbed onto it breaking about half of its annual growth off. There is no way an Obilnaya seedling could achieve that in the first 2-3 years of growth! So the answer is very clear, a mature rootstock can provide the nutrients that a seedling cannot. This is why most nurseries developing new hybrids will graft new hybrids onto mature trees to test fruit quality.
Dennis
Kent, Wa
Dennis
Kent, Wa
I remember reading an article about apple seedlings reaching maturity. They found that the number of nodes between the roots and top of the tree seem to determine when it would flower. It was something like 110-120 nodes for most apples to flower. They grew trees in greenhouses to extend the growing season and pruned all side branches to promote growth in the central leader. They were able to get a number of apple seedlings to flower in their second leaf.
This is really interesting, thank you. I’m trying to collect all of the different viewpoints.
I searched on those key terms and found one of the articles discussing this affect.
It’s quite fascinating. They’re research was on Malus hupenhensis and their conclusion was “Young seedlings cannot be stimulated to flower by grafting onto older seedlings although older seedlings will continue to form flower buds after grafting onto young seedlings still in the juvenile phase.”