Hi-
I have been a longtime reader and learned a lot from the posts on the forum. I have a couple of questions that I couldn’t answer by searching the forum. First a bit of background information since I know you can tailor the advice you give better if you know the situation better.
hardiness zone 5/6 border
location is in central Illinois
soil is fertile clay
I have had tart cherries for over 10 years and my apples are in their 3rd leaf. Apples are spaced 10 X 13 feet on a mixture of G11,G16, and G41. I have done a bit of grafting but I am far from being expert.
Tart Cherry
In the Spring, I would like to framework my Balaton on Mazzard over to Montmorency since fruit set and productivity are low. But my problem is that scionwood is thin about 1/8” and my take rate isn’t very good with cherry. Because of this I would like to do multiple side grafts on some limbs and only cut the limbs back if the grafts take. Does anyone have experience doing side grafts on cherry or have dealt with a similar situation? What is your experience doing this? Or is there a guide or link I could use to guide me?
Apple
I have a fair number of trees I grafted on B9 in my vegetable garden. I also have dwarf trees on order. I want to plant these trees and train them to tall spindle but keep the trees shorter at about 7.5 feet. I used the tree spacing calculator at Apple Scion /Rootstock Selection and Planning for Michigan to calculate spacing. My concern is with three trees that I might have trouble with being too big in the long run either because of the rootstock or scion vigor.
Pitmaston Pineapple on G222
Hudson’s Golden Gem on G41 (scion vigor)
Honeycrisp on G30
The calculator says 4 feet would be fine for all three of them but I would like to get input from other before committing to this spacing. Any advice or experience you could relate would be helpful.
Best Wishes,
mroot