Something that motivates me to get involved with seedling rootstock production and grafting apples and pears is to provide a high quality fruit tree alternative to box stores and high volume garden centers in my local area. I know I have a ton to learn and years to go, but the journey has begun….I currently starting about 30 Dolgo seeds.
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Pretty much where we are headed here. Growing out a lot of types to pair with our Georgia origin varieties. Observing what performs best locally while growing trees out.
Going to limit our rootstock growing to a few types. It is just faster and cheaper to grow proven rootstocks from good nurseries. Especially when growing hundreds of new grafts every year.
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Choosing varieties has yet to be done. I live in MN so cold hardy and disease resistance are top of list for me. This growing season is focused on the Dolgo seedlings I’ve got started. Late fall/early winter 2026 I’ll figure out some apple variety scions to graft in 2027 season.
I’ll probably start some pyrus communis and pyrus ussuriensis seeds in 2027 growing season also. I’m hoping to keep 1-2 trees of Dolgo, communis, and ussuriensis for harvesting the seeds needed for seedling rootstock. I’m uncertain about the required effort of harvesting my own seeds and the needed volume. But I can only determine if it is something I’m able to do at the needed volume by actually doing it.
Maybe some others will chime in with their knowledge and experience.
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ive been saying that i was going to do this for years now. finding the times a different story. good luck to you.
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Growing your own rootsock adds extra time and space requirements. If you buy rootstock you can also stool it and get more trees then you could ever grow out as seedlings. Getting 10 trees from one stooled rootstock is easy.
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I think having your own rootstock is very worthwhile. A small scale local nursery should really shine in times when the supply chain breaks (covid) or when high fuel/shipping costs make self sourcing worth it.
I think rootstock production may be concentrated in the PNW and any production shortfall would likely mean big commercial growers get priority and home growers get left out.
I’m also growing Viking rootstock. It’s not cost effective to ship potted so it may be able to fill a local niche the big guys can’t.
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I went a different route 30+ years ago. I ordered varieties I like on clonal rootstocks because then I could estimate the vigor of the trees and sell a known qualtity.
I could never have made a viable business out of creating small trees- I grew and grow them to a good size and sell them for a premium price, but what really sustains my nursery and overall income flow is tending to the orchards I’ve installed with trees from my nursery. It was never a sideline for me so I needed to generate enough capital to live on, raise a child and a stay at home wife and mother.
However, there aren’t many areas in the country with a high enough concentration of very wealthy people to sustain my business. I don’t know if my model could be modified to succeed in an area with a lower concentration of wealth- but certainly the lower overhead would help. Living expenses are high when you are only 50 minutes from NYC. Property taxes in my county are astronomical.
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get a r/v and go to F.L to work there in the winter. i had several aunts and uncles that did this. lots of rich retirees with money to burn there.
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I started growing peach from seed to use as root stock for stone fruit, but they grow quick. For apple and pear I’d go with @dannytoro1’s idea of buying the rootstock. Apple and pear are not quick growers from seed and buying them gives you a better quality root stock graft-able immediately. Plus they only cost like 2-4 bucks a piece. Or buy some to get the ball rolling till your seeds are of graft-able size.
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I feel like a lot of the retirees that snowbird in Florida live in planned communities. Those planned communities usually just like grass and simple annuals though I’m sure home orchards do exist as well
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Where is a good place to source Dolgo seeds or seedlings?
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The supply chain point is real. During covid a lot of people couldn’t get rootstock at all and it made a strong case for growing your own even if it’s slower. Good luck with the Dolgo seedlings — curious to hear how the 2027 grafts go.
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This is exactly why I’ve decided to grow Dolgo. I’ve been unable to locate Dolgo rootstock. So figured the next best thing was to grow my own Dolgo and have a regular supply of seeds. I was able to get a small batch of seeds from Sheffields Seeds. But they don’t always have them. I am on an email notification list for when Dolgo seed is in stock.
Willis Orchard in Georgia has Dolgo if you are hung up on it. Like $5 a tree. You can buy superb grade rootstock for less then that price.
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I have been playing around a little bit with stooling my own apple rootstock, using Bud 9 and Bud 118.
They root VERY easy. The first few that I stooled, I scratched the bark of the sucker sprouting up and put growth hormone on them, a massive amount of roots a year later.
Definitely a step that is not needed, since then I have been able to root the tops that I cut off when grafting in a glass of water, it’s not as reliable. Stooling with apples is easy and reliable.
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Graft with M111 and 70% of your top cuts will root on their own with the thicker caliper that will take a seedling years to reach. No matter how vigorous.
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I’m on an email wait list for Dolgo rootstock at Blue Hill Wildlife Nursery. $3.95 ea.
I’m in the Calif central valley so my concerns are Bacterial Canker & Fireblight as opposed to the winter hardiness. We only get a couple of 29F nights in Feb or March.
I have a couple of M111 roots so I’ll stool 1 of them.
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i have a flat of Precocious Kerr crab seedlings coming up right now. got them off of oikios nursery out of M.I. they were pretty affordable. esty can have bulk rootstocks at a good price also but probably not this time of year. but cant hurt to look.
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Who are the target customers for apples/pears grafted to seedling rootstocks?
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This is a brief write up of the mission/customers I have been working on. It isn’t anything concrete, but a general idea.
We help northern homeowners, homesteaders, and orchard enthusiasts build manageable backyard orchards using hardy seedling-rooted fruit trees selected for cold climates.
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