I am looking for dwarf/semi-dwarf cherry rootstock in small quantities. In the past Raintree Nursery carried Krymsk 5 for several years and for one year carried one of the Gisela stocks. They don’t have cherry rootstock listed for this year.
I can find mazzard at Grandpa’s Orchard and Fedco but this is a full size rootstock. I also contacted One Green World about the Maxma 14 rootstock they offer but they are not sure that it will be available for this Spring. Does anyone know of different sources? I am looking for any of the following:
Thank you for the link. I have thought about KGB but it’s a lot different than the systems I use on my tart cherries or apples. I was thinking of using TSA instead partly because it seems closer to what I currently doing and partly I was concerned that KGB might be more vulnerable to animal damage. Plus I may be using the rootstock for Duke cherry scionwood and I doubt anyone has experience with training Duke cherries to KGB.
I have had very good luck with Giselas and the krymsk5 i have. Sadly Raintree is where i got these from and hope they return to listing and selling those rootstocks.
I got most of mine already grafted as trees 5 years ago but I am very happy with the size, cold hardiness and drought tolerance of the Gisela in particular (have 3,5,6) and my krymsk 5 does good also. I am keeping them under 8’ and with pruning this has been easy. Sweet cherries are a every other year thing or more here so I enjoy the over set as this gets me my few fruits each year and I’m not sure it affects the sour cherries negatively.
Also they stand up for themselves and handle the wind this is something very important to me for a Tree to be is free standing (Why not call it a vine instead if not) I only accept supporting my byo trees for harvest weight.
Thought I’d bump this thread, as I’m also looking for Semi-Dwarf Cherry roostocks, but they seem pretty hard to find for the home orchardist who just wants a couple. I’m finding that cherry rootstocks in general - aside from the old Mazzard and Mahaleb - are really hard to find. Does anyone know why that is? Over half the cherry rootstocks I have notes on, I could find no source for. It’s such a starkly different situation from all other rootstocks, which have usually just a couple that I can’t find a source for. G5, G12, and K5 have expired patents from what I can tell, yet almost nobody has them. Gisela 12 especially, sounds like it would be nice to find. What gives?
Dwarf and semi-dwarf cherry rootstock is very hard to get in small quantities. Take a look at this thread:
Your options basically are:
Buy finished trees on the rootstock you want if you can find the cultivar/rootstock combination you want.
Produce the rootstock yourself using stooling techniques for the rootstocks that are off patent. You will still need to buy at least one tree to start stooling. Or you can also induce suckering of the rootstock of the tree and either reproduce the rootstock by taking cuttings or removing part of the sucker with root hairs. See the link within the link above for info on taking cuttings. Also this is a fairly long, slow process.
You could approach vendors that graft and offer trees on Krymsk 5 or 6 rootstocks. Ask them to sell you a few rootstocks directly. I don’t think this approach will work with the Gisela series due to how these rootstocks are licensed.
You probably can buy the Gisela series if you are willing to buy 50-100 rootstocks and jump thru some hoops but I don’t think that is practical for most people.
Appreciate the tips guys. I’d seen that Grandpas was selling Krymsk 5, but their prices and shipping are kind of borderline crazy for me. They don’t have much I want that I can’t get elsewhere cheaper, so that doesn’t help me soften the shipping hit by ordering other things too. Kind of same expensive deal with Raintree, who uses G3, G5, and Newroot1.
Cummins uses G12, and I was considering doing a sacrificial buy there, since their prices are good and they have a couple other things I’d like. But nobody seems to talk about G12 in these threads links. I thought it seemed well spoken of. Is it just because it’s slightly less dwarfing than G5?
G12 is a good rootstock. I have a tree on G12. It’s better than G6 because G6 has issues with canker. G12 isn’t talked about on the forum much since it’s hard for a backyard grower to get trees on it.
The shipping from Grandpa’s orchard may be a lot less than you think if you read this note on the rootstock page.
“SHIPPING CHARGES NOTE: We will usually adjust your shipping charges when ordering rootstock by itself as our shipping calculator does not calculate correctly for rootstock. When ordered with trees, we can ship in the same box for no extra charges. When ordered by itself, it may ship for less. If you have questions, contact us.”
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