Last year I bought a Double Delight nectarine from Bay Laurel and have been
puzzled as to why it’s been such a slow grower. I had the option of buying it on either lovell or citation and chose citation. In this year’s catalog, BL now lists DD as two separate varieties, Standard on lovell and Semi-dwarf on citation. Now I know, why the tree is such a slow grower. I want to thank BL for selling me a now admittedly semi-dwarf tree as a standard size tree, and charging me $3 more for the privilege. It makes me wonder what other information are they withholding from the very people that keep them in business.
Ray,
Citation is one of the few known dwarfing stocks compatible with stonefruits adaptable to medium or heavy soils.
The silver lining: Citation is supposed to induce precocity. The tree will likely fruit years ahead of its peers. Some asian plums can be notoriously over-vigorous. So it might turn out to be a good choice if you can give it more time to shine.
Oops. I see DD is a nect, not a plum. Same principles should apply though.
I do not like citation on peaches. I agree it tends to stunt peaches. Lovell is a much better option. I have been having problems with canker too on citation and absolutely none on Lovell, even though they are right next to one another. This is my problem with citation. The dwarfing is not an issue with me. i rather like it, but the tree is failing to thrive due to canker.
As far as fruiting Lovell fruited just as quickly as citation. Now on plums, this dwarfing seems nonexistent. Having canker issues here too, although the trees are growing fast. I have three trees on citation. I will not purchase this rootstock again.MSU advises against it here in Michigan. it may be fine elsewhere. I just wish i would have seen that warning before I purchased.
The last three plum trees I purchased, were on other rootstocks, so I’ll see how they do. Lovell, St. Julian, and Myro 29C. I’ll get to see how these do with plums.
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The trouble with nect/peach on Citation is it’s a virus sensitive combination. So a few trees thus affected barely grow. The others grow nicely and have been some of my best trees. DWN doesn’t sell that combination to commercial growers because they have zero tolerance for stunted trees. They do sell those retail because customers want it and most of the time it works very well. I’ve only had a few bad trees out of hundreds. And those I’m not 100% sure about.
IMO BL should replace a stunted tree. They probably would with a picture.
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My complaint is that they didn’t state that it would be a dwarfing tree, if purchased on citation. Now they are. If I had known that, I would have bought it on lovell. If you read the info page on their website about root stocks, it doesn’t state that citation is dwarfing. I’m so mad about this, I just canceled my pomegranate order with BL and switched it to Greensea and saved $37 in the process and will get larger and more fully rooted trees than I would have gotten from BL.
Just stuck me that my DD on Citation planted in 2014 from BL is also extremely dwarfed. The worse grower I’ve had on Citation. Maybe that was a virus infected lot or maybe DD is just ultra sensitive. Guess we should both complain at same time. Maybe that would help. DD grew about 5% as much as Spice Zee on Citation next to it. Arctic Jay and Arctic Rose also grew poorly compared to SZ so I thought maybe it was competition with big grapes and citrus nearby.
Peach/nectarine on Citation has been extremely dwarfing for us. 3 years in the ground and still not waist high. Really disappointing. I wouldnt ever use this combination again.
I have also encountered the bacterial canker issue on citation that Drew was referring to. Lost a large multi graft pluot to it.
Once you master grafting stonefruit, citation seems pointless, except for Euro plums, perhaps. Peaches need vigor to be long lived- so I say put 3 on a single tree if you have a space issue.
Funny how Adams charges no extra when buying trees wholesale for citation over myro with plums. In the east coast nurseries don’t usually sell peaches on Citation- they are short enough lived on more vigorous rootstocks.
When I last ordered from BL they made it clear in their on-line catalog the vigor of their rootstocks.
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What varieties did you order?
I’m bummed too that I didn’t figure out Citation is such a poor choice for Nectarines. My Spice Zee is only now getting taller than me. It did try to set a lot of fruit in it’s 2nd leaf, so yes it does induce precocity.
My Arctic Star Nectarine is also pretty stunted at the end of one full season.
I ordered Azadi, Sin Pepe, Eversweet, Modovyi Vahsha, Sirenevyi, and Parfianka. Cindy is great to work with and very knowledgeable. This is my first undertaking at growing poms, and she gave me a well needed tutorial.
While I do sympathize, anyone who orders trees on rootstock without knowing the intimate details of how that rootstock performs for them…is certainly gambling a bit. In my slice of dirt rootstock choices are very important. Anyone not up to speed on all the rootstocks offered and how they perform here is asking for trouble. MANY of the various choices dont perform well here at all. We cant go on what bay laurel says about anything. Much of what BL posts on their site is regurgitated Dave Wilson nonsense. Its totally California-centric. It doesnt stop me from using them, I just make sure im educated about it.
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Steven, I don’t think it would do much good to complain. I don’t want another tree from them anyway. They’ve lost my business for good, and there are other places that sell DWN trees mail order . I’ll just graft it onto something more vigorous, and move the tree to a tighter area, in preparation for the trees that
hopefully we’ll all get next year.
BTW I searched for those trees that you recommended( Honey Gem, Lite, and Fire) and all 3 are cling stone. I was hoping they would be freestone like DD, but I guess you can’t have everything.
I hope you have better luck than me, mine have been killed to the ground the last two years. I think if we have a more normal winter they will fare better, at least that’s what I am hoping for.
Some varieties are more frost sensitive than others. That is one of the
criteria that I used in making my selections, which are mainly from Turkmenistan. What varieties do you have?
I had a large Russian and a small Phil’s Sweet that were totally killed last year roots and all. Mae and Parfianka were killed to the ground and came back nicely. Red Silk made it without any damage and produced a few fruit this year. I also have Desertnyi but this will be its’ first winter in ground. All the plants are in the open with no protection.
Desertnyi is supposed to be frost sensitive, so you might want to protect it.
That’s one of the reasons I didn’t get it. If you mean Russian #8 aka Salavatski,
it’s supposed to be cold hardy. Where did you buy them?
Do the 'zonies use anything other than Nemagard?
It was listed as Russian from Edible Landscaping years ago. It was 4-5 years old, leafed out in the spring then shortly after wilted and died and never came back. Phil’s Sweet did the same. Mae and Parfianka also did the same but did grow back from the roots. Red silk took very little damage. I may have the Mae and Red Silk mixed up, the labels came off as I was rooting them, about 80% sure.