Thank You Bay Laurel

That’s what I’m doing with 3 apples on G11/MM111 which all runted out. I’ll squeeze them into a tighter area and re-purpose the prime location I had them in for Euro plums. Interestingly, the B9/B118 interstem rootstock grew pretty vigorously (a bit more than plain G11 or G16). But the G11/MM111 combo is barely stronger than M27 (mini-dwarf), maybe similar to G65, at least for me (I’ve got 7 trees on G11/MM111).

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c5tiger,
You may find this link full of great info, I did.
http://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.cfm?number=C997

Most casual hobbyists here grow on Nemaguard. Why? Because people are ignorant. Here is the summary from the NC-140 national rootstock trials…

““Main rootstock used in California because it is resistant to root-knot nematode and is compatible with peach, nectarine and plum. It makes a vigorous, productive tree with good fruit size. However, it does not tolerate waterlogged or calcareous soils and is susceptible to many soil pests including ring nematode, bacterial canker and armillaria.””

Once again we are supplied what works in California soil, not Arizona. Did you catch that part about not tolerating water logged or calcareous soil? Guess what we have in Phoenix? Calcareous clay. Its not that people dont have some success, some do. But what level of success would we have here if a properly adapted to Phoenix rootstock were commonly used?

For a time I fought to get people educated around this issue. In the end I found that all that 98% of people who buy fruiting trees care about is ease of purchase. Dave Wilsons stuff is easy to buy. Had to square myself with the fact that the stupid of the world get what they deserve. DWN nursery makes good money selling the people of Phoenix poor producing trees, and I make good money selling people fruit out of our orchard because their DWN trees stink. We have excellent success with Hansen on peach, Rootpac-R on plum.

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At the risk of hijacking the thread, where does a 'Zonie get mail order trees on Hansen? It seems to be a specialty of Burchell, a commercial grower.

www.rsigrowers.com

RSI uses Hansen on peaches and apricot. Rootpac on plum. We absolutely love how it performs. BTW their web skills kinda stink. They arent really a online operation. Much better in person.

I haven’t found any peach rootstock that tolerates even excessively wet soil. What grows in “waterlogged” soils? Even pears and plums die there unless they are planted high to help quickly establish roots on the surface.

I suspect this is a matter of semantics. Perhaps waterlogged wasn’t the right word. But there was no comparison made to Bailey or Lovell rootstocks so it is hard to know what the statement means.

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Yes its hard to quantify waterlogged. But its undeniable that clay is poor draining and can tend toward the “waterlogged” at times of heavy rain or irrigation. And our soil is highly calcareous, there is no dispute in that. Yes nothing really likes continual moisture, but some tolerate it better than others. The Hansen (peach/almond clonal hybrid) we grow on seems to do very well in our conditions. Biggest issue we have with it is too much vigor. Its manageable with twice a year pruning and regulating water.