I’ve had great success growing Sierra Plums on their own roots in alkaline soil.
My success with others hasn’t went well.
If I graft a Chickasaw to the Sierra, will the rootstock sustain the Chickasaw in the alkaline soil, or will the Chickasaw suffer anyway?
I would like to hybridize the two.
Thanks!
I don’t know the answer but it would be good to try. Good luck.
The answer is the rootstock will not affect the tree growing on it. The rootstock is there for a bridge to allow you to grow what you normally couldn’t. This goes for wet/dry soils, nutrient compatibility, insects, disease, precociousness, size of tree… all the things you might suspect. Remember it’s only a bridge to allow you to grow something further.
In the same token, if the tree you put on a rootstock is not a good match for the environment it’s growing in - it will always suffer to perpetuity.
My own take on both rootstock and tree is what I term “comparing climates.”
Will this tree grow here or will those roots grow here and you have to find good matches. That’s really it. Where does that tree grow in its’ natural range and what is the climate there for it and how does that climate correspond or compare to my mine. Then you start tweaking as best you can if you have to have it and are not supposed to. 
Dax
The answer is yes it will sustain the Chickasaw. If the problem is due to the Chickasaw roots like you described, using Sierra plum roots will work. This is assuming that you have graft compatible cultivars.
Spaniards faced a similar problem growing sweet cherries in their alkaline soil under flood irrigation. Their solution was to find plums that are happy in flooded alkaline calcareous soil and also graft compatible with sweet cherries. They are now successfully using these plums for cherry rootstock in the orchards.
Right on!
I can’t wait to get started.
Thank you!
Fruits that are adapted to particular conditions are perfect to use as rootstocks. Wild Pears as an example have pea sized fruit and spread to a point of being known as an invasive in some states. Love using these pears as rootstock because of the speed of growth and resistance to adverse conditions they demonstrate! Sometimes my family mentions the fact they do to well at times. Last year we had the worst drought since the dirty thirties and still had a pear crop. We had a mostly cold and snow covered winter. This year we are drowning in water! Sometimes its very hot or very cold which all these things mentioned i like and just know those as typical Kansas weather. If we dont have good rootstock what do we think we could grow in standing water followed by drought, extreme heat and cold? We like you need to graft to hardy rootstock. Great job on defining what does grow there you can use!
I have 5-6 (can’t remember) of the Ecos Pear trees from Oikos Tree Crops.
They have proven to be tuff as well.
My project requires trees to live on about 8 gallons of irrigation per month during Fall - Spring. In Summer, they’re on their own.
Tree tubes have helped dramatically to get small trees acclimated with the spring winds being what they are.
I’m always looking for shrubby/thicket forming fruit bearing stuff that can handle the conditions out here.