Rootstock - what kind of an interesting word is this, known, perhaps, only to gardening lovers? And here people who grow apples and pears on their plots can agree with the Russian biologist and breeder I.V. Michurin, who said that rootstock is the basis of a fruit tree that determines its varietal attributes: shape, size and taste. Let's figure out how it turns out.
Apple tree stock: the secret to growing the best varieties
Fruit trees can be grown from seeds. But new plants will differ in terms of productivity, frost resistance, fruiting time, etc. Even if they were grown from the seeds of one apple. Therefore, preference is given to vegetative propagation, i.e. grafting the cuttings or buds of the plant of the desired variety on the selected seedling.
The stock is precisely that seedling on which cuttings and processes (scion) are rooted. It is he who determines the entire life activity of the future tree, its longevity and quality of the fruit. Therefore, stock should be adapted to local climate conditions, resistant to pests and diseases. But for this, it is still necessary that the scion grow well in it.
Growing a seedling takes 4 years:
- 1 year - seedlings are grown from seeds;
- 2 year - increment scion to them;
- 3 year - an annual seedling grows;
- 4 year - a two-year-old seedling is transplanted to a permanent place.
Seeds for seedlings are carefully selected, and in order to be planted in the spring, they must be stratified. What is it?
How to prepare seeds for the best stocks
To obtain hardy seedlings, seeds of well-developed, strong and ripened fruits are used. Such cultural varieties as Grushovka Moscow, Antonovka, Borovinka are usually chosen. Before the autumn sowing, they undergo a careful selection, are dried and then planted. The first sprouts appear next spring.
If the seeds are going to be sown in the spring, they must undergo a preliminary stratification - ripening at a certain temperature, otherwise there will be no seedlings.
To do this, they are laid out in a box with peat and sand, moistened and placed at a temperature of 5-7 ° C in a dark place. On average, the seed aging process takes 80-90 days. It depends on their variety. Periodically, they need to be watered so that they do not dry out. If they began to germinate prematurely, the box should be rearranged to a place where the zero temperature will be kept stable.
Dwarf stock for the apple tree
Seedlings for fruit trees are tall, medium, semi-dwarf. Each has its own productive features and content requirements.
But dwarf ones became especially popular. Why so?
The advantage that the dwarf stock for the apple and pear has is the high quality of the resulting fruits (large, tasty, bright), they begin to ripen already for 2 or 3 years. In addition, seedlings inhibit the growth of trees, reaching only two meters in height. Therefore, it is easier to care for and treat them with pesticides, and the harvested crop from one unit of area is 3 times more than from a site of the same size where strong-growing seedlings were planted.
But the dwarf stock also has drawbacks. This is a superficial root system, prone to freezing and requiring the installation of a support to support the tree, as well as frequent watering in the hot season.
Some types of dwarf seedlings for apple trees
Paradise IX is a dwarf stock for receiving bush forms of apple trees. It is well vaccinated, has high economic and biological indicators. Shrub shoots grow thick, brown in color with a yellow tint, covered with thick oval leaves. From one bush receive up to 10 layering. Due to the superficial root system when placed in the garden, they need to create a reliable support. Seedlings are whimsical to the soil, it is better to grow in palmette and trellis-dwarf gardens.
Another popular dwarf stock for the apple tree is Paradise red-leaved. It has high resistance to frost, so it can be grown in the north-eastern regions. Shoots and leaves with a characteristic red pigment. The soil for them should be loose and moist. Begin to bear fruit early, the harvest is large. One significant drawback is the fragile wood, due to which the apple trees tend to land.
How to plant seedlings
Dwarf rootstock for apple trees is placed on fertile and nutrient-rich loose soil. The site should be well lit and protected from the wind. Mineral fertilizers can be added to planting pits measuring 100 by 70 cm. To do this, support is inserted into them, humus or potassium chloride is covered with a knoll, covered with a layer of earth without mineral additives (5-6 cm).
The stock is planted so that its roots reach the soil layer with fertilizer and are covered by the top. If the clay or groundwater is close to the planting, make loose hills up to 50 cm high. You need to make sure that the graft is not in the ground. The graft must be 5 cm above the ground, otherwise it will go to the roots and dwarfism will be lost.
And finally ...
A stock is a seedling to which another plant is grafted. A new tree will grow with the necessary biological and household qualities, but only if a healthy and productive seedling is grown, grown from solid seeds selected. But this is not enough. In order for the future apple tree to please its harvest, you need to carefully monitor and care for the seedling at all stages of its growth, timely forming and adjusting its crown, feeding it with mineral fertilizers and protecting it from bad weather and pests.