Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
There is one more thing to keep in mind about apples.... And, if anyone here wants to debate it, I can flood you with research that I've done to back up what I'm saying. The following is a FACT and not speculation:
When you grow apples on dwarfing and semi dwarfing rootstocks, you are almost always magnifying any disease issues that they had growing on their own roots. With good, highly DR cultivars (like Liberty) it isn't likely to matter. However, with cultivars that had marginal DR as a full sized tree on their own root, it can matter in a big way. There are multiple reasons for this, but the biggest reasons are the size reduction of the tree and that they start flowering at a younger age.
I had a very comprehensive thread regarding this on the old QDMA forum and I currently have one on the Deer Hunter Forum. I never posted it here, because I felt that most people here look over there from time to time anyway. However, if it would be helpful to anyone, I could do some cutting and pasting and place the thread over here on this forum as well. It's up to you - I don't care. I'm already updating threads at both places, so one more isn't going to matter. But, I must warn you - I don't hold back anything in this thread I'm talking about, because I am passionate about it. And if that means a bloody fight - then so be it.
When you grow apples on dwarfing and semi dwarfing rootstocks, you are almost always magnifying any disease issues that they had growing on their own roots. With good, highly DR cultivars (like Liberty) it isn't likely to matter. However, with cultivars that had marginal DR as a full sized tree on their own root, it can matter in a big way. There are multiple reasons for this, but the biggest reasons are the size reduction of the tree and that they start flowering at a younger age.
I had a very comprehensive thread regarding this on the old QDMA forum and I currently have one on the Deer Hunter Forum. I never posted it here, because I felt that most people here look over there from time to time anyway. However, if it would be helpful to anyone, I could do some cutting and pasting and place the thread over here on this forum as well. It's up to you - I don't care. I'm already updating threads at both places, so one more isn't going to matter. But, I must warn you - I don't hold back anything in this thread I'm talking about, because I am passionate about it. And if that means a bloody fight - then so be it.
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