Little off-topic, question about rootstock for home orchard

[Lot2Learn]

I've got several orchards at our hunting land and I've put those trees on large rootstocks, namely b.118 and m.111 for apples and OHxF97 for pears.

Now I'm planning a small home orchard and would like to get your thoughts on apple and pear rootstocks for that setting. I could surely use the same rootstocks I'm familiar with, but I'm kinda wondering if I should go smaller to make the care somewhat easier and hasten the fruiting.

Some thoughts:

• I'm in zone 7a with clay soils
• I guess I'm open to a trellis, but it seems like a pain in the rump to me
• I don't, however, want to loose the concept that I could eventually have the trees survive in a high-density deer setting with only a ~1' cage around the central leader
• I'll be keeping bees nearby, so I'll be selecting disease fee varieties and any spraying I do will be organic (I have a lot to learn in that regard...and direction you might offer re: organic disease and insect control would be helpful)
• Maybe I should just stick with the larger rootstocks and manage the height via pruning?

What are your thoughts?

 

[Neahawg]

You may try a m111/b9 interstellar. Allows for free standing trees that stay fairly small.

 

[greyphase]

I planted my home orchard in 2014 on mostly G202 and have been pleased with the results. Hoping to get a few fruits this summer from them.
I have a few on M7 that have also grew nicely.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I would go OHxF87 for pears. Freestanding apples on the root stocks you already mentioned can be pruned fairly aggressively to limit the size, especially if you get those limbs tied down at an early age. I am not familiar enough with the Geneva series yet, but they might be worth experimenting with. I see nothing wrong with M7 in lots of locations either, at one point is was the most widely planted root stock in the USA.

 

[Neahawg]

My big thing is free standing trees, don't want to deal with stakes and such

 

[chickenlittle]

I have a portion of my orchard planted on various mid dwarf stock, mostly the M26/M7 size geneva series. Almost all are duplicates of what I have a few rows up the hill on B118 or P18. I am not sure if they stay permanently protected yet or not.

You could look at mm106 too.

www.ctl.cornell.edu/plants/GENEVA-Apple-Rootstocks-Comparison-Chart.pdf

 

[greyphase]

Here's another rootstock chart that some of you may not have seen that's pretty interesting.
http://www.nc140.org/2004/domotorootstock.pdf

 

[chickenlittle]

I am sure I found an updated version of that NC140 rootstock summary but cannot find it from my phone tonight.

 

[DrDirtNap]

If I was in your shoes and planning a home orchard I would definitely look hard at the Geneva rootstocks. Their anchoring and disease resistance appears to be very good plus there is a wide range of tree sizes you can get based on which G rootstock you select.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CrazyEd]

I've got some trees on g30 at home. They have been quick to produce!