I've read that Bud 118 is a great rootstock for deer hunting purposes/wildlife from the experts on here . I have many young trees that are Bud 118 and currently have an order of 6 more. I don't doubt any of the fruit tree experts on here at all and I've gathered a lot of info on here on fruit trees. I came across reading up on Bud 118 yesterday which said " productivity is an issue, as it tends to grow smaller fruit every other year and suffers annual bearing challenges". I can give anyone the website I read this on if you would like, but was just curious if it has any truth to it?
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Bud 118 rootstock
- Thread starter BobinCt
- Start date
chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
I have not heard those criticisms before. Smaller fruit would not be a concern for me for a wildlife tree. As for annual bearing, I probably would not worry about that either. Some varieties tend toward biennial and I have enough trees in the ground that I think I will be covered for most years. Productivity is more a term for commercial orcharding who likely aren't using B118 much except maybe for very low vigor varieties.
Please post the link.
Please post the link.
chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
There is also a very small list of rootstocks to choose from for a larger tree for wildlife. The only readily available are Bud 118, MM111, MM106, P18 and various seedling stocks. It would be nice if some larger Geneva rootstocks were released but there is not the commercial grower drive for a larger rootstock. They want more variety of hardy dwarf rootstocks between M9 and M7 size that can be matched to the location and scion variety to get the tree size and productivity they want.
Don't know how to post the link , but go to : Goodfruit.com then type in Bud 118 in search then the second title down is " What Apple Rootstock" click on that and scroll down til you see Bud 118. If I was good on computers, I would have posted it, but I'm obviously not.
chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
http://www.goodfruit.com/which-apple-rootstock-should-you-grow-with/
Sounds like a commercial grower concern that I would not notice. They could look at their harvest records and see if they got 10% or 25% fewer apples every other year.
Sounds like a commercial grower concern that I would not notice. They could look at their harvest records and see if they got 10% or 25% fewer apples every other year.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Keep in mind that Good Fruit Grower is geared towards commercial growers in the Pacific Northwest. I get the magazine and some good information in it, just need to keep in mind where its focus audience is based.
buckvelvet
5 year old buck +
You know when I have 80 trees rocking productivity, if there is any truth to that, it'll be ok with me. :)
Appleman
5 year old buck +
The malus rootstock Budagovsky 118 is a very precocious bearing, winter hardy rootstock that produces a tree 80% to 85% size of a standard. Production usually starts by 3rd leaf, but is advised to remove all fruit to allow the support system of the tree to develop more quickly. Once the tree starts to crop, annual bearing habits are mostly variety driven or connected to cultural practices such as thinning and pruning methods. For example, in my commercial orchard I grow Honeycrisp apples. After the pollination period is complete I evaluate for fruit set. A heavy fruit set requires proper thinning in order to promote good fruit size and encourage a return bloom the following spring. A semi dwarf tree, like the B118 has the ability on average to grow 6 to 8 bushels of quality fruit per season. How that is translated to size is how well the apples are thinned. In most cases, with wildlife trees more is better, but with a heavier fruit set apples will be much smaller. When a tree is left to fruit heavy one season a lot of energy is spent, new buds for the following season fail to develop, and the tree is pushed into bi-annual production. B118 in my opinion is one of the best rootstock for wildlife projects and I would seriously question what orchard methods of care were done from the read you mentioned.
buckvelvet
5 year old buck +
Basically your an expert and know way more than I know on apples, I like him!
buckvelvet
5 year old buck +
So with B118 being so precocious does it help a bi-annual tendency variety become not so bi-annual or no?
Appleman
5 year old buck +
There's too many moving parts when it comes to putting your finger on a single specific as to bi-annual tendency. For example, Honeycrisp is well known to be somewhat bi-annual in the early years of bearing. As the trees mature they become more annual. Some varieties by nature have it built into their DNA to simply be bi-annual producers. Factors like, late season frost, poor weather conditions during pollination, lack of proper thinning, can ruin a crop having the appearance of being bi-annual. The B118 is a rootstock that promotes early bearing should have little effect on annual vs bi-annual tendencies.
Maya
5 year old buck +
Appleman, not sure if I told you or not, my G41 & G11 are spitting out yearly crops of HC's. G41 for 4 years now and G11 for 2 years. We'll see what happens next year but this is encouraging. I had a good crop of B9's this year on their 2nd leaf, so we'll see what they do next year.
Appleman
5 year old buck +
Nice, you have done some wonderful things with your high density plantings. I'm from the old school and like a well-anchored free standing trees with the B118's. I see James Cummins research has expanded his legacy by expanding offering of the Geneva series rootstock. B9 rootstock from the meetings I've attended are still playing an important role with the fruiting wall management system. There is no question dwarfing rootstocks from a production standpoint per acre has caught on with the growing community.
Maya
5 year old buck +
B9' s are the most planted in most high density plantings but I do like Geneva roots. I still like semi dwarfs for my deer trees, but from a commercial standpoint, high density plantings are much more efficient.
Getting back to Bobins question. No I have not noticed that B118's to be anything but very good all around rootstocks.
Getting back to Bobins question. No I have not noticed that B118's to be anything but very good all around rootstocks.
Appleman
5 year old buck +
I like the folks at Good Fruit Grower. http://read.dmtmag.com/i/751050-december-2016/57
For deer, I think a blend of seedling rootstock and b118 would be a good blend. Faster producing b118 would be good early and then the seedlings would produce bigger crops in a decade. I have a big antkova rootstock tree that has a huge frame and produced its first Apple last spring at year 3. If it keeps growing like this, I'll be able to hang a tree stand from that apple tree when it is 10. I have a bunch of other random semi dwarfs and semi standards on different rootstock that have a random Apple or two at the same age, but the tree size of seedlings impressed me.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
I cant get your link to work, though I assume it was the story on your "Franklin" apple. It was a good read and I pointed it out to Maya when I first read it.
