Rootstocks and Seedlings

apples on saskatoons. in the third year with this group many are flowering. dwarfing, precocious, reasonably graft compatible. note the union in the second last photo, kind good. so can you graft apples like this, does it work - well yah seems like it, they'll be small trees but despite a lack of evidence on the wider internet, it's working. why use wild saskatoon? well, in my case it's all around our property, and in many areas not very productive, yet it's a very cold hardy tree, very drought tolerant, good properties for a rootstock, also very disease resistant. one thing I need to call out, it doesn't heal over like an apple - so I've had the best result using a whip and tongue or even better a z graft, if you use a bark or modified cleft it leaves a section of stump exposed - don't do that for saskatoon it causes die back the tree won't recover from. so this is an example of technique that will change the outcome.

meadow blazingstar, a native perennial wildflower collect from northern manitoba. flats like this are an easy way to start the seeds, then they get pulled apart and transplanted into small pots or plugs.

mustang cherry, prunus 'jeffchum' in bloom. the fruit are similar to sapalta, slightly smaller and more stringent skin. I don't know for sure about the parentage, it's called out as something like sapalta x americana.. so if you planted seedlings of any cherry plums and selected for vigour, might get something close. this is a stock bush for cuttings, but this year now that we have more pollinators around it might be full of fruit, and those seedlings could be alright rootstocks.

here I'm transplanting some small larch plugs into larger plugs, if you don't know larch are this conifer that have the unusual feature where they drop their needles in the fall and just grow new ones first thing in the spring. these broke dormancy a few weeks ago even while bundled up like this and look nice and healthy, but they're super slow growing when small like spruce and pine, unless you have ideal conditions expect about a 2" tree at the end of the first year, and plant them into small pots or large plug trays for the second year to get up to a size that can handle being planted out. or leave them in a garden bed for 2-3 years kind of back burner and then in the spring you can put them into pots or transplant to a field or yard location. spruce in particular, they can grow maybe six inches per year for the first five-ten years, then once established take off and grow much faster.

plum orchard year three on chokecherry rootstocks with interstems. first time there's been a bloom with some wild plums mixed in, should be fruit.

z graft everything. I find that most field grafts, unless the scion size and body position is just right for whip and tongue, the z graft is now my goto. when I bench graft, sure whip and tongue. my recent run of sixty different apple scions onto seedlings, unless you stand over them, z graft all the way. we'll see what the take it like next month.

packing up berry bushes like these polar jewel haskap grown in lalge plugs and stuffed into a small pot, shrink wrapped bundles of plugs, and other assorted. a couple days off while it was below freezing and we're back at it, hoping another 2 weeks to finish with help from the whole family in our spring packing rush

apricots from the root cellar, super ready to plant.

potting up wild american hazelnuts. I kept them in some damp peat moss in a fridge all winter, and they've been just in a bin in the shade in the greenhouse for about a month. these guys will get some squirrel cage protection, the attached nuts will get excavated even after the seedlings are growing by ninja squirrels.

time to pot up these seedlings. you can direct sow into trays and pots, or info a garden bed but I like to use community pots to get things started. saves on greenhouse space, easy to keep watered.

a few seedlings coming up. i have quite a few of these to prick out into plug trays or pots. should add them to our seed shop, proof that they do germinate

western sandcherry from some tasty ones I found last summer. about one month old. we're growing these out to plant in the landscape and also for dwarfing apricot rootstocks.

few seedlings growing in the greenhouse. so far 45 trays each one something different. no idea if it’s too much or not enough ;)

manchurian apricot softwood can root, here’s westcot apricot on it’s own roots from last fall. with enough stock material for cuttings in early june, this could be a way to propagate apricot rootstocks. maybe.

thinking about giving these old plug trays a go this year. I gave up on them in 2015-16 after winter kill took out 90% of the confiers, I had thousands healthy in the fall, covered with snow and just stone dead in the spring. I’m fine it’s ok, some of those pine trees are 6 ft tall around my yard now. but this year I have some cold storage for the winter, and suspect I could surely keep plugs alive. still trying to understand how to use them, these can ship all summer right? probably only suitable for bushes or small perennials or trees with a slower growing root system? imagining an oak or willow would get root bound fast.. or am I wrong?

first set loaded, thinking I’ll just plant some of everything in these for variety. they’re a 50 cell 200ml/cc 2x5” plug tray.

red leafed choke cherry seedling emerging

royalty crabapple (red) next to our rootstocks

bench grafts right before they went in the ground. the first half are on b118 from our new stoolbed, second half are root grafts on M. baccata .. I have a variety of rootstocks and types of grafts this year so it will be interesting to compare how well they grow. #grafting

malus baccata or Siberian crabapple seedlings getting potted up. sometimes is convenient to grow them in a community pot for a week or two and move them as they germinate. these will be some of next spring’s rootstocks #seedlings #appleseeds

Seedlings (in order) Boxelder, Silver Buffalo Berry, Pear, Mountain Ash

Planting spruce around our aspen forest. I like to use the dibble for this it’s quick and the hole fits a decent root mass. planted on the north side of a stump covered with old bark to keep it sheltered #treeplanting

Ohio buckeye is an uncommon tree around here but seems fully winter hardy in zone 3. The big compound leaves are so cool. Trying a seedbed of them this summer. Sourcing tree seeds from a similar climate is very challenging, for example my buckeye seeds are from a thousand miles south of here. Will they survive -45? will need to keep them in the seedbed over winter vs heeling them into to find out, i need to see wood above the snow line survive to know.

Nursery area this spring, about to build some seedbeds for more stratified tree seeds

planting spruce today. one thing I’ve learned when planting around a wood lot is to use stakes, because you need to find them through the first year to water them. by June without stakes they’re very hard to find. another good tip is to plant on the north side of a log or stump and pile around bark for best survival. #silviculture #treeplanting

One corner of our nursery, raised beds full of small trees and bushes #backyardnursery #garden

today the ground was finally thawed enough to dig up our heeled in trees from the fall, grown in our raised beds. Last year was a good start, a few hundred seedling rootstocks about to get grafted and some assorted trees we’ll plant out around our property. All the cool stuff is coming up this fall. #treenursery #rootstock

river birch seedlings at 5 weeks. these are a native species grown from seed collected in the fall. just trying them out inside to test germination, should have a whole bed of them come up this summer #riverbirch #indoorgarden

planting white spruce along a forest path today #silviculture #forest #treeplanting

filling a new nursery bed with #compost and #biochar .. there’s a gradient in the soil from pure garden soil with a substantial mineral content to pure aged compost in the top inches. As time goes by we amend by adding compost only to the top layer. #fruittreenursery #fruittrees #backyardnursery

planting out some baby #mugopine these are 3 months old and about 2” tall. Transplanting from the grow room into a shady nursery bed full of #compost and #mulch. . #fruittreenursery #fruittrees #backyardnursery

it’s all #woodchips and #compost at the nursery as we fill our raised beds by the greenhouse . #fruittreenursery #fruittrees #backyardnursery