Growing From Suckers?

[LupinePredator]

The annoyances of sucker growth aside, I've noticed in other threads that it's possible to start a new plant from suckers. I am wondering: Is this possible with the Malus tree, and if it is, how would one go about doing this? Suckers aside again, they are quite beautiful trees, and I've noticed in a different thread that it's possible to make nice homemade wine from the fruit. I wouldn't mind having a few more of them on the property...

[JONA878]

It is perfectly possable to root up suckers.
Treat them like any hard-wood cutting and they should do fine.
As to the Malus ...it will depend if the tree has been grafted onto another rootstock or not.
If it has then all the suckers will give you is the rootstock plant and not the grafted malus above it..

[LupinePredator]

Jona, thank you for the reply, but in all honesty, I'm ashamed to tell you that your post was pretty much complete Greek to me.

To borrow a line from the movie Philadelphia, "Please, explain it to me like I'm a five-year-old." Perhaps then, I'll understand it....

[JONA878]

Jona, thank you for the reply, but in all honesty, I'm ashamed to tell you that your post was pretty much complete Greek to me.

To borrow a line from the movie Philadelphia, "Please, explain it to me like I'm a five-year-old." Perhaps then, I'll understand it....

Sorry Lupin..
Let me explain.
When you buy an apple or pear tree the tree will not be growing on its own roots.
It is growing from a cutting ( scion ) that has been taken from a mother tree and been grafted to a root stock. This is to ensure that the variety is true to its origin.
A tree grown from seed will only have one parent known to the grower unless it was pollinated under very secure conditions and therefore would not be true to its variety name.
If you take the seed from a say Golden Delicious that you are eating you only know one parent....the apple your chewing...you do not know what the other parent of that seed was.
If you planted it and it grew you could name it what you liked....it's your own variety.
The same applies to Malus trees.
There is always a chance that someone has planted a seed and a tree may be from that seed but any purchased named tree would be grafted.
The root stock also gives the grower far more control over how big the tree will grow as various stocks have different known growth patterns.
If it wasn't for rootstocks orchards would have trees of all manner of sizes and hights.

[LupinePredator]

Sorry Lupin..
Let me explain.
When you buy an apple or pear tree the tree will not be growing on its own roots.
It is growing from a cutting ( scion ) that has been taken from a mother tree and been grafted to a root stock. This is to ensure that the variety is true to its origin.
A tree grown from seed will only have one parent known to the grower unless it was pollinated under very secure conditions and therefore would not be true to its variety name.
If you take the seed from a say Golden Delicious that you are eating you only know one parent....the apple your chewing...you do not know what the other parent of that seed was.
If you planted it and it grew you could name it what you liked....it's your own variety.
The same applies to Malus trees.
There is always a chance that someone has planted a seed and a tree may be from that seed but any purchased named tree would be grafted.
The root stock also gives the grower far more control over how big the tree will grow as various stocks have different known growth patterns.
If it wasn't for rootstocks orchards would have trees of all manner of sizes and hights.

So, if I understand you correctly, the only way to find out is to graft one or more of these suckers onto rootstock, plant it, and hope for the best, correct?

Preparing to do some research into grafting and obtaining rootstock...

Thanks for your help, Jona.

[JONA878]

Sorry Lupin..
Let me explain.
When you buy an apple or pear tree the tree will not be growing on its own roots.
It is growing from a cutting ( scion ) that has been taken from a mother tree and been grafted to a root stock. This is to ensure that the variety is true to its origin.
A tree grown from seed will only have one parent known to the grower unless it was pollinated under very secure conditions and therefore would not be true to its variety name.
If you take the seed from a say Golden Delicious that you are eating you only know one parent....the apple your chewing...you do not know what the other parent of that seed was.
If you planted it and it grew you could name it what you liked....it's your own variety.
The same applies to Malus trees.
There is always a chance that someone has planted a seed and a tree may be from that seed but any purchased named tree would be grafted.
The root stock also gives the grower far more control over how big the tree will grow as various stocks have different known growth patterns.
If it wasn't for rootstocks orchards would have trees of all manner of sizes and hights.

So, if I understand you correctly, the only way to find out is to graft one or more of these suckers onto rootstock, plant it, and hope for the best, correct?

Preparing to do some research into grafting and obtaining rootstock...

Thanks for your help, Jona.

Two ways of approach Lupin.

If you want to take a chance that there is no rootstock involved with your tree. Then just root up some of the suckers.
If you are thinking of going down the grafting route it would be better if you took the grafting material...( the scions ) from your trees main framework.
This would be a sure fire way of knowing that you will have an exact copy.

As with all tree grafting ...you take the cutting from the tree when it is completely dormant in the winter. Make a small bundle of them and plant ( heel ) them in a quiet part of the garden out of the way.
The actual grafting is done once the tree that you are grafting it on to has started to grow away strongly.
So the scion is dormant but the recipiant tree is growing away well.

Jona