Hi, Ashley. I use this technique with very good results, although I've never used the Nemaguard rootstock in this manner. I think you'll be fine, but Dave Wilson Nurseries staff are the real pros with this. Why don't you give them a call? Misterbaby.

Thanks, Misterbaby. I will call Dave Wilson nursery to see what they say.

Also this type of planting will dwarf the trees so they won't get as big as if planted further apart.

Did you plant them that way because of very limited space or for some other reason?

tammy, that is exactly what I was hoping to do when I planted several to one hole. Also, I was told to use Nemaguard rootstock for my area. The only problem is that i did not have any information on whether this works well for "standard" rootstocks.
brandon, I planted them this way because of wanting to grow several varieties in a limited yard space. I followed the concepts outlined in the "backyard orchard culture" document on Dave Wilson nursery's website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Orchard Culture @ Dave Wilson's website

The Backyard Orchard Culture method works on all kinds of rootstocks, I think the information online even mentions this. I have many n-way plantings on standard stocks. The one place where it makes a difference is if you do the "hedgerow" method of many trees close in one long row; for that method I think full-size trees should be a minimum of 3' apart in the row.

Scott

Scott's one of the resident experts here on this method. Wish he'd mention how many years he's been doing it so you'd know that he has enough experience to know what he's talking about, which he does.

Because he's been succesful using this method on the east coast where we can't control vigor by reducing irrigation I think you can be pretty confident you can make it work there.

harvestman, my oldest plantings are from 2002 so they are going into their 9th year. I also had some failures with this method with plantings closer than 3'. I put pears in a zig-zag so for each 2' or row there is a pear and that is too close, they just want to grow straight up. Pears on full stock may even be better at 4' minimum. I did a similar thing for apples with dwarf stocks and apples at every 1' per row foot and that was also too close but not as bad as the pears; I am now converting most of the apples to spindles and it may end up working out well in the end that way. I am also going to try that on the pears; a few pears have done very well in my close method since they "spur up" easily; asians have all done good in fact. Its the Euros that are only trying to "reach the skies".

Scott

Well, I contacted DW and they told me that this will work very well - infact they have such plantings in their test area with trees at only 10" apart. And also, the reason that I chose standard rootstock is because the Citation rootstock for the semi-dwarf was not performing well for a neighbor of mine in my area while his other trees on Lovell and Nemaguard (standard) rootstock was doing extremely well.
Thanks for your help. I will keep my planting as is for a few years and see how it goes.

I've had mixed results. Put a 'Redhaven' and a 'Mericrest' in the same hole. They were compatible in vigor, but the Mericrest was unproductive, so I cut it down. I would chalk that one up as a 'win' Better I didn't waste a full hole on Mericrest, and it didn't seem to slow down 'Redhaven'

Other hole had 'J.H. Hale' 'Double Jewel' and 'Fantastic Elberta' Double Jewel bore really well once, then stunted out. I cut it down. 'J.H. Hale' appears to be a good tree, but it is too feeble to compete with "Fantastic Elberta" FE finally pulled through for me last season, but I wish J.H. Hale had a prime hole. Shoulda done a little more research about the characteristics of 'Hale' on that one.

'Geo-Pride' Pluot was shared with 'Elephant Heart' plum. EH died immediately. GP bears very lightly in Z5A and it is now shaded too much by some of my other trees. I would put that one as a wash.

'Shiro' was shared with 'Red Ace' Red Ace died immediately. Shiro bears even more lightly than Geo-Pride. But its a pretty tree close to the house. Another wash.

'Polly' on the other hand was given its own hole based on my supposition that it was a prime candidate to be a good producer. It turned out to be true.

I guess my conclusion is that shared hole planting has been useful to me to try different varieties in limited space in a marginal climate. So I guess I would recommend it, but pay attention to relative plant vigor, not just any peach with any peach, or any apple with any other apple.

How do we find out the rootstock type for trees purchased from HD and Lowes?

gardenathome, its best to start a new topic for an unrelated question.

In any case the answer to your question is, "you don't". You don't even know if it is the right variety, they apparently think it is ethical business practice to put any one variety label on any other. Buy your light bulbs at HD/Lowes and get your fruit trees from a reputable nursery, mail-order being the best.

Scott

Hi, Scottfsmith. Apologies for not having started a new topic... We just wanted to follow up on the mention of rootstocks in the replies within this thread.

gardenathome, if you saved the packaging or any other details of the originating nursery of the HD/Lowes plants, you can call that nursery (or find their website and email them - calls work better) and they will be able to tell you what rootstocks they use. I called the nursery listed on a 7 year old Bing cherry that I had and they told me that they use Gisela as rootstock which is a good variety.
In california, most major suppliers use some normally acceptable rootstocks most of the time when they supply to big box stores.
As for myself, I switched to buying trees exclusively from Dave Wilson Nurseries a few years ago because of the extensive documentation and guarantee that what you see on the label is what you get.