For making a limited number of apple and pear rootstocks of known type (just to make plants for my kids and friends), I am soon planting one extra of each type (bought commercially) in a 25 gallon pot (maybe eventually 45 gallon) pot in loose light soil. I will attempt the stooling routine and if that is not satisfactory, depot them on occasion to obtain a bunch of root cuttings. That's the plan anyway.

Hi LostLandscapes- Ok then, it's sounding like these trees are just too young to be bearing fruit. Just to confirm, could you guess at the diameter of the tree a bit above the graft union? My trees arrive at only about 1/2"-5/8" in diameter. If your 4' trees are small like that, then it is indeed too young, and you should even remove any remaining fruit to help the tree grow. I'd suspect you'd even need to do the same next year, but I think peaches to bear slightly earlier than apples, so get a 2nd opinion. Sorry to give you the bad news about waiting for a few years! I only know a little bit about apple trees, but not really anything about peaches/nectarines. Hopefully some other people will come back with info for you on that. Two suggestions though... 1) you'll need to remind people where you live so they'll have half of a chance at guessing what your pests will be. 2.) I bet if you search these forums you'll find lots of good info on peach/nectarine spraying. Good luck, -Glenn

Xcoyotex: Rootstocks can be propagated in a number of different ways, which are sometimes different for distinct species, and sometimes the same. Because there is some complexity in the way rootstocks are grown or otherwise propagated, I cannot hope to cover them all here, but can illustrate the point with a few specific examples. Yes, you can propagate your own rootstocks (in most cases), but, because of the time or degree of difficulty involved, you may ask yourself if it is worth it when most rootstocks can be purchased at reasonable prices. And some of the newest and best rootstocks are under patent, or otherwise difficult to obtain for home propagation. When you grow an apple or other fruit from seed, the tree that results is said to be on its "own roots", that is, it is not grafted. Unless, of course, you cut it down and graft it, but even then the rootstock will be a seedling and will not impart the desirable qualities, such as dwarfing, cold or disease resistance etc. of rootstocks that are specifically grown as clones. Most fruit trees grown on seedling rootstocks will grow to become full-size trees. Many apple rootstocks and some stone fruit rootstocks can be propagated from suckers that come from the roots themselves, not the tree above. Rootstock suckers are identical copies of the parent tree rootstock(or clones), but some rootstocks do not sucker freely, or not at all, and require a different strategy. Many peach rootstocks are grown from seedlings (i.e. Halford, Lovell, Bailey), as are some plum and cherry rootstocks, and produce acceptable results. However, to precisely reproduce the same rootstock, they are often propagated by hardwood cuttings. A good example of this is Myrobalan, a popular plum rootstock. Sometimes, fruit trees are grown on rootstocks of closely related species, such as pears on quince, to achieve desirable results. The above barely scratches the surface of what you should know before starting to propagate your own rootstocks, but first you have to know what you want as a final result, and understand the various ways to achieve it. You will have to do some reading on your own before you begin, since you will not get thorough, organized instructions here, although you might get some interesting tips. Most people are reluctant to try to write a book on Gardenweb when there is so much info available on the internet for free with just a little looking. Many full-dwarf apple rootstocks are propagated by banking earth up around the stem, waiting until the stem sends roots into the soil, then cutting it off. This procedure is called "stooling", and it calls for some skill and patience, since the roots do not grow in immediately. After the rooted part of the stem is cut off for a new tree, the rootstock below is allowed to grow a new stem, and the process begins again. Other popular apple rootstocks, such as the semi-dwarf M-7, sucker freely, and there are lots of little rootstocks around the base of mature trees that can be removed by a little careful digging. In addition to size control, clonal apple rootstocks usually produce fruit much sooner than full size (standard) trees grown on seedlings. If you post again with more questions, be as specific as you can about what you are looking for in a rootstock in terms of size control, precocity of bearing, hardiness, and drought and disease resistance. If you have lots of room and don't care how large your trees become and are willing to risk other factors, you can grow rootstocks for just about any fruit from seeds. But I think you will eventually conclude that growing fruit trees is already difficult enough that you will want to leave rootstocks to the professionals and spend a few bucks to buy them. It is much easier to obtain scions for grafting by trading, or by contacts with other fruitgrowers, since you can easily slip a few scions into an envelope. Also, please tell us where you live. Not essential, perhaps, but a nice courtesy. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Some good advice given. Highlands, I have a traditional one acre backyard planting and a new larger planting on some farm ground. At the new location, I put in about 20 new apple trees last spring (on mm111 mostly) and 15 cherry trees on Mahaleb. I now wish I'd ordered them on more vigorous rootstocks (i.e. standard seedling for apple and Mazzard for cherry). It's just such a vicious environment out there. Grasshoppers constantly try to defoliate young apple trees. Deer trashing/rutting young cherry trees. Wind is more severe and whips the trees around constantly. I'm finding it much harder to get apple, cherry and plum trees established than what I'm used to. Peaches are vigorous enough that they've done fine out there so far. For the most part, the advantages of letting trees grow tall are aesthetics and to keep the tree above the browse height for deer. The disadvantages are that it can take longer for vigorous trees to fruit. Pruning and thinning must be done on a ladder, or raised platform. Whether or not to work from a ladder seems to be an issue of personal preference. Hman practically makes his living pruning from a ladder. As I recall, he's kind of a thin wiry guy which probably helps climbing around on a ladder. My own personal preference is to keep my feet on the ground (I'm only 47, but I've noticed this desire has increased with age.) The maximum size you want to allow for your trees is a big question and one you should put a lot of thought into. Obviously more vigorous rootstocks require more space b/t trees at planting. Vigorous trees can be kept at any height through pruning, but as dmtaylor mentioned, keeping vigorous trees low requires aggressive pruning. Although it does require a lot more pruning, it's it's less time invested than working off a ladder (unless you're really fast on a ladder). If your location has a lot of deer pressure and you choose to keep your trees low, you'll have to fence to keep the deer off your trees.