There are orchards in Tennessee, but no large ones near where I live. I have seen small plantings (10-15) trees around some of the local farms, but would be surprised to find that those growers were "experts". In any event, I don't know any experienced individual fruit growers locally. It seems to me that feedback from multiple sources, such as here on Gardenweb, is one of the best ways to get info. Another good thing is the "peer review" that goes on here. I have talked to the local extension people, but have found that the amount of helpful information from them is definitely limited. I think the combined years of experience here are probably highly useful compared to any single source with which I am familiar. As for planting the graft union right at ground level, from what I read about burying the graft unions to reduce/eliminate burr knots, I'm not sure that planting the graft unions at or just above ground level would work. I think the idea was to plant the trees so that the scion would form its own root system and eventually bypass the 111 rootstock. Has anyone else had good or bad experiences with 111 concerning burr knots? Anyone have any information about how much difference the EMLA (virus free) rootstock makes? How about the tomato ringspot virus issues?

I bought 3 apple trees recently all with EMLA 27 rootstocks. All trees are going to be grown in pots... I was curious about the growth on this rootstock. I have heard from others about pruning off the buds to prevent fruiting, because the tree would be less vigorous and would have reduced yields later on. Hearing it again in this post makes me wonder if I should even leave a few buds on now or completely prune them all off (The tree is supposely a little over a year old). I was tempted to taste a few apples from the first fruiting. An apple or three should'nt have much effect on vegetative growth?

1) Bitterpit is due to Calcium defficiency and Purdue didn't establish a link in between MM111 and bitterpit on William's pride. See details below. 2) MM111 bears the first year on many varieties, it doesn't come into "full" production until about year five when the tree has reached maturity. Details: Bitterpit is a non-issue as long as your soil doesn't have a calcium deficiency. Bitterpit is easy to remedy, so using MM111 shouldn't be an issue. In fact, Purdue states that the bitterpit observed on MM111 was only on first year crop, and was on trees in very sandy soil with heavy irrigation and excessive nitrogen fertilization. So I would not extrapolate that it means William's pride always gets bitterpit on MM111. MM111 has borne the first year I planted nursery grown bare root trees. It will take up to five years to go into full production, but if you let the tree bear the first five years, it will slow down its growth in a major way, and dwarf it intensely. The varieties that bore the first year of planting on MM111 in my garden include: - Pink pearl, around 5 apples, today it's only 8 feet tall after 3 years and produces like crazy, this year over 100 apples. I have to keep it from bearing to add size to the tree. - pink princess, total biennial, same as pink pearl except this year it's on an off year. - Allington pippin - heavy crop the first year - nonethesuch, heavy crop the first year - Winter banana, biggest crop of all trees the first year with giant fruit. - White Winter pearmain, good crop the first year The list goes on and on. So far, Spigold is a shy bearer and has not come into full production. Nothing on Cox Orange Pippin, nothing on Carmijin de sonaville. For me and many other CRFG growers in Santa Cruz county, MM111 has been the most amazing rootstock. I also have M7, but the trees totally lack vigor and yet overbear like crazy. The quality is not as good as on MM111, because M7 doesn't have the root structure required to tolerate our long, dry Summers. They require too much water. MM111 requires maybe one deep watering per month, and that's it.

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.