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Photo: Emily Hoover |
The rootstock of an apple tree has a lot of impact on how an apple tree will grow and produce over its lifetime. While the scion dictates the variety of apple that the tree will produce, among other things, the rootstock influences many other factors such as the size of the tree, productivity, stress tolerance, and precocity (ability to produce fruit earlier in the tree's lifespan). Rootstocks are constantly being evaluated for performance under different environmental conditions and with different varieties.
Emily Hoover recently wrote
an article that breaks down differences in rootstocks, and discusses how her fruit research lab is continually working to evaluate rootstock performance in Minnesota.
Click here to read the full article on the UMN Horticulture Fruit Research website.