Rootstock Effects on Ginger Gold 

 Apple Trees 



Wesley R. Autio and James Krupa 



Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts 



On of the most critical decisions when 

 establishing an apple orchard block is the selection of 

 rootstock. Rootstock can affect tree size, yield per 

 tree, and fruit quality. Improper understanding of how 

 a rootstock affects these characteristics can result in an 

 inefficient or even unsuccessful block. Therefore, it is 

 important for growers to have knowledge of rootstock 

 performance when grown with varieties important to 

 the region and with the climatic conditions 

 experienced in the region. The objectives of the study 

 reported here were to compare performance of several 

 of the newest rootstock clones with a variety of 

 increasing importance to retail orchardists. 



Materials & Methods 



In April, 1995, a trial was established at the 



University of Massachusetts Cold Spring Orchard 

 Research & Education Center in Belchertown. It 

 included Ginger Gold trees on ten different rootsocks. 

 The experiment was conducted in a randomized- 

 complete-block design with ten replications. Annu- 

 ally, trunk cross-sectional area, yield, and fruit size 

 were measured. 



Results 



At the end of the 2001 growing season (seventh 

 leaf), trees on Mark and V.l were the largest, as 

 assessed by trunk cross-sectional area (Figure I). 

 Please note that in a number of research and 

 commercial plantings Mark has grown vigorously 

 during the first few years, matching trees on M.26 in 

 size. After 6-8 years, however, they usually begin 



10 



20 



30 



40 



50 



Trunk cross-sectional area (cm ) 



Figure 1. Trunk cross-sectional area in 2001 of Ginger Gold trees on several 

 rootstocks planted in 1995. Bars not followed by the same letter are signifi- 

 cantly different at odds of 19 to 1. 



50 



Fruit Notes, Volume 66, 2001 



