An Update on the 1994 NC-140 

 Peach Rootstock Trial 



Wesley R. Autio 



Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts 



According the 1991A^eu; England Fruit Tree 

 Inventory, conducted by the New England 

 Agricultural Statistics Service, peaches com- 

 prise only 7% (380 acres) of the tree-fruit 

 acreage in Massachusetts; however, most of 

 these fruit are sold directly to the consumer and 

 are profitable. Further, acreage is expected to 

 increase at a rate of 2-3% per year for the near 

 future. Therefore, peaches are an important 

 part of the Massachusetts tree-fruit industry. 



Peaches have a number of horticultural 

 problems: they are subject to early decline; 

 they can bloom too early and therefore be 

 frosted, they often express too much vegetative 



vigor, and the flower buds or whole tree can be 

 killed by winter cold. Rootstock can impact any 

 or all of these problems. 



To begin to study the potential for using 

 rootstock to overcome some limitations of peach 

 growing, Massachusetts participated in an NC- 

 140 trial studying the effects of 12 rootstocks 

 and one interstem combination on the 

 performance of Redhaven peach. The 

 Massachusetts planting was established in 

 1994 at the University of Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Research Center in Belchertown 

 and included eight replications. Rootstocks 

 included were as follows with descriptions 



20 



Fruit Notes, volume 62 (Number 2), Spring, 1997 



