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EAST MAILING 26 ROOTSTOCK 



A rootstock in which fruit growers now are showing interest 

 is East Mailing 26. Since we have had no experience with this 

 stock at our Horticultural Research Center in Belchertown, Massa- 

 chusetts, the information from Michigan State presented below should 

 be of interest. The information was prepared by Dr. R.F. Carlson, 

 Michigan State University, and appeared in Compact Fruit Tree , 

 Volume 3, No. 13, October, 1970. 



EAST MALLING 26 -- PROGRESS AND PERFORMANCE 



East Mailing 26 (EM 26) is a new rootstock as far as commer- 

 cial production in North America is concerned, \lery little yield 

 data are available on the performance in relation to other root- 

 stocks. The size control capabilities of this rootstock is well 

 known. However, the compatibility with various commercial varie- 



ties and 

 tested . 



strains of varieties has not been completely studied and 



Progress made - A great number of trees have been propagated and 

 planted in both experimental and in commercial orchards using EM 26 

 Most of these trees are rather young and not many are in production 

 at this time. It will take several years before actual oroduc- 

 tion records will be available at research stations and in commer- 

 c a i 1 trials. 



Performance - To date, no serious faults have shown up with this 

 rootstock and it is anticipated that it will be a rootstock which 

 will fill an important place in controlling tree size in commercial 

 This rootstock is an improvement over East Mailing IX 

 has somewhat better anchorage, it is slightly more vig- 

 it is precocious. EM 26 has an advantage in being more 

 with 'Red Delicious' and spur types of this variety 



However, not all of the 'Red Delicious' strains and 

 have been tested in experimental or commercial plantings 

 that there will be a difference in response from 



orchards . 



in that it 



orous, and 



compati bl e 



than EM IX 



spur types 



It is suspected 



the different combinations of the 'Red Delicious' gamut. 



Improvement - EM 26 is better than EM IX with 'Red Delicious', mainly 

 because it grows better and does not show the severe measle condi- 

 tion often found with 'Red Delicious' on EM IX. Due to its added 

 vigor, EM 26 will be an improvement over EM IX expecially for some 

 varieties which do not perform as well on other rootstocks. Both 

 EM IX and EM 26 will be useful in certain sci on/roots tock combina- 

 tions and in different tree spacing systems. 



Characteri s ti cs - EM IX is not completely strong as far as root sys- 

 tem is concerned, because it has brittle wood structure. EM 26 has 

 similar characteristics of being brittle in wood structure and can 

 break more easily than some of the more vigorous rootstocks. Con- 

 sequently, some trees on EM 26 will need support in the form of 

 staking or trellising. In other words, many of the trees of certain 



