The number of suckers per tree and per acre are reported for each 

 rootstock in Table 3. On a per tree basis MAC 24 resulted in many more 

 suckers than any other rootstock. When the number of trees per acre were 

 considered MAC 24 and M.9 produced the most suckers per acre. 



Table 3. The number of suckers per tree and potential number per acre for 

 trees in the 1980 planting. 



Rootstock 



Ottawa 3 

 M.7 (EMLA) 

 M.9A (EMLA) 

 M.26 (EMLA) 

 M.27 (EMLA) 

 M.9 

 MAC 9 

 MAC 24 

 OAR 1 



"Means in a column not followed by the same letter are significantly different. 



In 1986 evaluation of fruit quality and ripening of fruit from these trees 

 began. Results will be reported in later issues. 



1984 Plantin g 



The trees in the 1984 planting are not old enough for a full evaluation of 

 tree characteristics, but tree size after 3 growing seasons and bloom are 

 reported in Table 4. Treus on Ant. 313, Bud. 491, and seedling roots were the 

 largest, and those on P. 2, P. 16, and P. 22 were the smallest. The number of 

 flower clusters were counted in 1986 and the bloom is presented as the number 

 of blossom clusters per unit of trunk cross-sectional area. Because of the 

 significantly higher amount of bloom, trees on B.9, MAC 39, P. 22, M.26 (EMLA), 

 P. 2, P. 16, and C.6 likely would fruit earlier than trees on the other rootstocks. 

 Further observation of these trees will give us insight into new rootstocks 

 which may perform well in Massachusetts. 



