Performance of the V Series 

 Apple Rootstocks During Six 

 Growing Seasons 



Wesley Autio and James Krupa 



Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts 



The Vineland (V) series of apple rootstocks was 

 from open pollinated seeds from Kerr applecrab (a 

 cross between Dolgo crabapple and Haralson apple). 

 Dr. Aleck Hutchinson collected seeds from 1957 

 through 1960. Trees were planted in Vineland, 

 Ontario, and seedlings were selected based on the 

 potential for dwarfing, hardiness, ease of propagation, 

 and field resistance to powdery mildew, fireblight, and 

 wooly apple aphid. By 1971, when the rootstock 

 breeding project was terminated in Vineland, seven 

 clones (V.l, V.2, V.3, V.4, V.5, V.6, and V.7) had 

 been selected. The first evaluation of these clones as 

 rootstocks began with a tnal in 1974. In these early 

 evaluations, V.l and V.3 were determined to produce 

 trees similar to M.9 in size, V.2 produced M.26-sized 

 trees, and V.4 resulted in trees similar in size to those 

 on M.7. The Vineland rootstocks were almost 

 forgotten for a number of years, but interest was 

 rekindled in the early-mid 1990s. V.l and V.3 were 



included in NC-140 trials, a New England/Nova Scotia 

 trial, and a Northeastern U.S. trial. (For more details of 

 the history of the Vineland series, see the following 

 article: Elfving, D.C., I. Schecter, and A. Hutchinson. 

 1993. The history of the Vineland (V.) apple 

 rootstocks. Fruit Varieties Journal Al •.52-5%.) 



To study performance of the V rootstocks under 

 Massachusetts conditions, a small trial was estab- 

 lished in 1 996 at the University of Massachusetts Cold 

 Spring Orchard Research & Education Center in 

 Belchertown, including Rogers Red Mcintosh on V. 1 , 

 V.2, V.3, V.4, V.7, and M.26 EMLA. Trees were 

 individually staked and generally maintained as 

 slender spindles. Each year, trunk circumference was 

 measured and total yield was assessed. 



After six growing seasons, dramatic differences in 

 tree size existed. Trees on V.4 were more than twice as 

 large as the next largest trees (Table 1). Under our 

 conditions, these trees likely would be larger than 



18 



Fruit Notes, Volume 67, Summer, 2002 



