Rootstock

The M9 rootstock is one of the oldest rootstocks for plant propagation. It hinders the vegetative growth of apple trees and makes it possible to have a vast number of trees on a unit of land. Apple cultivars grafted with this rootstock become fertile very fast and can produce abundant yields of larger fruits with better color coverage even in the first year. The trees grown on the M9 rootstock are small with thin trunks and short shoots, so they need smaller amounts of plant feed and fertilizers than large tree grafts. One disadvantage of this rootstock is a fragile and asymmetrical network of skeletal roots which makes it more difficult to settle in the soil. For this reason, trees need reinforcement to prevent them from leaning and tipping over. We opted for the clone selection T337 as the most suitable for our assortment of moderate vigor cultivars.