Types of Fruit Tree Rootstock

To graft your own fruit trees, you can buy Apple, Pear, Cherry, and Plum rootstocks from us.

Grafting is the only way to propagate more of a particular fruit tree variety

Grafting is satisfying work, it’s a joy to give a new run to a beloved old, possibly dying tree whose name has been lost. 

A named cultivar (cultivated variety), like a ‘Bramley’ apple tree, is never grown from seed. They are effectively cloned from other Bramley trees.

Scions and Rootstocks are fused together by grafting

A cutting, called a scion, from an adult Bramley is grafted onto the roots of another apple tree, called the rootstock.

• The scion is the top half – this determines what the new tree will be.
• The rootstock is the bottom half – this controls the tree’s final size when mature & rate of growth.

The best way to think of a rootstock is the “engine” under the “hood” of whichever variety is growing on it.
A bigger engine makes your chosen car go faster, and so a more vigorous rootstock allows your fruit tree to grow bigger.

Which rootstocks do we use for Ashridge fruit trees?

There are many specialist rootstocks on the books, but in practice, each fruit tree species in has one group of rootstocks that are used by almost everyone in the UK. 
We grow our fruit trees on the most suitable rootstock for its intended final shape and size; those are also the rootstocks most people want to buy.

Rootstocks That We Sell Our Fruit Trees On

Mature sizes shown are approximate: the apple variety, soil type, sun, and pruned regime all play a role.

Rootstocks we sell but don’t graft as fruit trees for sale.

We also sell two less in-demand apple rootstocks, the vigorous M25 that’s usually for cider apples, and a very dwarfing M27, mostly used for container grown trees or step-overs on a support wire.

Guide to fruit tree sizes and shapes.