reproducing plum trees

I hope someone can help. I have some plum stones which i would like to grow and i read that they will need to be grafted onto rootstock. I presume the rootstock is another tree, as i dont want to spend lots of money buying in other trees can i take cuttings from other trees, grow them and then graft my young plums onto them. also if that is right then which trees do i need to grow. Welliewearer

 

You can plant plum stones and they will grow into plum trees. Problem is that they will take from 4 to 6 years to start cropping fruit. So the only way to get more fruit bearing trees quickly is to take cuttings and graft them onto to rootstock of known performance. Then you can grown them on as bushes or standard trees as you wish

 

Also the trouble with growing plums on their own roots is that they sucker all over the place. We have major problems with the wild self sown plums in our hedgerow, sending up new trees all over the place. They also grow into very big trees on their own roots.

 

Thank you for your advice. what is the best time of year to take cuttings from the plum trees. what actually is rootstock? is it a young tree and if so how do i do it