Rootstocks and Height

Hello,

I recently bought a few fruit 'trees'; a gage, a damson, and an apple.

The gage and damson are on SJA rootstock, but are labled as 'bush' and the centre leaders have been pruned at about 1 mtr high. Now, the garden centre said the SJA rootstock would grow to about 2.5. to 3.5 mtrs, but with the leaders pruned so short, will they really get much taller than they are now? Currently they are a bushy 6ft.

The apple, a red falstaff, is on an M26 rootstock, which I think is a little on the shorter side...

Thoughts would be gratefully received, as the ultimate height will depend where I plant them!

Netto...

:gnthb:

 

If the leaders are kept short they will continue to be bushy if you let new leaders form and grow the trees will obviously grow taller ,you control the height by judicious pruning.

 

Ta muchly...

Saw a good website last night giving tips on pruning, but was rather suprised that it said to prune as soon as you plant...? I thought there might be some rule about age, and seasons etc, but guess not!!

Seems apples can be pruned quite heavilly in the first 5 years, is it safe to do this with my damson and gage?

 

Pruning heavily in the early years promotes more fruiting spurs and stronger roots it makes for a more compact tree,Damsons and Gages must be pruned in summer when they are in full growth this helps prevent them getting silver leaf fungus the spores of which are more prevalent in the winter.