How Rootstock Demand Is Outpacing Availability

Planning ahead has been something preached by nurseries and researchers alike when it comes to tree fruit production.

But, as the demand for newer rootstocks continues and growers are opting for higher and higher density orchards, many are finding out it’s not just one or two years ahead they need to plan for. In some cases growers are looking at 2019 or 2020 to secure specific rootstocks.

As the push for growers to get their hands on these new cutting-edge rootstocks grows, nurseries are trying to balance this growth with the ebbs and flows of tree fruit demand.

It Hasn’t Always Been This Way
Not too long ago, nurseries were burning trees and begging growers to plant. This was, in part, due to some low apple commodity prices and an industry suffering.

“Twenty years ago the nurseries were beating the bushes to pick up new business,” Phil Baugher, president of Adams County Nursery in Aspers, PA, says.

Growers were hesitant to replant for many reasons says Jim Schupp, Professor of Pomology at Penn State University.

“When I first came into tree fruit research and Extension, it was pretty tough times, prices were depressed, fruit quality was suffering a little bit, and then we had the Alar scare. Things were tough, initially,” he says.

This growth in plantings, most nursery insiders would say, was a holdover from tough times.

“This cycle started as a planting/replanting on Honeycrisp, and now it’s putting everything on to Geneva rootstocks,” says Wanda Heuser Gale, Vice President of Marketing for International Plant Management in Lawrence, MI.

Baugher says 15 years ago most of the trees in his nursery — about 80%, were grown on speculation, and only 20% were contracted.

“Now 80% are contracted before they are budded,” he says.

Production Limitations
“We’re in a high planting cycle right now like I’ve never seen, and my dad, who’s seen everything, has never seen a planting cycle that lasted this long,” says Heuser.

It’s no secret the demand fanning the flames of rootstock needs is anything in the Geneva family. Growers want what’s hot – disease resistance and size-controlling rootstocks.

But, rootstock availability isn’t just affecting apples. Pear, peach, and cherry rootstocks are also highly sought after, say nursery insiders. Fueling demands are high pear prices and several years of harsh winters, causing growers to replant peaches, and little cherry virus is also forcing growers to replant blocks.

“We’re having some issues sourcing enough viable pear roots,” says Pete Van Well II, president and general manager of Van Well Nursery in Wenatchee, WA. “There is a big demand for pears; pear prices are high. The returns have been good. Especially after the Goldens’ price (nose-dived). A lot of guys were looking to pull out Goldens and put in pears.”

Todd Strampher, fruit tree consultant for C&O Nursery in Wenatchee, WA, also says some dwarfing pear rootstocks are particularly difficult to propagate, which causes a kink in the supply chain.

There are also basic issues of cold storage availability — nurseries can only dig up and store so many trees.

“Tree storage is a specific type of storage, and when they’ve crammed that storage full, pretty much, they’re done with production,” Heuser Gale says.

Weather events impact production as well — as growers can relate, nurseries too have to contend with Mother Nature. Losses of trees can be very costly, as well as exacerbate the shortage of available rootstocks.

“Just about every year there’s some kind of weather event; this year it was straight-line winds in Washington and nurseries lost hundreds of thousands of young trees on Geneva 41,” says Katie

Schuld, co-owner of Summit Tree Sales in Lawrence, MI. One of the challenges in dealing with this increased demand is the simple limitations of rootstock production such as equipment and staff that can also contribute to a nursery’s ability to ramp up production. Also, it’s a long process – about five years — to produce a one-year tree from producing the rootstock, to budding, to delivery.

“We only have so much that we produce every year; in order for us to start more stool beds, we have to start them from tissue culture plants,” says Richard Adams, vice president of rootstock production for Willow Drive Nursery in Ephrata, WA. “It’s been incredibly hard for us to get tissue culture plants.”

Production issues with some of the newer rootstocks have occurred, whether it’s breakage or a genetic material mix-up, availability is compromised. Industry insiders say G.41 has had some graft union breakage, and some say the losses were localized.

“It’s more cultural with nurseries than solely the genetic trait of the rootstock,” says Tom Auvil of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. “Because the small caliper stuff does not seem to have nearly the breakage as the large caliper trees do.”

Industry insiders say there has been trouble with new rootstock material being released and as nurseries and tissue culture companies were ramping up production, it was discovered the rootstock was not true-to-type.

Land for nursery production is also difficult to come by, Auvil says.

Higher Density, More Trees Needed
The largest and most visible motivation driving the demand of all rootstocks is the push to higher-density plantings. It’s no secret the way growers plant today is markedly different from 15 to 20 years ago.

“The intensification of orchards means there’s many more trees per acre, which means to replace an acre of pome fruit trees now might require 7 or 8 times more times trees than it would 20 years ago,” Schupp says.

Baugher says the speed at which growers are moving to renovate old blocks and convert old strains to high-color strains is rapid.

“Those new blocks are double the number of trees per acre, and that really put a strain on the supply side. To keep up we can’t just adjust by 25% or 30% or 35% from one year to the next year,” he says.

The problem is magnified in the West, where Auvil says 10 million apple trees are being planted in Washington. Renovation of older orchards in light of some of the Geneva rootstocks’ replant disease resistance have led to reinvestments, and Auvil says that trend is going to continue.

“It’s a bit of a snowball effect,” Auvil says. “It just seems like the more successful the companies have been, the more they’re investing. There’s not really an alternative investment with that potential return.”

The definition of a large grower has changed over the past few years, says Schuld and Jan Melvin, co-owner of Summit Tree Sales.

“Ten years ago a big grower was somebody who ordered 5,000 trees, 10,000 was a really big grower,” Melvin says. “Now we have growers ordering 50,000 to 75,000 trees.”

Schuld adds, “That’s just Michigan or the Midwest or in the East. In Washington it’s 100,000, 200,000, or 300,000 trees.”
Jeff Crist, President of Crist Brothers Orchard in Walden, NY, says renovation is a necessity. Growers who aren’t considering high-value variety or newer production systems may get left behind.

“If you’re not making these changes you’re phasing yourself out,” he says. “It does come with some concerns about where it all shakes out, but I don’t see any choice in the matter.”

Where The Industry Is Going Next
Gennaro Fazio of USDA-ARS Plant Genetic Resources Unit in Geneva, NY, says growers need to stop planting a single rootstock in their orchard. Growers need to find what rootstock works for their specific growing conditions and scion. He calls the idea ‘designer rootstocks.’

“Things can be more efficient if you have a customizable solution for a certain soil type, or a certain variety, or a certain type of growing system. That is why we have so many rootstocks that we are releasing,” he says.

Fazio says growers should do a trial to see what rootstock/scion combination performs the best in their orchard.

Baugher also says growers should consider some of the old standbys of M.9 and B.9 because the research on those rootstocks is more long-term. He also echoes Fazio by encouraging growers to get out of the single rootstock mentality.

“Particularly varieties that are highly susceptible to fire blight, we encourage growers to use a number of different rootstocks in their operations, don’t transition because if there is a problem down the road, they’ve got all their eggs in that basket,” he says.

Growers have also started to grow their own nursery stock. Auvil estimates 60% of trees planted in Washington are own-nursery trees. Crist says growers are also considering grafting over scions that have fallen out of favor in the market.

“To get into new production of something more valuable more quickly, with some years’ loss of production it still could be 10% to 15% the cost of putting in a new system,” he says.

Mo Tougas, co-owner of Tougas Family Farm in Northborough, MA, says he’s starting to re-think the trees he’s been ordering – whether he wants feathered trees or whips as the focus turns to multileader trees.

“Unfortunately we’ve pushed the nurseries: we want all these Genevas, we want all these feathered trees, they’re slow to be able to make those transitions, and we may come back and say ‘You know, I’d rather have a whip after all,’ and maybe they’ll be happy because it’ll be a lot easier for them,” he says.

Heuser Gale says the industry is going to see more involvement from tissue culture labs.

“We’re not far from them doing a micro graft — growing it on a microrootstock,” she says.

Auvil says the focus is now going to certified virus-tested material. He says this is something that hasn’t been a focus in the past, but research has shown there is increased production along with it.

“The European data is clear, it’s 15% to 20% higher yields with certified material,” he says.

Auvil acknowledges, though, with a more limited supply of certified material that will likely put a strain on virus-free budwood, and adds another step in the propagation process.

In the end, though Heuser Gale says this rootstock shortage means good things for the industry.

“We will eventually come out of this cycle. But, I don’t think [it will be like it was] back in the ’70s when they planted Red Delicious until we thought the skies would fall and we fell off the end of the world,” she says. “We’re smarter, we’re not a monoculture like we were back then. It’s exciting that we’re in this giant replant cycle that we’re making money and people can afford to replant and put in high-density systems. We should be thankful the industry is healthy because there has been a lot of times when it hasn’t been.”

Want Some Rootstocks?
Here are some tips from industry insiders:

Communication — “There’s always changes that come up. The earlier the communication can start, making sure the grower knows to contact the nursery, asking ‘When can I get these?’ ‘Did you get some put back?’” — Todd Snyder, C&O Nursery

Call around — “Call around get on the nurseries’ wait lists if they have one so that it improves your chances. If you can afford not to be too picky, you get guys late in the season asking for this specific caliper, specific number of branches, if you’re coming late to the game, chances are you won’t get what you want.” — Pete Van Well II, Van Well Nursery

Order Your Replacements Early — “They know they’re going to need so many ‘Bing’ cherry and ‘Bartlett’ pear. They know they’re going need so many ‘Fuji’ replacements and ‘Grannies’ and ‘Goldens.’ The way this shortage has been, even that stuff that is usually plentiful has been tight. It seems impossible to source hot ticket things like Geneva and the latest greatest club varieties or red ‘Honeycrisp,’ but we’re also seeing a tightening of stock and trade stuff,” — Pete Van Well II, Van Well Nursery