Damson Merry Weather tree from Stone

[ammi]

Hi
I would dearly love advice on how best to grow a damson merry weather tree from a stone.

Thanks in advance

[Two_Sheds]

advice on how best to grow a damson merry weather tree from a stone.

You shouldn't: they may not grow true from stones. The best way to propagate damson is to dig up and replant the numerous small suckers that spring up from the roots of older trees. That's basically like taking a cutting (a clone).

Suckers should crop at about 8 years old.

[ammi]

Well I got the stones from ebay and due to cash flow its my only real option. I was realy wondering about how best to chit the stones.

[Two_Sheds]

I was realy wondering about how best to chit the stones.

have a look here: How to Grow Plum Stones: Growing Plum Trees | eHow.com

[ammi]

Thanks. That helped me loads. I will pop them out in the endless snow as soon as I gat a chance.
Hope that they all germinate fine and I get a good supply of damsons.
I will let you know!!

[FB.]

As two sheds says; fruit trees grown from pips have several problems and are a poor choice.

Firstly, the fruit may not be anywhere near as tasty as it's parent.
Secondly, seedling trees have a tendency to reach enormous sizes.
Thirdly, seedling trees can take many years before starting to fruit.
Fourthly, seedling trees will be on their own roots, rather than a rootstock. Rootstocks are chosen to improve performance and allow the trees to thrive in a variety of soils. Many seedling trees die because they don't like the local conditions.

My advice would be to either use some root suckers from someone else's tree and then graft the suckers with the variety on top of the tree.

Other than that, use your seedlings as rootstocks, on which you graft a recognised, tasty and reliable variety from a nearby tree.

Your pips will need a winter chill to activate them. Just plant them out in the garden now and keep them well watered as they grow during the next couple of seasons.

[northepaul]

As two sheds says; fruit trees grown from pips have several problems and are a poor choice.

Firstly, the fruit may not be anywhere near as tasty as it's parent.
Secondly, seedling trees have a tendency to reach enormous sizes.
Thirdly, seedling trees can take many years before starting to fruit.
Fourthly, seedling trees will be on their own roots, rather than a rootstock. Rootstocks are chosen to improve performance and allow the trees to thrive in a variety of soils. Many seedling trees die because they don't like the local conditions.

My advice would be to either use some root suckers from someone else's tree and then graft the suckers with the variety on top of the tree.

Other than that, use your seedlings as rootstocks, on which you graft a recognised, tasty and reliable variety from a nearby tree.

Your pips will need a winter chill to activate them. Just plant them out in the garden now and keep them well watered as they grow during the next couple of seasons.

F.B. such sage advice, and interesting re grafting. I was under the impression any fruit tree grown from a stone, particularly apples, could end up being a cross or the same as the pollinator? IE if you have an apple and it was pollinated by a crab apple, the seeds could be a crab apple cross?

Just interested

[ammi]

As two sheds says; fruit trees grown from pips have several problems and are a poor choice.

Firstly, the fruit may not be anywhere near as tasty as it's parent.
Secondly, seedling trees have a tendency to reach enormous sizes.
Thirdly, seedling trees can take many years before starting to fruit.
Fourthly, seedling trees will be on their own roots, rather than a rootstock. Rootstocks are chosen to improve performance and allow the trees to thrive in a variety of soils. Many seedling trees die because they don't like the local conditions.

My advice would be to either use some root suckers from someone else's tree and then graft the suckers with the variety on top of the tree.

Other than that, use your seedlings as rootstocks, on which you graft a recognised, tasty and reliable variety from a nearby tree.

Your pips will need a winter chill to activate them. Just plant them out in the garden now and keep them well watered as they grow during the next couple of seasons.

Great advice but unfortunatly I am a lone fruit gardener in my area and have a large shortage of places to get hold of suckers or materials for grafting. My neighbours think that if it isnt strawberries and cannot be put in a hanging basket then it isnt worth sacrificing any of their perfect lawns for.
My stones are actually still in the post to me at the mo but should get here in a couple of days (with the possibility of delays due to the snow that hasnt stopped here for over 24 hours and is about 35cm deep)
I did try to find a cheap place to buy a pot grown dwarf damson and a pot grown dwarf sweet cherry but they are mostly out of my present price range. I am long term sick and have been off work for a very long time.
Thanks for all the advice and I will try to take as much of it as I can.

[FB.]

Here's a suggestion.....

Get the seedlings growing, then ask on here whether someone can provide you with some graftwood in a couple of years time, when the pips have grown large enough to graft.
You could "sweeten" the deal to some extent, but sending a self-addressed jiffy bag to someone. They could then wrap some pencil-sized pieces of graftwood inside a slightly damp tissue, in a plastic sandwich bag - and then post the graftwood to you.

Do you have much interest in apple trees? I can certainly help with graftwood for those.
In fact, nurseries such as Blackmoor offer fairly cheap rootstocks (£1.50-£2) and graftwood (£1).
There would be up to £10 shipping charge from Blackmoor, depending on the size/weight of your order.

> Click here for a link <

St Julien A is for "stone fruits" such as plums.
Colt is for cherries.
Quince is for pears.
M or MM (suffixed with a number - e.g. M26) is for apple.

You will find that rootstock MM106 will produce reasonable multi-purpose apples by itself (i.e. without grafting). It will sometimes also root from cuttings, which is unusual for a fruit tree.
The other apple rootstocks produce crab apples.

[ammi]

I will do that
Thanks