New trees from suckers?

Steel_2

Has anyone grown new trees from suckers? I have an cox's apple tree that has thrown up a lot of suckers and they appear to be coming straight up from the ground, not off the trunk above ground.

Can I separate them from the parent tree and grow them on if they have roots? Anyone done this?

(By the way, I have no idea if the parent was grated onto dwarfing rootstock - the tree was just a stump when I moved here and I have spent the last few years pruning it into shape and growing it back up so have no idea how high the tree originally was or how old. Lovely looking tree now though and nice apples )

Mojisola

It's very unlikely that the Cox is growing on its own roots but why not try a few shoots and see what you get. Trying out stuff makes gardening fun.

Steel_2

Mojisola wrote: »

It's very unlikely that the Cox is growing on its own roots but why not try a few shoots and see what you get. Trying out stuff makes gardening fun.

Yeh, that's what I thought, although I am nurturing the small hope that, as the previous owners were here from 1949-2005, one of them might have planted it decades ago before dwarf trees were common place.

I probably will try - I just like to think that all the effort of nurturing a tree will reward me with something tasty in a few years time. There are some apples that can strip the fur off your tongue and I'll be really disappointed if the tree ends up producing those.

angelavdavis

It is probably a small crab apple as that is what is generally used for grafting purposes so there is always crab apple jelly in the offing if this is the case.