Hardy Tropicals UK

I got my first Eriobotrya japonica today and found that it was grafted. Is this normal and OK?

Yes, it is to speed up fruiting. it is about 2-3 times faster to fruit from a graft than from root grown stock.

Thanks, that makes sense.. I guess thats why fruit trees are usually grafted

It may also be to control size or vigour

What plant do they use for the rootstocks?

Yorkshire Kris wrote:What plant do they use for the rootstocks?

Depends - could be apple, pear, quince or other Loquat.

Loquat cuttings do not root well, hence they use root stock.

It may also give the desirable long trunk with bushy head that many desire, i've seen many on here with loqaut where naturally its simply a bush!

See my pruning thread here too, they take to shaping very well!

http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... =1&t=19622

Dave Brown wrote:It may also be to control size or vigour

cordyman wrote:It may also give the desirable long trunk with bushy head that many desire

Oh dear.. I was hoping it would grow to be big and messy (I like things rustic ).

Thanks for your help though..

Blairs wrote:

Yorkshire Kris wrote:What plant do they use for the rootstocks?

Depends - could be apple, pear, quince or other Loquat.

Loquat cuttings do not root well, hence they use root stock.

Is it possible to graft evergreens onto deciduous rootstock?

The rootstock and what you graft onto it have to be related, not sure how far you can push the boundaries but generally the closer the connection the easier the graft.

samj wrote:

Dave Brown wrote:It may also be to control size or vigour

cordyman wrote:It may also give the desirable long trunk with bushy head that many desire

Oh dear.. I was hoping it would grow to be big and messy (I like things rustic ).

Thanks for your help though..

left to their own devices apparently loquats can get 20 foot etc, wonder what the graft size would be?

cordyman wrote:

samj wrote:

Dave Brown wrote:It may also be to control size or vigour

cordyman wrote:It may also give the desirable long trunk with bushy head that many desire

Oh dear.. I was hoping it would grow to be big and messy (I like things rustic ).

Thanks for your help though..

left to their own devices apparently loquats can get 20 foot etc, wonder what the graft size would be?

I should imagine a fair bit more than that, I have one that's around 15ft. now, planted out from around 6ft. 6 years ago.

leunerj wrote:

Blairs wrote:

Yorkshire Kris wrote:What plant do they use for the rootstocks?

Depends - could be apple, pear, quince or other Loquat.

Loquat cuttings do not root well, hence they use root stock.

Is it possible to graft evergreens onto deciduous rootstock?

Roots do not know if the plant is evergreen or not, and, Loquat is in the Rosaceae family together with apples and pears etc, so as long as the root stock is related then the graft should take.

I bought it for the foliage and hadn't considered the fruits .. Are the fruits good enough to eat when grown in the uk?

Mine was doing well until the wind ripped all the branches off at the trunk from one side. I think I may have to chop the head of the tree off to get it to look balanced. Has anyone tried this or has any other Ideas.