When rootstock vendors class rootstocks not by size, say 1/4", but as #1 #2 and #3, what does that mean?

n

In clonally propagated apple rootstocks it usually refers to the number, quality and size of roots on the stock.

Thank you, Lon. Nice to hear your voice, too. I hope you're not getting drowned out.

Pressing on...such clarification still doesn't allow me to make sense of, for example, the Carlton Plants rootstock availability list http://www.carltonplants.com/rootsavail.pdf which makes no mention of diameter whenever the hashtag description is used. They seem to assume I will know what they mean. I don't.

Some useful clarification this a.m.

Rootstock vendors use the numbered hashtags to refer to diameter:

#1 is 3/16"
#2 is 1/8"
#3 is 3/32

I have had the devil of a time securing rootstock this year. Joanie alerted me to the fact that a bitterly cold winter in E. Washington last winter has prompted a scramble to replant, with apple rootstocks therefore in particularly high demand. No M9s are available anywhere, and little of anything else.

Educated opinion has it that there will be similar shortages next year. The 9's and the Genevas are now being ordered two years in advance by some.

I bet some folks are glad they bought extras and use them for stooling in their own gardens!

Whenever I see an unusual stock, I get one or two for just that purpose.