>>1236177>Is it possible to top work a large tree with all the seedling varieties then get rid trees that are too weak or show disease susceptibility?Absolutely, I did think about this, but I worried that if some of the scions were susceptible to disease it could act as a vector into the established tree and bring down the whole thing. Also I think it would be a faff to manage, I should have enough ultra dwarfing M27 rootstocks to graft the first 100 seedlings to by the end of next year. Cordons, numbered 1-100 in lines of 20 should be much easier to keep track of than loads of different branches on the same tree.
>Im more of a collector of low chill high quality varieties but since i have limited space i top work existing trees to make multi graft varieties. It can be a bit of a pain to prune but i like having 9 varieties on just one nectarine tree. I dont let any of my trees get above 12ft.I wish I could grow citrus in my climate, on the other hand at least I don't have to worry about low chill apples, the very best flavours seem to come from cold varieties.
I'm too obsessive to multi graft. I like 1 tree to be 1 tree, even rootstocks annoy me somewhat. My orchard is a work of madness, all on maximum vigour roots (should eventually end up 10m tall), all spaced out just so, in hexagonal/tessellated triangular layout as it is the most efficient. I can't make things easy for myself.
>>1236176I don't even like a big shiny apple anyway. Maybe because I once ate a Red 'Delicious'. Partial russeting and partial flush on the sun-ward side is god tier IMO.
