Any fruit tree experts out there?

[zing]

I have lost some trees for various reasons and they seem to be regrowing shoots from the roots, so I am wondering about the best way to get them to regrow. This is a cottage/hobby farm property so I have no real knowledge of fruit trees, but I do like having the orchard and would like to at least replace what I have lost. I realize it will take some time but I have more time than money so...

First tree is a pear tree that I planted about 5-6 years ago and was about 12 feet tall until a porcupine found it and stripped off all of the bark and killed it. A couple weeks later I noticed some shoots coming up from the roots. I put a little bit of plastic lattice around them to protect them a bit and see if they will come back up to replace the tree.I am unsure if I should:
- be leaving them to grow up as a bunch of shoots
- tie at least some of them together so they can grow together and become a larger tree made of several shoots (like the second apple tree in the pics at the bottom)
- cut away most of the shoots and let it grow as a single trunk.

Second and third trees are a couple of apple trees that came down in hurricane Arthur a few weeks ago. Picture below shows the tree on the left when it came down but not long after that I lost most of the tree on the right too. Both were very old and mostly hollow trunks so no big surprise they came down, but I would like to replace them with producing apple trees.

The one on the left was a single trunk, but there are some shoots at the bottom that might be able to replace it.

The one on the right was a cluster of three trunks that had grown together and all that remains is one of the three original trunks. There are shoots coming out of one of the old trunks below the spot it broke off and some coming up from closer to the ground.

If you have any experience with this I would be very appreciative of the advice. Can these shoots be regrown into functioning trees, or are the roots already too old? If they can be regrown, what is the best way to ensure that I have nice fruit producing trees out of them someday. Trim down to a single shoot, or let them grow as a cluster and trim the smaller ones off later, or just let them grow together as a bunch?

Thanks

 

[forgeblast]

Just wondering with the top one if its regrowing from the roots it may be rootstock and not the original graft.
You can search for "how to bench graft" grafting tools will be helpful you could buy your own rootstock and graft any of the trees onto it.

 

[DarkBlack]

Pears and apples are grafted on roots that are extremely unlikely to produce trees with good fruit

The pear is a total loss. If you let the root grow ( the suckers ), you'll have an unknown mongrel for a pear tree in many years.
Dig it up, go get a new grafted pear variety you might like ( $15-50) and plant it in the old spot.
In 5 years it'll be $20 bucks well spent.

Same with the first apple.

Second apple tree could be sustained from the sprouts of the broken limb ( not the ground suckers ). That would give you the same apples as before. You can go this route assuming you loved the apple variety it is? Otherwise I would spend another $20 and replant.

 

[zing]

Wow, that never occurred to me, but of course you guys are right, the roots would be different. Ok, replace them it is then. Too late in the year now I guess, so next spring I will pony up the money and get something else that I like. Or at least that the porky's like. :/

Thank you both for the responses, much appreciated. Not the answer that I wanted, but still a lot better than letting them grow and finding out much later that they won't produce anything.

 

[DarkBlack]

Thank you both for the responses, much appreciated. .

Anytime.

 

[zing]

Did some reading and youtubing about grafting as per forgeblast's suggestion, and am now thinking that at least for the pear tree I am going to see if I can make use of the roots as root stock. I am going to wait until the late fall or winter and the trees are all dormant, and then see if I can graft a few scions from a good fruit producing pear tree onto some of the suckers that are coming up from the roots. If they take, they take. If not, nothing lost and I will just pull out the whole root ball in the spring and start with a new sapling bought from a garden place.

May also try the same for the apple tree that still has half the trunk, and see if I can turn it into a tree that has two different kinds of apple. The tree that is completely gone might as well just be replaced with a sapling to shorten the time required to get a producing tree back in there.

Am I sounding like a total noob again? Any reason this would not work, and am I totally wasting my time again? Suggestions on how I could do it better? Thanks.

** Note, I have lots of open land and am sticking in 3 or 4 trees per year anyway, so I will still be putting in some store bought saplings as per DarkBlack's suggestion anyway. If I don't do it where these trees were, I will just put them somewhere else.

 

[MossRoad]

There's nothing wrong with poking around with some fruit trees as a hobby. Experiment with grafting. As you said, nothing lost.

I have an apricot tree that produces very small, but tasty apricots. One year a sucker came up from the roots, and I let it grow just to see what would happen. After a few years, it started producing fruit. They are larger, but fuzzier, almost like a small peach. But they taste good and ripen at a different time than the original. So now I have a two-trunked tree with two different color blossoms and two different fruits. I like it.

I just had a peach tree killed by the winter, but somethings coming up from the roots. I'll let it go and see what I get. Why not, if you have the space and time?

 

[Jstpssng]

If you do decide to replant, try doing it in a different spot if possible. Avoiding Orchard Replant Problems

When I worked at an orchard decades ago, replanting a block included harrowing, then walking every inch with a crew of HS kids picking up every root and branch, no matter how small; then discing again.

 

[MossRoad]

Good information. Thanks.

 

[zing]

If you do decide to replant, try doing it in a different spot if possible. Avoiding Orchard Replant Problems

When I worked at an orchard decades ago, replanting a block included harrowing, then walking every inch with a crew of HS kids picking up every root and branch, no matter how small; then discing again.

Ditto to what MossRoad said, good info, thank you. I actually have three or four rotten old apple free stumps that are waiting for me to pull them out of there, so this is a good nudge towad making sure I do a thorough job of it when I do clean them out. Thanks.