Mahaleb Cherry Rootstock

Pre-Order for Spring Planting - Rootstock comes from the US anytime between late March to mid-May. Usually ready to ship in mid-April.

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Grown by: Willamette Nurseries

Why We Grow It: Mahaleb is a cold hardy and disease resistant rootstock that is also quite tolerant of drought. Cherries grafted on Mahaleb tend to be productive, vigorous, and precocious. However, Mahaleb is susceptible to crown and root rot so avoid planting it anywhere that is overly wet. 

Rootstock is the bottom part of a grafted tree which has the roots. The main purpose of rootstock is to control the height of the adult tree and it is broadly categorized as dwarf, semi-dwarf, and full-size/standard. Rootstock can also impart other benefits such as changes to tree vigour (relating to how soon it bears fruit), cold hardiness, and disease resistance.

Rootstock will grow into a tree on its own if left ungrafted, but the fruit it produces is often undesirable for human consumption.

Click HERE to learn more about grafting!

Graft Compatibility:

Good graft compatibility with sour cherries but incompatible with some varieties of sweet cherries

Canadian Hardiness Zone:

Soil Preference: Loam and sandy soils, prefers soils that are deep and well-drained, very sensitive to waterlogged soils

General Growth Habit: Produces a full-size sour cherry 15-30ft tall and a semi-dwarf sweet cherry 15-20ft tall, vigorous and precocious, anchors very well in the soil and tolerant of drought, tends to sucker. Resistant to crown gall, canker, and some nematodes but very susceptible to collar and root rot.

This rootstock is so old that its origins are a bit of a mystery, but it has been used in France since at least the end of the 1700s. It was eventually introduced to the US in the mid-1850s and by the 1900s it was more popular than Mazzard due to how easy it is to propagate from seed and its general disease resistance. However, this popularity declined when it was discovered that Mahaleb was incompatible with certain sweet cherry varieties. Despite this, it is still quite commonly used in many parts of the world today.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of plants across Canada. We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of plants picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc.

When Will My Order Be Ready?

We receive the majority of our rootstock from a supplier in the US and are at the mercy of whenever they choose to ship their rootstock to us. It generally arrives anywhere between late March and mid-May, but most often is delivered in April. We will prepare your rootstock order as soon as we have received this shipment and taken inventory.

If you are getting non-dormant rootstock (see description) then it will generally be ready around mid to late May. If you have other bareroot plants and want them shipped, we may ship them separately ahead of time.

Each piece of rootstock is generally 1-1.5ft tall including the roots and is ideally 3/16-1/4" thick.

There may be some variation in size, thickness, and straightness between varieties/species.

$8.75

Out of stock

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