Summary: Comprehensive rootstock research is necessarily a long-term project. However, various components of the objectives will be completed annually. 1. Continue evaluation of the NC-140 regional project trial (‘Bing’ on 17 new rootstocks) established in 1998 for horticultural and physiological evaluations and fruit quality. Projected trial duration is 10 years. 2. Continue evaluating vigor and cropping performance of other orchard trials with key PNW cultivars on various rootstocks: e.g., ‘Bing’ on 5-6 different Gisela rootstocks in grower trials representing diverse production locations (planted in 1994-95); ‘Chelan’, ‘Tieton’, ‘Cashmere’, ‘Selah’, and ‘Benton’ on Mazzard, Mahaleb, ‘Colt’, ‘Edabriz’, and various Gisela and Weiroot rootstocks (planted in 1998). 3. Analyze the physiology of interactive rootstock/scion horticultural traits (e.g., canopy leaf area, yield efficiency, precocity, graft compatibility). On-going as personnel allows.
