Re: 3 roses in a hole

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I am currently trying to decide which three varieties of apple trees to buy from Trees of Antiquity so I can do the three trees in the same hole, but I couldn't find any information on what effect this would have on roses. It sounds like it would be worth to try with roses in order to get a bigger and bushier rose, once I decide on a rose, of course!

Kris

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony and Moira Ryan <tomory@xtra.co.nz>
Sent: Jan 25, 2005 11:18 PM
To: Mediterannean Plants List <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Subject: Re: 3 roses in a hole

Nan Sterman wrote:
> I've only been scanning this thread so if this has already been said, 
> please forgive me.
> 
> The idea of three plants in a hole is not new.  This is common practice 
> with fruit trees, especially those in the prunus family (peach, plum, 
> nectarine, etc).  You plant three trees in the space that one would take 
> up and then prune them to keep them in check.  It works best if you 
> prune in summer as that somewhat limits' the trees' photosynthesis and 
> keeps them smaller than they would normally grow.


This really does interest me as it is quite common here to graft three 
or even more varieties of apple or pear on one rootstock.

Though I have grown some myself and many times pruned such constructs 
for other people I have never considered them entirely satisfactory. No 
matter how you try to balance up the growth the topmost graft seems to 
become dominent, commonly reducing the varieties lower down to one or 
two feeble branches only, which may produce the necessary pollen for 
cross fertilization, but almost never themselves have  more than 
negligeble crops. I should think the three trees in one hole would tend 
to grow much more evenly.

Moira

-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ.     Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
NEW PICTURES ADDED 4/Feb/2004
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