Annual Report for NC-140 Committee Meeting.

Apple trees are a combination of rootstock and scion. The rootstock can influence how resilient the tree is to changing temperatures, freeze events and disease while the scion is specific to the cultivar, such as Honeycrisp. Several breeding programs around the world strive to breed rootstocks that will enhance the ability of cultivars to grow across a wide range of climate conditions. Nova Scotia is one site of over 30 scattered across the United States, Canada and Mexico which are evaluating different rootstocks for their ability to produce high quality apple. Two plantings are located in Nova Scotia, Modi (with 10 rootstocks) and Buckeye Gala (with 8 rootstocks). Trees are evaluated for how well they survive each year, how much they grow, how many fruit they produce and what size. All of these variables are taken into consideration when a grower is deciding to use a particular rootstock for a new planting.