Rewriting the rules on apple rootstock longevity

Rootstocks, like crops of every type, are under constant improvement, and the arrival of a significantly better variety is bound to arouse interest. Western Cape apple producer Ian Cunningham is convinced that Geneva rootstock CG 778 is such a variety, and when combined with healthy soil, can increase rootstock longevity by a huge margin, saving farmers millions of rands.

CG 778 is also tolerant of apple replant disease, unlike most of the rootstocks used in South Africa. This on its own makes it a potential game changer.

FIRST-HAND OBSERVATION

Cunningham, who grows apples on his family farm, Fine Farms, near Elgin, became convinced of the value of CG 778 after visiting the Cornell Geneva apple rootstock breeding programme in New York State and growers in Washington State in the US. Back home, he persuaded local apple nurseries to get their hands on enough tissue culture of the variety to use on 10ha of his orchards in his 2020 apple planting programme.

The CG 778 rootstock