Rootstocks for cold country, and why we use ours

Roots are the weak link in a cold winter, so the rootstock matters as much as the variety on top. Bud 118 carries about 90 of our apples and crabs, most of our grafted apricots go on Manchurian, and Ussurian pear is our pick for the coldest pear sites. If your ground can see -40F, skip the Geneva, EMLA and MM stocks and plant Bud 118 or a seedling root like Dolgo or Siberian crab.

Where we wouldn't plant Geneva, EMLA or MM stocks

Anywhere that can see -40F, in our experience, and it's worse without consistent snow cover or in an open field low in its airshed, where cold air pools. Roots never get as hardy as the top of the tree. In freezing tests, EMLA 7 roots died at about 20F and EMLA 26 roots at about 14F, and that's soil temperature, not air. What keeps roots alive through a -40F night is the soil and snow over them. A good snowpack can hold the soil up to 20F warmer than bare ground, and at Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, Bud 118 has seen near -50F with no rootstock damage, under snow.

When an early fall freeze hit -10F at our nursery in October 2020, some of our Geneva and EMLA stocks took damage, and Dolgo didn't bat an eye. Cornell's work adds that G.935 and G.890 lose their cold hardiness early in spring, which is rough anywhere late cold snaps are normal.

Our 24 rootstocks, by fruit

Heights are for an unpruned tree and shift with your soil, water, pruning and the variety on top. "About" marks an estimate. Our rootstocks page draws them all to scale.

Bud 118 and the seedling roots for apples

Bud 118 carries about 90 of our apples and crabs. It's very cold-hardy, stands on its own and throws few suckers or burr knots. On paper it's a semi-standard, around 85 to 90% of a seedling tree, but Bud 118 runs smaller in Montana dirt. In our dry, calcareous soils it acts like a semi-dwarf, and in deeper, slightly more acidic ground it can push toward semi-standard, so space for the soil you've actually got. Kentucky Extension notes that percent-of-standard figures vary a lot with soil and region, and NC-140 trials found size rankings shifting from site to site.

Purvis grouped Bud 118 with MM.111 (not one of ours) as semi-vigorous stocks for weak-growing varieties or droughty soils, often taking 4 to 5 years to bear.

For the coldest, most exposed spots we go to seedling roots. Dolgo carries 30 of our varieties, and NDSU recommends Dolgo-type seedling roots over dwarfing stocks in zone 3. Siberian crab is about as hardy as apple roots get.

The dwarfing apple stocks

Dwarfing stocks bear sooner and stay small, but their smaller roots need support and steadier watering. Here's what Purvis told Minnesota growers, plus what the freezing tests showed:

• Bud 9 is winter hardy and often fruits in its second season. The roots are brittle, so it needs a stake for good.
• M.26 (EMLA 26) is nearly as winter hardy as Bud 9, by Purvis's account, and bears in its third season, sometimes its second. Support it for the first 5 years, and keep it off wet soil, where it's prone to collar rot.
• M.7 (EMLA 7) is common on garden center trees and bears in its fourth season, sometimes its third. It suckers, and its roots were the weakest in the freezing tests.

If you want a dwarf anyway, give it reliable snow cover and plan on the stake.

Pears on OHxF and Ussurian

Most of our pears go on OHxF stocks (Old Home x Farmingdale), which resist fire blight and pear decline and anchor well. Purvis wrote that the series, developed in Oregon in the 1980s, cuts tree size by 5 to 40%, proved reliably winter-hardy in Minnesota and brings pears into fruit sooner than seedling roots. OHxF 87 is the most precocious and carries 22 of our pears, plus our quinces, Aromatnaya and Ravalli.

Ussurian pear is the hardiest pear species and our pick for the coldest pear sites. Purvis had one caution. It's compatible with pears that have Ussurian in their background, but he called it a poor root for domestic pears, because the mismatch causes calcium malabsorption in the fruit. Several pears we put on it have Ussurian in their own pedigree, like Ure, Larinskaya, Bolshaya and Vekovaya. For a European pear that doesn't need Ussurian's hardiness, the OHxF version sidesteps the problem.

For cherries, let your soil decide

With cherries, the soil picks the rootstock. Mahaleb loves dry, well-drained, calcareous soil and hates wet feet, which suits a lot of Montana, and it's hardier than Mazzard. Mazzard handles heavier soil but is slow to bear, often 5 to 6 years. MaxMa 14, a Mahaleb and Mazzard cross, anchors well and handles calcareous soil without going chlorotic. Gisela 12 bears very young but wants fertile soil and steady water. The G is for Gisela, bred in Giessen, Germany, and it isn't a Geneva stock.

Purvis's advice for cold country was to put sweet cherries on the hardiest stocks available, which for sweets meant semi-vigorous to semi-dwarf ones.

Plums, peaches and apricots

Most of our grafted apricots go on Manchurian, the hardiest apricot root there is. It's drought tolerant but won't take standing water. Purvis recommended Manchurian apricot seedlings for propagating any good local apricot, for their good compatibility and anchorage.

Plums go on native stocks. American plum is zone 3 hardy and the most dwarfing root in this group, about 58% of Lovell's trunk size under peach, but it suckers heavily. Prairie Red is a seed-grown American plum hybrid released by the USDA NRCS plant materials center in Bismarck, with no published rootstock trials so far.

Peaches and nectarines go on Lovell, the peach baseline, and on Krymsk 86, from Krasnodar, Russia, which tolerates wet soil and anchors well. Some go on Prairie Red. Our almond, SnowCzar, goes on Siberian C, a peach stock from Harrow, Ontario.

How to choose a rootstock

1. Start with your winter. Get your coldest night from our cold hardiness calculator. If -40F is possible, rule out Geneva, EMLA and MM stocks.
2. Count your snow. Consistent snow over the roots can keep the soil up to 20F warmer. Without it, pick the hardiest root on the list.
3. Read your soil. Dry, calcareous ground suits Mahaleb, MaxMa 14 and Manchurian and keeps Bud 118 small. Mazzard and Krymsk 86 handle heavier or wetter ground. Purvis's drainage test: dig a 2-foot hole, fill it, let it drain and fill it again. Under 10 hours is well drained, 10 to 24 moderate, over 24 poor.
4. Pick a size. Dwarfs bear in a year or two and are easy to pick, but need support. Purvis saw standards as best for windswept sites or dry soil you can't easily water.
5. Plan the stake. Bud 9 needs one for good, EMLA 26 and G.935 while young, and EMLA 7 because it leans. Bud 118 stands on its own, though Purvis figured every tree bears sooner and grows better staked, especially in wind.

Related guides

• How we rate cold hardiness, and how to read our zone ratings
• What to do when your bare-root trees arrive
• Why we grow seedlings alongside grafted trees

Where this comes from

Our rootstocks page, with sizes checked in September 2026 against USDA-ARS Geneva, Cornell, the University of Kentucky, WSU, WVU, NDSU, Iowa State and Oregon State extension services, the NC-140 trials, Quamme and Brownlee's root hardiness work (1997), the Gisela 12 and Krymsk 86 patents and the USDA NRCS Bismarck Plant Materials Center. Bob Purvis, Fruit Growing for Homeowners lecture notes and his 2006 NAFEX apricot talk. Our catalog records and Ed Schultz's observations.

Updated September 2026.