The Malling series is a group of rootstocks for grafting apple trees. It was developed at the East Malling Research Station of the South-Eastern Agricultural College at Wye in Kent, England. From about 1912, Ronald Hatton and his colleagues rationalised, standardised and catalogued the various rootstocks in use in Europe at the time under names such as Doucin and Paradise. Their first list had nine rootstock varieties, assigned the "type" numbers I–IX. The list later grew to twenty-four, and the Roman numerals gave way to Arabic numerals with the prefix "Malling" or "M.". From about 1917, collaboration between East Malling and the John Innes Institute, in Merton Park in Surrey, gave rise to the Malling-Merton series, which were resistant to Eriosoma lanigerum, the woolly apple aphid.
Common Malling rootstocks in the 1940s: US M2, M7, M8, M9 and M13 UKEast Malling catalogues M1, M2, M9, M12, M13 and M16. GermanyF. Brumm, Der Baumschulbetrieb, 1949 M1, M2, M4, M5, M9, M11 and M16. Relative size are dependent on climate, variety and soil.
+ M 1 - M24 rootstocksTukey Harold Bradford, Dwarfed fruit trees, 1964 Designation (Old designation) Synonyms Origin Tree size a) Tree size b) Winter hardiness c) M 1 (EM I) Broad-leaved English paradise England ca 1860 v sd-ss4 M 2 (EM II) Doucin France v sd-ss4 M 3 (EM III) Dutch doucin, Hollyleaf paradise, Königs splittapfel ? sd sd6 M 4 (EM IV) Holstein doucin, Yellow doucin Unknown sv sd-ss5 M 5 (EM V) Doucin amelioré, Improved doucin, Red paradise ?vsd-ss4 M 6 (EM VI) Nonsuch paradise, Rivers's paradise England ca 1860 sd2 M 7 (EM VII) - France, 1600s sd sd-d5 M 8 (EM VIII) French paradise <1696 d d2 M 9 (EM IX) Jaune de metz, Yellow metz France 1879vdd3 M 10 (EM X) U 1 ?vv ss-s2 M 11 (EM XI) Green doucin Germany, 1904vv ss M 12 (EM XII) - Englandvs4 M 13 (EM XIII) Black doucin, U 2 Germany ca 1890vsd-ss4 M 14 (EM XIV) U 5 Germanyvss M 15 (EM XV) U 6 Germanyvvss-s2 M 16 (EM XVI) Ketziner ideal, U 3 Germany ca 1909vvss-s5 M 17 identical to M 5 Wageningen, Holland sd M 18 - Wageningen, Hollandvss M 19 - Berlin, Germanyvss M 20 Spurious 9 France ?vdsd-d M 21 Cut-leaved 9 ?vdsd-d M 22 - Chelmsford, Englandvss M 23 - Chelmsford, Englandv sd M 24 Paradis de menton, Noir de menton, ?v ss a) East Malling vd= very dwarf, d= dwarf, sd= semidwarf, sv= semivigorous, v= vigorous, vv= very vigorous.
b) Tukey, Dwarfed fruit trees, 1964 d= dwarf, sd=semidwarf, ss= semistandard, s= standard.
c) Tukey, Dwarfed fruit trees, 1964 6= highest winter hardiness, 2= lowest winter hardiness.
+ M 25 - M 27 rootstocks Name Parentage Cross made Selected Introduced M 25 Northern Spy x M 2 1952 M 26 M 16 x M 9 1929 1958 or 1959 M 27 M 13 x M 9 1929 1934 1975
References
Links Rootstock Rootstocks List and description of rootstocks Apple rootstock identification — NSW Department of Primary Industries — Series: Agfact H4.1.10 – Edition: Second edition – Last updated: 12 Jun 2001 Apple Rootstock Fact Sheets, listed by size class