I found this concept interesting, but am curious if anyone has tried this. I see people multiple graftings for different fruit talked about on here, but not multiple planting.

My Mckenzie farms Owari is pretty much bi-radial (is that even a word?). So much so that Stan even mentioned what a pretty espalier it would make. Just curious what might be the negatives from getting another citrus of similar growth that might could be planted close to it. Get a little more time our of my citrus harvest.

I've been advocating it for years and has posted several discussions about it. It is one of the alternatives to multi-grafting. Of course all retail nursery would prefer the multi-planting method, and they can have 4 times the sale.

This is best suited for urban setting with very small pieces of land and you want to have prolonged harvest season, encompassing year round if possible, and you don't want commercial-sized trees.

The very important tips to keep in mind if you want to do multiple planting in one hole:
a) Select clonal or sibling rootstocks of the same type. Clonal rootstocks are identifical with each other. Sibling rootstocks should have one common female parent, like the seeds from the same tree. There are scientific evidences that clonal or sibling rootstocks will cooperate and allow each other ample space within one planting hole. If you use non-sibling rootstocks, such as flying dragon or lemon type, for sure there will be intense competition and one will dominate over another, defeating the purpose of planting them in one hole. Even if the rootstocks are the same type, and if they don't come from the same tree, then expect some competition instead of cooperation in the planting hole. The worst would be planting different kinds of fruit trees in one hole coming from different fruit families.
b) Select rootstocks that are equally healthy and almost the same size as well, so that no one has a good head start over another.
c) The optimum number of trees would be four in one hole. More can be used but would require much more in-depth research from your part about the trees that you are going to use.
d) Arrange the cultivars within one hole according to vigor so that they won't shade each other out. The more vigorous or fast growing types and taller fruits would naturally be planted to the north side of the hole, while the slowest grower should be in the southern side. The east and west should have moderate and equal vigor.
e) Treat the one hole planted to multiple trees like one normal sized tree, because they really do. From afar, they behave like one. But you will have multiple harvest during the season. While individually each tree is small, collectively they behave like one tree, or more like one multi-grafted tree.
f) For other fruit trees like stone fruits or pome fruits, it will encourage better cross pollination and higher fruit sets, just like multi-grafted trees. However, for citruses, it could increase the seediness of some cultivars as well.
g) One advantage of multiple trees compared to multiple grafting is that you'll have lower risk of losing all your cultivars. With multiple grafting to one tree, you lose the rootstock, you lose everything.

There are also many disadvantages of having to use multiple trees in one hole. Obviously one of them is higher cost of planting materials. It's other disadvantages like increased seediness, gateway of other pests or diseases, I can live with them.

to compliment my Owari. I need to check with Stan & see what the root stock is. I do have a very small yard, so this is appealing to me. Just not sure how to execute, as I am still so new to citrus.

JoeReal wrote:

The very important tips to keep in mind if you want to do multiple planting in one hole: a) Select clonal or sibling rootstocks of the same type. Clonal rootstocks are identifical with each other. Sibling rootstocks should have one common female parent, like the seeds from the same tree. There are scientific evidences that clonal or sibling rootstocks will cooperate and allow each other ample space within one planting hole. If you use non-sibling rootstocks, such as flying dragon or lemon type, for sure there will be intense competition and one will dominate over another, defeating the purpose of planting them in one hole. Even if the rootstocks are the same type, and if they don't come from the same tree, then expect some competition instead of cooperation in the planting hole. The worst would be planting different kinds of fruit trees in one hole coming from different fruit families. b) Select rootstocks that are equally healthy and almost the same size as well, so that no one has a good head start over another. c) The optimum number of trees would be four in one hole. More can be used but would require much more in-depth research from your part about the trees that you are going to use. d) Arrange the cultivars within one hole according to vigor so that they won't shade each other out. The more vigorous or fast growing types and taller fruits would naturally be planted to the north side of the hole, while the slowest grower should be in the southern side. The east and west should have moderate and equal vigor. e) Treat the one hole planted to multiple trees like one normal sized tree, because they really do. From afar, they behave like one. But you will have multiple harvest during the season. While individually each tree is small, collectively they behave like one tree, or more like one multi-grafted tree. f) For other fruit trees like stone fruits or pome fruits, it will encourage better cross pollination and higher fruit sets, just like multi-grafted trees. However, for citruses, it could increase the seediness of some cultivars as well. g) One advantage of multiple trees compared to multiple grafting is that you'll have lower risk of losing all your cultivars. With multiple grafting to one tree, you lose the rootstock, you lose everything. There are also many disadvantages of having to use multiple trees in one hole. Obviously one of them is higher cost of planting materials. It's other disadvantages like increased seediness, gateway of other pests or diseases, I can live with them.

Some of my holes are multiple planting in one but majority of my plants are multi-grafted, including those that are planted in one hole. The most recommended spacing in a hole is that the trees should be one ft apart, but that is not necessarily true, any spacing works well. I tried one that I tied them all together into a bundle, using stretchable garden tie, and then planted them in one hole. I was hoping that their trunks would merge, forming one weird tree for discussion, but after eight years, they only pushed each other away and never merged, they are separated by 2 inches air gaps between each other. The trunks are about 6 inch diameters now.

One advantage of multi-grafting is that I don't need to plant a new cultivar that I would like to try out in my yard. And I don't regret topworking or chopping off a cultivar that didn't perform well in my yard.

If you are trying to extend the season, LA Early or Early St Ann will be ready in late Sept, and I believe Brown's Select will be ripe in late Oct while your Owari should get ripe in late Nov to early Dec.

I have mulitple plums planted using the one hole method. Originally, the reason was for the effect of multi-color foliage (purple and green leaves). Like Mikanme's trees, the plums never grew together, they just pushed each other apart. However, as far as fruit, it has worked out well. - Millet