Angie: The only buds that you want to let grow are the four or five varieties that were budded to the rootstock. The only reason to let a bud from the rootstock grow would be if you wanted to bud another variety onto the tree.

I don't like the trees that are budded right to the main stem of the rootstock. It would make a much better tree if they would bud to limbs of the rootstock with a good crotch angle. But that would take them another yr. I would never buy a tree like this unless the buds were already forced so I'd know they were going to grow.

The Fruitnut

Angie, you need to find the buds that were grafted to the rootstock and make sure to keep them, and rub off all the other buds which are just the rootstock sprouts. The grafted buds look like they have little "shields" around them in the wood. I think I see three bud grafts in the lower picture, one leafing out to the right, one above that one facing camera and one below also facing camera. The lower one looks like it may have been knocked off which means you could have lost that variety (hard to tell for sure from the picture). All the low growth in the upper picture looks like it is not from the bud grafts and should be removed.

Scott