hey hippy ...

never heard the term before ... but it is self evident what it means ...

i doubt it a mortal wound .... barring other problems ...

roots regrow ... and i would posit that it will reanchor itself ... its kinda what trees do ... presuming you can stabilize it long enough for it to happen .. you dont mention size.. but your root problem [pun intended] ... is that sail boat sail of a canopy.. vs ma nature and her winds ....

one option might be a canopy reduction.. to reduce wind impact.. but on the other hand.. the catch 22.. is the potential reduction of energy producing leaves ... not to mention.. you might be outside of proper pruning time ... and of course.. a heavy crop wouldnt help ....

which brings us to tree time ... who knows how long it will take ... and of course.. the downside is... since its all underground.. who knows when the job will be done ...

as an experiment ... it would be fun to watch over the next 5 years or so ... just see what happens ... which i can easily do on 5 acres ... i would probably put in 3 stakes.. and stabilize it ...

in suburbia though.. where you might have limited space ... it might drive one crazy to waste the time with a potential loser ... maybe you should just cut bait.. and plant another ...

or do both ...

macs are my absolute favorite apple for quick warm apple sauce ... needing just a bit of cinnamon [no sugar really needed] and some nuking.. with any pork dish.. and they make sublime pies ...

ken

Apple cultivars grafted on fully dwarfing root-stocks - as is usual these days, at least for sales to home gardeners - require permanent support to remain upright.

Not if it is pruned properly :-) Or hundreds of eastern WA apple orchardists know something we don't (they favor dwarfing root stock as it makes harvesting so much easier). Most of their trees are 10' or less in height....and not staked.

And yet

Freestanding trees? Participants asked which rootstocks could be freestanding trees. Auvil reminded them that free standing is a cultural practice, not a rootstock trait. Any rootstock in the trial would have to be headed back multiple times to create a free standing tree. Rootstocks that have good anchorage can be cultivated into free standing. Pruning, especially to develop free standing trees, will significantly delay fruiting. (Click on "Apple", scroll down)

http://treefruit.wsu.edu/varieties-breeding/rootstocks/

It's possible to multi graft a seedling. Where you graft a, for instance, dwarf rootstock to a full size rootstock, and then graft the fruit you desire to the dwarf. It's possible to cut the dwarf into multiple pieces so that you can get as close as only $1 extra for each tree you plant. What you're doing is cutting pieces, called scions, off a dwarf rootstock and then throwing away the roots. In the end you get a dwarf tree on a full size root. So you won't need to stake the tree forever and it grows better in some poor locations.

I did it last spring using semi dwarf interstems and they all took. My first grafting attempt. If you can't do it yourself I've seen folks who sell benchgrafts which are seedlings sold the year the grafting is done. I'm thinking they may do the multigrafts for you.