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Other than keeping a fruit tree “small” by reducing vigor, what are the benefits of grafting fruit trees to a foreign root stock?

I personally would rather have a vigorous tree and control the growth with strategic and aggressive pruning. Also, I just recently found out that grafted fruit trees (semi dwarf and dwarf) have a shorter lifespan than their standard counterparts. I’m in this for the long haul and definitely don’t want to be ripping up trees every 15-18 years. I don’t understand why decreasing vigor would ever be considered a good thing as it inevitably shortens the trees lifespan.

I’m asking this question for future reference. I plan to air layer some of my grafted fruit trees this year, potting soon after, and then direct planting in the fall; no grafting to a root stock though.

It just makes sense to me that tree growing on its on roots will do better over the long run. Those with lots of experience, what am I missing?

We have an area of raspberry canes in our small-ish city permaculture garden. They’ve been there for years, long before I took over, and by the looks of it so have the weeds. I typically have a laissez-faire approach to weeds but this bed pisses me off!

It’s not just a bit of grass, it’s cinquefoil that makes a really dense mat, and this other tall flowering thing that swamps them. Plus some hidden brambles. It looks ugly, there’s very little air flow (our conditions are a bit airless at the best of times), and at this time of year they’re outcompeting the small canes for sunlight. I have to go out every few days and chop what I can back to ground level. We also had a wasp nest under the thick weed blanket last summer which meant the children couldn’t access the canes to harvest berries.

My aim is to mulch again on top of a thick cardboard layer, and this time replace the weeds with something else, quick growing that will cover the ground and preferably have a benefit to us / the garden. I was wondering about strawberries as they grow a bit like cinquefoil. Borage / yarrow / comfrey, perhaps, but it’s a large area to cover if starting these from seed (I hate buying this sort of stuff). Ideally something that establishes early in the season. Any ideas? What do other people co-plant w raspberries?

These two are two different trees of papaya. These trees are growing at 117 m above sea level. Temperature here is about 20–40 in winter–summer.
Problem is, these papaya trees have been dying, as shown in the picture, when they start developing buds. This unusual sequence has been repeating for 2 years. I tried to grow them in different places of my land but couldn’t get away with this problem. I want to get some expert knowledge on this.

https://preview.redd.it/de0qip9jj40f1.jpg?width=2250&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b05a24f465dc8f52ea868661a650a2399b57088

https://preview.redd.it/7dhmxv9jj40f1.jpg?width=2250&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f58dd1ae39dc2208421640dc053ac06b16db3d6

My family is looking at 10 acres in Michigan. The soil is beautiful and a family in the past had a garden plot.

Half the acreage is “freshwater forested shrub wetland.” There’s also a pond. We’re moving from an area that is forest and ravines, so we’re not as familiar with wetland habitats. We’re a bit intimidated by it and worried about flooding.

We plan to plant nothing the first year and go slow to our permaculture planning. What should we consider in this type of ecosystem? What are risks to lookout for before buying this property?

My wife and I just bought 3 apple trees. 2 Honey crisp and 1 Red Delicious. Looking for recommendations on planting and spacing of the trees themselves and any other suggestions. These are the first fruit trees we have ever planted and don’t want to mess anything up. We are in upstate NY zone 6b and the trees are about 6 ft tall. Thanks!