Fruit trees

[Thingsthatgo]

Last year I bought (very cheaply) some fruit trees from a place that rescues over ordered stock. They didn't look very happy when they arrived, but I stuck them in pots - apples, pears and plums.
They looked like they died, but this year they have sprouted leaves and small new branches from the base of the trunk. Is there a way to rescue these? Should I take out some of the new branches?

The small new branches at the base of the trunk are likely to have come from the rootstock. If the only sign of life you have is at the base, it may be that the grafted tree has failed. You can check by lifting a small sliver of bark - if it's still green underneath, it's still got some life and you have hope.

The suckers from the base should be removed. They should be pulled off rather than cut off, because this will take with it any tiny buds from which new suckers will emerge.

@MereDintofPandiculation thank you for your help. I had added some photos of the trees. Do I have any hope of them surviving? Is there anything I can do to help them?

Above these photos are the original trunks, which stand about 2 or 3 feet tall with no leaves at all.

You can see where the graft is on no 1, just below the plant label, that kink in the stem. Cut off any branches below that (they look too big to pull). No 2 looks pretty dead, but try scraping a bit of bark off the see if it’s green underneath. No 3 everything seems to be coming from above the graft,which seems to be just above ground level.

Ok, great. Thank you so much.

Not to be a party pooper, but no. 3 is shooting from below the graft. The sucker to the front of the image is coming up through the soil, and since the graft is visible just at the soil level, this will be the rootstock. It does look as if there's also growth from above the graft, but that big sucker definitely wants out!

You’re right - I hadn’t spotted that they were coming from that long thin straight green thing, which if I saw it at all I probably took to be a cane.

Ok great. So take out that one that's growing from the soil? Thank you!

@MereDintofPandiculation - ah, my paranoia serves me well: at this time of year I assume pretty much everything is a rogue shoot!

@Thingsthatgo, yes, snip it out just under ground level, if you can.

i think I may have the same problem, an old apple tree cut down - growth coming from below the graft. Very useful info thank you!

Of course the rootstock will be a fruit tree in its own right - pears are usually on quince, apples I think on crab apple, etc. Not what you are after, of course.

@MereDintofPandiculation If your last comment was for me (otherwise ignore😁) - I am trying to decide what's worth keeping in my garden - I was 80% of the way there on getting rid of the apple tree - position was bad - too close to the cherry tree, previous owner had chopped the core trunk - this thread has clinched it!

No, it was for the OP, who had paid good money (although not too much of it) for these trees.

If you have the chance to create a planting opportunity - go for it!