American Plum (Prunus americana) as a peach rootstock

I was surprised to learn that American Plum is not a total train-wreck as a rootstock for peach.

On the Minus side

Only some varieties have been documented as being compatible with it. Specifically, Red Haven, Contender and Saturn. Those peaches ripen August 5, August 28 and August 1 in my area. You could do much worse than planting Red Haven and Contender.

American Plum suckers from the roots profusely. Canadian Plum (Prunus nigra) is a close relative that suckers far less but reviews of CP as a peach rootstock are not encouraging. If you wanted to, you could certainly graft an interstem of American Plum on top of Prunus nigra.

Seedling propagated from commercially available seed can be variable. There are no "select" strains of American Plum chosen for good rootstock characteristics.

Seedling American Plums are thorny-to-very thorny. That might not be a negative where deer pressure is high. 

Percent survival of Red Haven peaches grafted on top of Prunus americana. Lovell included as a baseline.

Survival of grafted Red Haven on American Plum have dismal in some locations.

On the Plus side

American Plum is more resistant to cold or winter damage than any peach (Prunus persica) clone.

American Plum is highly resistant to Peach Borer.

Cumulative Yield Efficiency, the rightmost column, is a measurement of a root-stock's productivity after adjusting for tree size (Source)

Orchard performance on American Plum is surprisingly favorable if the trees are planted closer together to account for the smaller tree size and failed trees are replaced immediately.

Lovell has a tree height of 11' while American Plum has a tree height of 9'. While the difference might not seem like much, the entire tree on AP can be picked from the ground if you bend the tallest branches toward you.

Smaller tree size makes the trees easier to spray and thin and pick. 

It might not be worth buying American Plum for rootstock but it is certainly worth buying a lottery ticket if you have some already growing on your property, especially if you live at the northern fringe of where peaches can be grown.

The smart move would be to graft or bud relatively high on the stem to get the peach out of the zone where peach borers are most active and to have American Plum at least as high up as the snow is likely to drift. Another smart move would be to stake the tree to reduce bending stresses on the graft union.