Our apple tree wasn’t doing much of anything (it barely even ever flowered), so I finally cut it down and bark grafted 3 different varieties onto it - Liberty, Ashmead, and Cox Orange Pippin. These should all be able to pollinate one another. We also have a Honeycrisp tree nearby that should benefit from this, too.
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This is really cool. Have you had luck in the past with such projects?
Thanks! And Yep! I have grafted a Yellow Egg Plum onto my plum tree, and also Golden Delicious onto my crabapple.
Are Golden Delicious good straight from the tree? I do not find the supermarket variety to be particularly delicious.
Yes. I also like Golden Delicious, but def better off of a tree (I feel like pretty much anything is).
Have you had an Opal apple? It’s a cross between Golden Delicious and another variety. My current favorite apple.
Super neat! We have a Japanese Cherry Willow, which is a graft. We inherited it with the house and are slowly trying to bring it back to better health. It got pretty unbalanced, but it’s already looking better each year. Grafting is such an interesting thing!
Glad it’s doing better! Yeah, grafting is nuts. It’s crazy that most fruit trees are grafted.
I have an Apple tree about that size that only makes good cricket balls. I’ve never done grafting before - as there a good guide you followed?
There are a lot of YouTube videos showing various types of grafts. I would look there first - I learned from watching videos. I also reference this a good bit: https://www.wikihow.com/Graft-a-Tree (but you can’t beat watching a video of someone do it).
For my tree I did what’s called a bark graft, which is often used for trees that stop producing or to change the variety. There are also bud grafts, whip and tongue grafts, cleft grafts, etc.
Be sure also to get varieties that are good for your growing zone and that flower around the same time so they can pollinate one another.
Thats actually really cool.
I took a grafting class once, and it’s remarkably easy. You basically need a cutting of a similar diameter, cut diagonally.
You join the cutting to a cut twig on the tree, keeping as much of the green bark in contact as possible, and then tape it up.
You can use a salve and a special tape to improve conditions but those are the basics.
That’s pretty much it!
Check out the whip and tongue graft. Very similar idea to what you described but it’s much more secure and I want to say more of the cambium layer is joined together.
How hard is that to cut with a normal knife?
Not difficult if it’s sharp. I use a grafting knife, but a pocket knife works just as well.
Bark grafting may pose a problem since you’d be cutting into the bark of the trunk, but it’s easier to do in the spring.
You may be other tools (like a saw) in order to do certain types of grafts.
You can get the angles to match up pretty well by hand? I guess you could probably practice on random twigs.
Yep. You just kind of eyeball it. I start with the branch I want to graft onto first, then cut the scion and compare it to the branch and just make adjustments as needed.
Nice! Don’t see enough of people taking advantage of in-ground root stock. This works wonders with stone fruit and citrus as well.
Yes! Figured it was better than getting rid of the tree.
That is a really cool idea. So it should automatically make its own apples? (Assuming there’s enough wind and pollinators?)
Yes it should. I picked varieties that bloom around the same time, so they should pollinate one another. It’s like having 3 separate trees, they’re all just connected to the same root stock.
I read that you can graft apple-family fruits onto hawthorn too, has anybody here tried that?
I’ve read this too. It would be really cool to have both and pear on the same hawthorn rootstock.
How big do these grafted trees get? I have a spot for one but don’t want too large of a tree
To add to what wizzor said, it can depend a lot on the variety of root stock you’re grafting onto. Some root stocks naturally produce dwarfed trees, which can be nice if you don’t have a lot of space. Even if that isn’t the case, though, you can just prune it to a height you like.
Full size apple trees get big, I have some on my property that are over 5m tall. There are small varieties that stay under 3m though.
5m is fine. It’s going in a spot where I had to remove a 70m pine. I could even put one in my front yard then.
