Grafting an apple tree on a wild

A garden is a place where fruit trees are grown that produce tasty and healthy fruits. But many gardeners are not limited to this. For them, a garden is an opportunity to create, creating apple orchards with their own hands, on which several varieties are grafted. Such a tree surprises not only with the presence of apples of different colors and shapes, it also bears fruit better, since the conditions for pollinating the apple tree in this case are simply ideal.

But this is only possible for an experienced gardener who has mastered the technique of grafting apple trees and trees of other species in all its subtleties. For those who are just about to carry out the first grafting of an apple tree on a wild game – our article.

Why cultivated apple trees are not propagated by sowing seeds

This method, it would seem, is the easiest – sow the seeds of an apple tree and wait for fruiting. It’s just that it will take a long time to wait – such apple trees give the first crop for 5 years if the tree was transplanted at least 3 times, and 15 when growing in one place without transplanting. It would seem, well, what is so special here? We transplanted the apple tree 3 times and we are already collecting fruits for the 5th year. But seed fruit crops do not inherit parental traits. This also applies to apple trees. Therefore, we will grow a “pig in a poke”. You can spend a long time and get a crop of practically inedible apples, however, very beautiful ones. There are also exceptions. It was they who gave birth to that group of old and very good folk varieties of apple trees, which are now being planted less and less, yielding to the pressure of breeding new products. Among the advantages of such apple trees, one can note longevity and excellent adaptability to growing conditions, and among the disadvantages – a large height, which is inconvenient for care and harvesting and late fruiting. Therefore, grafting an apple tree is the shortest path to the goal with a guaranteed result.

How to graft an apple tree on a wild game? Over time, this question arises in every gardener.

What are vaccinations for?

• The trees have grown old, I want to graft them with new, modern varieties of apple trees.
• There is a desire to create a tree-garden, on which several different varieties of apples peacefully coexist at once.
• The small size of the plot does not allow planting all the desired varieties of apple trees, so they are grafted onto one rootstock.
• I would like to ennoble the wild apple tree, which grew up on the site without asking.
• Support a diseased apple tree with a large hollow or damaged by hares by grafting with a bridge.
  
• It is impossible to get a seedling of the desired apple variety, but there are only cuttings for grafting.
• There is no certainty that the selected apple tree variety will be winter-hardy enough in the area, but you want to try its apples, so they are grafted into the crown of a growing winter-hardy apple tree.
• I would like to get a dwarf apple tree or propagate a columnar apple variety.

You can find many other reasons that require mastering the technology of such a not too simple, but very interesting activity, like grafting an apple tree. There are practically no seasonal restrictions for its implementation. But the method of grafting an apple tree on a wild game in each season will be different.

Before talking about the technique of grafting an apple tree, you need to understand what a stock is, a scion, where they come from and what criteria they must meet.

A little about scion and rootstock

When grafting an apple tree, one part of the tree is transferred to another so that they grow together, and a whole plant is obtained. The part of the apple tree that is transferred is called the scion, and the part that is grafted on is called the rootstock.

As a scion, buds or cuttings of selected varieties of apple trees act. Cuttings can be prepared in your own garden, bought at a garden fair, ordered by mail from amateur gardeners, or simply borrowed from a neighbor. The kidney is more difficult. It can not dry out, and, therefore, it is not subject to storage. The only way to take an apple bud is in your own or a neighboring garden. In order for the cuttings to be of high quality, two points are important: the time of their harvesting and proper storage before grafting. The terms for harvesting cuttings of an apple tree are as follows:

• the period from the end of leaf fall to the onset of severe frosts is above 10 degrees. Such cuttings of apple trees are used for grafting in winter and spring;
• the time after the end of severe frosts is the end of winter or the beginning of spring, while the kidneys should not swell yet. They are used in the same way as in the first case;
• for summer vaccinations, cuttings of apple trees are harvested directly in front of them.

We prepare apple cuttings correctly:

• They are harvested only from young trees that are already bearing fruit, the varietal qualities of which are not in doubt.
• Branches are cut from a part, the crown of an apple tree looking south, its middle tier will do.
• Suitable for grafting is one-year-old, in extreme cases, two-year-old wood, always fully matured.
• On the selected branches of the apple tree, there should be no frost, sunburn and other damage.
• The length of the handle is from 30 to 50 cm, the thickness is about 8 mm, about the size of a pencil.

Apple cuttings are stored in a room with a temperature of about 0 degrees. They should be buried in damp but not wet sand. The humidity of the sand must be maintained at the same level. You can save them on the street, falling asleep with sawdust or snow. If you wrap them in a soft, damp cloth and put them in the refrigerator, they will also keep well.

Each cutting should have a tag with the name of the apple variety.

Now about rootstocks for vaccinations. The fate of the future tree directly depends on their correct choice.

The selection criteria are as follows:

• well developed root system;
• frost resistance;
• good adaptation to growing conditions;
• maximum compatibility with the selected scion.

What rootstocks do gardeners usually choose for grafting? You can buy a stock in a nursery, grow it yourself, but the easiest way is to graft an apple tree onto a wild game. It can be taken in the forest or by the road, where wild apple trees grow most often. A young 1-2 year old seedling will do, but you can graft an apple tree to an adult wild tree. In this case, it is advisable to graft several varieties and get a tree garden. Usually this procedure is performed in stages over 2-3 years.

When grafting a columnar apple tree onto a wild game, only a one-year-old seedling is chosen as a stock, the vaccination is done close to the root collar and they do not forget to properly form the crown of the grafted seedling in the future.

How to grow a wild apple tree for grafting

The easiest way is to sow the seeds of an apple tree that has shown its frost resistance. They can be taken from neighbors or in your own garden. The classic is the Antonovka apple variety, but other varieties that are unwilling to freeze in frosty winters are also suitable. The algorithm for growing a wild apple seedling is as follows.

• Seed stratification. It can be natural if they are sown on a seedling bed immediately after picking apples, and artificial – in a box with wet sand and the addition of activated charcoal, which is put in the refrigerator for 2-3 months. In this case, it is convenient to observe the process of stratification and, if necessary, correct the conditions for keeping seeds. Stratification in the refrigerator begins in mid-January.

  

  Before stratification, the seeds are washed to remove the germination inhibitor – a substance found on their surface.

• The hatched seeds of apple trees are sown on beds, followed by a mandatory pick in the phase of cotyledon leaves. The central root is pinched so that the root system of the apple tree seedling is fibrous. You can dive them into separate pots with a volume of at least 0,5 liters, and then grow them up to grafting in a larger pot. We get a seedling with a closed root system. The soil for cultivation consists of garden soil, seasoned peat and sand in equal proportions. A glass of wood ash is added to a bucket of the mixture and according to Art. a spoonful of superphosphate and potassium sulfate.

  

• During the growing season, a young apple tree will require several waterings and 2 top dressings with mullein infusion or ammonium nitrate.

With good care, we get a one-year-old developed apple tree seedling, which is time to graft.

What is needed for vaccinations

First of all, you will need a grafting and copulation knife. The second blade has a curved shape. The tool must be very sharp. It is better to entrust its sharpening to a specialist who will do it on special equipment. If it is not possible to purchase such a knife, you can get by with an ordinary, but well-sharpened knife.

Required Tools:

• Pruner.
• Saw-hacksaw.
• Garden pitch or oil paint.
• Wrapping material: soft polyethylene tape, insulating tape, paper twine.

For those who will carry out the first vaccinations in their lives, he will greatly facilitate this process.

What are the vaccinations

According to the timing, they are divided into winter, spring and summer. Some gardeners also vaccinate in early autumn, but the survival rate in this case is low.

According to the method of administration, the following vaccinations are distinguished:

• as an example;

  

• copulation simple and improved;

  

• for the crust;
• into a cut made in the stem of the scion;

  

• Occultation.

The last vaccination is performed in the second half of summer with the beginning of the summer sap flow period. The first three can be performed both in spring and in winter in a room – the so-called table vaccination. Rootstocks for her are stored in the basement so that the roots do not dry out, ideally if they are grown in pots. Vaccination is performed indoors, using a method convenient for you. Grafted seedlings are stored until planting in a cold basement, placing the root system in a box with wet steamed sawdust or sphagnum moss.

But spring vaccinations are best. How to graft an apple tree to a wild game in the spring, tells the video:

Let’s talk about how to plant an apple tree in the spring in a step-by-step way in a split.

This method is suitable for grafting a game of any age. Both the graft and the stock, which have the same thickness, and the wild game, the diameter of which is larger than the grafted cutting, grow together well. In this case, you will need two.

1. We take out and select the cuttings.
2. We are preparing a stock – we cut down part of the trunk or branch, if it is a skeletal branch, then it should be about 20 cm to its base, the wild cut is cut down at a height of about 20 cm from the ground, a thick trunk, depending on the specific situation. We clean the cut with a knife. Experienced gardeners use a hacksaw for cutting – it gives a smoother cut.
3. If the thickness of the cutting and the grafted branch is the same, one split is made; if the stock is much thicker, one split is made into which 2 cuttings are inserted or a cross-shaped split for 4 cuttings.

   

4. A thin branch is split with a knife to a depth equal to 3 to 4 of its diameters, in thick branches, the splitting site is first cut with a knife, inserted there and hit with a hammer until a gap of the required depth is obtained; at the same time, a wooden wedge or a screwdriver is inserted into the slot to make it more convenient to insert the cuttings.

   

5. On the selected cutting, we make the upper cut, leaving from 3 to 5 buds.
6. We undermine the bottom with a wedge, the length of the cut part is 3-4 diameters of the handle.

   

   The cut is carried out in one movement, without crushing the wood. Do not touch the cuts with your hands. If you can’t work quickly or several cuttings are being prepared at once, they need to be put in a glass of water, in which we dissolve a teaspoon of honey.

7. We insert the wedge part of the handle into the cut so that 1-2 mm of the cut part protrude outward; in cuttings that match in diameter, the bark of the scion and rootstock should be in contact, in other cases we combine the tissues of the cambium.
8. When all the cuttings are inserted, we take out a wooden wedge or a screwdriver and tie the grafting for a tighter fit; for this use a film, electrical tape or twine; the material needs to be slightly pulled, the tape is wrapped with a sticky layer outward. Experienced gardeners advise using ribbons cut from a PVC tablecloth, they have the best elasticity.

   

9. We cover all open places, including the upper sections of the cuttings, with garden pitch.
10.  To reduce the evaporation of moisture, a plastic bag is put on the vaccine, and preferably a paper bag, it is fixed, leaving a small slit.

Split grafting is done in early spring before the buds swell on the trees. You can make such vaccinations at the end of winter, if severe frosts are not expected.

It happens that the spring grafting of an apple tree failed. In order not to lose precious time, it can be repeated in the summer using the eye budding method.

How to properly graft an apple tree using the budding method will tell the video:

And in conclusion – general tips to help avoid vaccination failures:

• all operations for preparing the scion are done quickly, ideally, the finished cutting should not be in the open air for more than 10 seconds;
• tools and hands must be clean, and preferably sterile;
• if several trees are grafted, after each grafting, the instrument is sterilized by wiping with alcohol.

Grafting an apple tree on a wild game is an exciting activity. Having mastered it, you can significantly expand the range of varieties without changing the planting area.