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Fruit trees can and should be grafted. And grafting an apple tree is a great example of this. Thanks to this process, you can speed up the process of fruiting, successfully and rationally use the territory of the garden, as well as grow valuable varieties on your site that are not adapted to the climatic conditions of your area. The article will help you figure out with what and when to plant apple trees and how to properly implement this manipulation.
What is needed for vaccination
The grafting of an apple tree in its technology resembles a surgical intervention. Of course, mistakes in grafting an apple tree are not fatal and will not lead to the death of the tree. However, hobby gardeners need to know when to graft apple trees and what they need to do so.
Rules
When grafting apple trees, the following rules should be followed. First of all, it is important to carefully monitor the rootstock buds. It is necessary that they remain in a state of winter sleep and in no case begin to awaken. The procedure must be carried out in a clean manner. Household tools used for grafting should be clean and dry. The cutting itself and the place where the vaccination will be located are necessarily washed with cold, boiled water and dried with gauze or a bandage.
The knife with which the cuts will be made must be made of high-quality sharp steel, since it will need to be cut at the level of plant cells. If it is blunt, then the tree channels will simply be crumpled, nutrients will not be able to penetrate through them into the grafted chip, and the scion will simply dry out. The optimal blade thickness should be no less than 1,5 mm and no more than 2,5 mm.
There are 2 types of grafting knives: with a straight blade – copulation and budding – with a curved pointed tip. During the grafting process, it is necessary to control that the edges of the scion and rootstock coincide and are pressed against each other as tightly as possible. Indeed, it is along the cambial layers (cell boundary) that the process of fusion will occur. The strapping around the inoculation should be made with soft materials, tightly fitting the cut points. Thanks to the bandage, we fix the junction and prevent the cutting from drying out.
It is very convenient to carry out grafting with a grafting pruner. Thanks to him, the entire grafting process is simplified, and you will spend much less time. This pruner is a multifunctional tool. It can be used not only for the grafting procedure, but also for pruning branches. When working with a grafting pruner, a graft and stock of the same diameter are usually used. Cuttings should have smooth bark. The technology of how to properly plant an apple tree comes down to 4 stages:
- produce a stock cut;
- a cut is also made on the scion, but of a reverse shape;
- tightly combine the stock and scion;
- the grafting site is wrapped with braid and treated with a garden pitch.
Why vaccinate?
It will also be useful to know about what you can plant an apple tree on. After all, inquisitive gardeners are trying to plant a pear, for example, on a mountain ash or an irga. This, of course, is possible, just keep in mind that such a vaccination is short-lived. The growth of wood in these trees is uneven, and the thickness of the seedling is small. In the process of growth, the tree will need support. Therefore, the optimal rootstock is the same plant as the scion branch. Although breeders do not stop there and expand their achievements in breeding work.
Quite often there is a reverse situation when a pear is grafted onto an apple tree. In such a situation, it is important to know how to graft a pear on an apple tree in order to get pears on this tree. The growth rate of wood in apple and pear trees is similar, so this grafting will be more durable. Therefore, there is a lot of information on how to plant a pear on an apple tree.
It also happens that there is incompatibility during grafting between different varieties. This can happen when the apple tree is completely re-grafted, or if it is carried out directly into the crown of a mature or old tree. Everything is explained simply, because each variety will have its own growth force and this will negatively affect the vaccination.
When experimenting with the question “what can an apple tree be grafted on”, keep in mind that between the grafting process and the beginning of the fruiting of the grafted branch, a considerable period will pass – 3, or even all 5 years.
For growing young seedlings, it is recommended to use those grown from seeds of the same species that you plan to plant. The exception is the seedlings of the Anisov or Antonovka varieties – they are compatible with almost all fruit varieties.
For grafting, you can easily grow a wildling yourself. Sow seeds in garden beds in late October, early November. Seeds are taken from those varieties that grow in your area. This should be done in the fall, so that the seeds can undergo natural processing by cold winter temperatures and sprout with the onset of spring.
Methods
In addition to the question of what to plant an apple tree on, the choice of method is also important. There are many methods and methods for grafting an apple tree. We will consider non-traditional ones: grafting an apple tree into the root and summer budding with a dormant bud.
Grafting an apple tree at the root
If you have a cutting of a curious interesting variety, but no suitable rootstock, you can use root grafting. The procedure is carried out both in spring and autumn. To do this, it is necessary to select a specimen in which one of the roots is located close to the surface and its thickness is not thinner than the diameter of the clothespin. Having found the desired process, then you can proceed in two ways:
- graft on the spot. In this case, we cut off the found root no closer than a meter from the trunk, set it and fix it vertically (you can simply support it with something, for example, with a brick wrapped in rags so as not to damage the root), without digging completely out of the ground. Prepare for grafting: wash the rhizome with water, wipe dry. Next, we graft our stalk over the bark, wrap the place where the graft is split with insulating tape, coat the stalk with garden pitch, sprinkle it with soil, water it, and enclose the place of growth with pegs. A year later, a young seedling can be separated from the uterine trunk and transplanted into a pre-prepared place in the garden;
- graft with transplant. With this method, we carefully dig out the cut root completely, then the actions are the same as in the first case, but we immediately plant the finished “collected” seedling in a permanent place of growth. Water, sprinkle with earth and mulch with leaves and humus.
Grafting an apple tree on a rootstock (budding)
Many gardeners, especially beginners, are interested in how to plant an apple tree and when is the best time for this. To the question “when to plant apple trees,” most gardeners answer that in the spring. But budding or grafting an apple tree on a stock can also be done in the summer. This method of grafting with a dormant bud is carried out from late July to mid-August, preferably during the second sap flow, when the bark leaves the trunk well. For grafting, cuttings from the growth of the current year are suitable, as well as when grafting an apple tree with cuttings. A blank, 3–4 cm long, with a dormant bud located on it, is usually cut out from the middle part of the cutting with a budding knife, capturing part of the wood. At the same time, at the bottom of the chips, it is necessary to cut off a part of the bark by 3 mm. It is better to prepare the cuttings in the morning on the day of grafting.
Two-year-old seedlings are ideal for rootstocks, they can be wild, with a trunk diameter of 6–8 cm. When preparing seedlings, you need to water them well a few days before budding and cut off the lower branches.
Methods
There are two ways to graft a scion: T-shaped and in the butt. The T-shaped technique is a little more complicated than the butt, as it requires the right time to carry out the procedure, the so-called summer sap flow, when the bark is quite easily separated from the trunk. Therefore, consider the second method to plant a scion. It is simpler, accessible to everyone and does not require any special knowledge.
On the selected seedling, at a height of 10–15 cm from the ground, we make an incision in the bark from top to bottom, capturing the wood and leaving the tongue. A chip with a bud and a petiole (which we kept on our scion) is carefully placed in the cut, combining the layers of wood and wrapped with grafting tape or electrical tape, while the petiole must be left free from the tape – it is an indicator of successful grafting. If within 2-3 weeks it falls off (on its own or with a slight pressure with a finger) – the clothespin has taken root, but if it turns black and remains in place – the procedure must be repeated, but in a new place on the trunk.
The strapping is removed after 4 weeks, and the next year, in March, the stem of the seedling is trimmed above the grafted bud. A year later, in August, it is necessary to cut off the thorn left from the trunk, since over time it can become a source of infection for the entire tree. We cover the fresh cut with garden pitch. Now the shoot that has grown from the grafted bud has become the central conductor.
Video “Apple tree grafting in summer”
On the Internet, information is often accompanied by a video of apple tree vaccinations. This video will show you how to carry out summer budding of apple trees.
Grafting other fruit trees
Many people ask the question “What can I plant an apple tree on?”You should know that only pome varieties, such as pear or quince, are grafted to the apple tree, which belongs to pome fruits. This rule also works in the opposite direction. While stone fruits (plum, apricot) are grafted, respectively, only stone fruits – peach, sweet cherry, cherry.
Consider other ways of grafting fruit trees. The most affordable is a bark graft. Start by pruning the main branches of the fruit tree. You only need to leave a few, they will supply our tree with moisture. It is necessary to carry out cutting of branches at a distance of not less than 1 meter from the trunk. The places of cuts must be processed with a garden knife, and a grafting pruner will also do an excellent job: it is necessary to make cuts up to 6 cm long on the bark. The cut itself should reach the core of the wood. With the help of the back of the knife, the bark should be moved apart into a rootstock. This is necessary so that the grafted clothespin easily enters the incision we have prepared. On the scion, carefully make an oblique cut and carefully sharpen it. Then, under the rootstock bark, a grafted cutting can be introduced.
Try to match the cuts as much as possible, and one cut fits snugly behind the other. It is advisable to plant 3-4 cuttings at once. This is done so that after 2 years, when they finally take root, choose one of the strongest and most well-developed. Secure the installed cuttings with a soft film. After completing the grafting of fruit trees, treat all cuts with a garden pitch.
Now you know how and when to graft apple trees, and also that this procedure is relatively simple, but highly dependent on the correct sequence of actions. And if you take the process seriously, properly prepare all the necessary tools and master the theory, then you will certainly be able to graft. And your apple tree will delight you not only with apples of various varieties, but also with pears, plums or quince.