Homestead mailing list

[Robert Walton <waltonrp AT gmail.com>]

One of the things that I miss about the old days on this list, it that
people (including tvo, but not just him) posted real life experiences on
lots of homesteading subject matter. Lately, the responses seem to be more
to point one to a url, or just to say "google it".

I found this url helpful, good drawings:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/grafting.html


The whole page has good information, I'm talking about whip and tongue
grafting (bench grafting) in this post. I'm no expert. I took a workshop on
bench grafting apples last winter and made some successful grafts. I plan to
do more next spring.

The workshop was a bit of a let down, because it is so simple, it was pretty
much just follow the instructions on the web link and practice.

Tools:

Good pruning shears
Grafting knife (could be any sharp knife, my knife is beveled on only one
side. SHARP).
Masking tape
Mustard

Rootstock: Tom Burford says that you can use Delicious seedings. You can buy
rootstock that is standard, semi dwarf or dwarf. IN the old days, they used
to grow rootstock and when that ran out, they would dig pieces of root off
an mature apple tree. Good information.

Practice with some extra pruning waste. Goal is to match scion wood and root
stock in size somewhat, make matching cuts with a notch to lock them
together, tape the union.

I worked with purchased rootstock last year. If you grow yours you could dig
it in late winter or if you graft in place, you'll want to make the graft in
early spring after hard freezes are pretty much done.

Cut scion wood of about finger sized or smaller around, into lengths with 4
buds. You want last year's growth.

You can store the scion wood in a plastic bag in the refrigerator crisper
drawer.

Steps for bench grafting apples:

1. Make an angled cut on root stock. Hold the root stock between your legs
and cut way from you, sort of like whittling.

2. Make a matching cut on your scion wood.

3. Make a cut about 1/2 and inch deep into each piece of wood, right along
the pith in the middle of the wood.

4. Join the two pieces together. Pull the cuts you made apart gently to open
a notch and fit the two notches together. A good grafting joint will stay
together with out the tape. The cambium layers need to touch each other.

5. Use masking tape to support the graft and keep it from drying out.

6. Cut off the scion wood leaving two buds.

7. Dip the top of the scion wood into yellow mustard to seal it.

8. Label your graft.

Now your root stock will be in a bag or something to keep the roots moist.
Set the grafts out in a warm (maybe 60s, 70s) area. In a couple of weeks,
you'll see the buds on the scion wood start to swell or die. That's your
result.

If the graft takes, you can plant it out in a nursery bed or in the spot you
want it to grow. If it's still freezing out, put the grafts into the
refrigerator or a very cool place so they stop growing. I planted my 6
grafts into a nursery bed about 1.5 feet apart. I may transplant this coming
spring, or grow them another year. Not sure yet. Once the two buds are out
and you have two branches coming on, cut off the weakest one. You want that
to grow straight up and be the trunk of the tree.

If the graft does not take, you can take it apart, make a new cut on the
root stock and try again with fresh scion wood that you have saved in the
refrigerator.

The tape should come off on it's own or you can remove it. The union is
going to be very weak for a while. A crazy guinea hen knocked one of mine
off when she ran into it. So plan for stuff like that.


I'm thinking to graft some pear trees this spring. James wrote something
about using black locust (I think) as root stock on pears. I can't seem to
find any information on that. I find it interesting.

I'm also planning to make some other types of graft, I've got two small
apple trees that are grown from seed. I might try to graft a couple of
prunings from other trees on them and see if I can make a couple of
interesting trees.

Rob - Va