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["dwalsh/wchase" <wchase@interchange.ubc.ca>]

Title: Chip budding

Brian,

 

You should look at each plant individually.

 

Sometimes when the scion doesn't take and the owner leaves one bud of the rootstock to grow, that bud at first grows slowly and grows out like a dog's leg and then grows upward to meet the sky so you have this big 'dogs leg' with the foot pointing to the sky.

 

If you have enough space below the bud which grew, i.e. if you have at least 4" below the bud which grew, then bud into this 'old wood'.

 

Usually you don't have 4" because the scion was grafted on at about 4" so you then measure from the ground up and find that the ideal spot to bud (i.e. at 4-6" above the ground) is just where the dog leg curls around.  This is not a good location to bud because all the buds above this spot have been sending back auxins and telling those buds low down on the stock 'don't grow, don't grow'. So I usually try to go where the 'leg' straightens out and this might be 6-7" above the ground.

 

With M9 and M26 with which I am familiar, the higher up you put the scion/bud, the more dwarfed will be your tree.  Bud 9 and M9 have to be staked at all times, so this is not a big deal.

 

I routinely graft/bud at 8" above the ground first to give a more dwarf effect and second for the customer who digs a huge hole and puts the tree in it and the whole tree sinks with our winter rains.  This way, after a few years her tree is about 4" above the soil level.  Thirdly, when my graft fails, I have eight inches of rootstock below and if the top bud grows and even if a dog's leg forms, I still can easily bud below the site of the old scion

 

Many people especially Nafexers want as many different trees as possible on their property, so a more dwarf apple tree suits them fine.

 

When transplanting these grafted trees (in PNW), it is best to put them at the same depth that they were in the 'nursery' i.e. don't bury them deeper (now for you in the deep freeze areas of US and Canada, you may have a reason for burying them deeper).

 

DON'T dig a huge hole.  Dig the hole only as deep as the shank of the tree. Then put your tree in the hole, tie it to the permanent stake, and back fill the hole.   That way your union will always be the same distance above the ground for the whole of its life.

 

That's what I'd do,

 

Derry

 

Derry Walsh & Bill Chase  email:wchase@interchange.ubc.ca
Aldergrove,  B. C.,  Canada
phone/fax (604) 856-9316  
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The union varies from 4 to 7 inches above the ground.  I wasn't concerned about height yet since they will be transplanted later this year.  When you say 2 to 3" above where the new growth started meaning above the shoot that sprouted from the rootstock?  Since the scion portion didn't take, I allowed one bud to break and grow on the rootstock to provide it nourishment in the event that I would perform surgery/grafting on the rootstock later. 

 

My question to you is, when I do finally transplant the seedlings to their new home this fall, how much above the ground should the graft union be, assuming I wish to achieve a full dwarfing tree that this rootstock is capable of.  Is there a recommended height to plant this at..? 

 

 

Brian

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