Grafting trees
April: Thu 4/11/2024 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Grafting trees: focus will be apple and pear. There is a charge for the root-stock itself of $5. Both the Pear and apple are full size tree root-stocks. I will have scion material available that is hardy and not restricted by pollinator pairing. The more common bench grafting of whip and tongue grafts used to join scion wood to root-stocks will be covered. A whiteboard to diagram what we are going to do, then a hands on demonstration by me and have everyone try their hand at it. This is done while seated around a table that we can get a little dirt on as the rootstocks are a little dirty. I am intending only to cover the most common types of grafts. My materials for the session fit in a single large 66qt Sterlite container which I show up a little early and unpack.
This is pretty much the body of my presentation: and will be my hand out this at the start of the class. http://extension.msstate.edu/sites/default/files/publications/publications/P3402_web.pdf
Materials: (materials i bring)
● grafting knives
● Treecote (but wax can also be used to seal the ends or even coat the scion to prevent dehydration, can also wrap the graft with the grafting tape aka saran wrap)
● Grafting tape, pvc/electrical tape and or rubber bands for binding
Rootstocks: 5.00 each is base cost after shipping
● Antanovka apple (Hardy Russian seedling) (20 rootstocks)
● Pyrus OHxF97 (Old Home x Farmingdale 97) (10 rootstocks)
Unfortunately the root-stocks were a little large and we ended up having to do some of them as cleft grafts. Looks like the Kristie Red , honeycrisp and Wolf-river were the bulk of our grafts but we had yellow transparent, zestar, winsap, and perkins available. There were a few specialty specialty items i ordered from fedco:
L809A — Blue Pearmain Apple Scionwood, 1, 8″ scionwood stick — 1 × $6.00 = $6.00
L843A — Ginger Gold Apple Scionwood, 1, 8″ scionwood stick — 1 × $6.00 = $6.00
L899A — St. Lawrence Apple Scionwood, 1, 8″ scionwood stick — 1 × $6.00 = $6.00
L909A — Twenty Ounce Apple Scionwood, 1, 8″ scionwood stick — 1 × $6.00 = $6.00
L915A — Winekist Apple Scionwood, 1, 8″ scionwood stick — 1 × $6.00 = $6.00
L923A — Bosc Pear Scionwood, 1, 8″ scionwood stick — 1 × $6.00 = $6.00
L926A — Comtesse Clara Frijs Pear Scionwood, 1, 8″ scionwood stick — 1 × $6.00 = $6.00
L927A — Early Pear (Fruhbirne) Pear Scionwood, 1, 8″ scionwood stick — 1 × $6.00 = $6.00
L930A — Seckel Pear Scionwood, 1, 8″ scionwood stick — 1 × $6.00 = $6.00 .
I am going to be donating the bulk of the 16 remaining apple trees to the Grow KI community garden. and hopefully in a few years we are adding apple varieties on those out in the field if not getting some apples on the grafts that succeed.
I am grateful to all who did purchase root-stocks, i apologize if some who had came in a little later or had missed the announcement beforehand.
Keep your tree’s roots moist and at around 65-70 to help the graft grow together. Feel free to pot up and keep inside but dont forget to get into the ground within the month. You need not worry about cold spells unless the temperature drops below 32F which is why i recommend waiting a week or two inside before planting out.
The handout from the grafting class at the Ishpeming Carnegie Library printable PDF Download and the web page i obtained it from http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/basic-grafting-techniques-0
Whip and tounge grafting, whip graft, and nurse root graft
you can get root-stocks from a number of locations and as promised this is a list of places i have ordered from; some also carry scionwood
https://fedcoseeds.com/trees/rootstock
https://www.burntridgenursery.com/Rootstock/products/98/
https://www.cumminsnursery.com/buy-trees/index.php?type=rootstock
https://www.mehrabyannursery.com/shop/rootstocks/
https://maplevalleyorchards.com/rootstock/
https://raintreenursery.com/collections/rootstock
https://rootstofruitsnursery.com/collections/rootstocks
https://www.grandpasorchard.com/Tree-Type/Rootstock-for-Backyard-Nurserymen
https://www.slngrow.com/search?q=rootstocks
https://shop.seedsavers.org/apple-grafting-school-live-kit
https://www.scion-exchange.com/trade/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/scionexchange/