Can I cut an existing apple tree and graft to it?

[Bill]

Reason I ask is I have two apple trees out of 10 that I planted years ago.

All 10 were girdled and I thought died. Two made it and suckered from the root stock. No clue what root stock but their not producing anything. So I have nothing to loose. I haven't been to them this year but if memory serves me the trunk diameters are about 3 to 4 inches at ground level.

We're not supposed to but I dumped a bucket of apples in front of a camera. (No where near where I hunt) they came from a tree In the yard, I figured why leave them all for the possums and coons. What! Deer scarfed em up and came looking for more for days after they were gone.

 

[yoderjac]

I don't see why not. Both bark grafting and cleft grafting can be done by cutting down an existing tree.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Native Hunter]

Bill, I have topworked apple trees almost that big. It should work for you.

 

[sandbur]

Why not prune, and give them a year or two to see what they produce? Deer apples do not need to be any high class, named, or patented variety.

Crab apples are easier and great for deer!
Many rootstocks are crab sized.


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[Bowsnbucks]

^^^^^ Posts 2, 3, & 4 - you have options. As Bur said, crabs are easier to grow than regular apples, which are somewhat fussier. The fastest growing and producing crabs I've seen are the Winter Wildlife crabs from St. Lawrence Nursery (SLN). We have 3 of those. They grow fast and we had clusters of red 1" apples in year 3.

I haven't topworked trees like Bur and Native have, but I've seen their success in pix. Also seems like it's worth a try. Root system is already established on your 2 trees.

 

[Bill]

Why not prune, and give them a year or two to see what they produce? Deer apples do not need to be any high class, named, or patented variety.

Crab apples are easier and great for deer!
Many rootstocks are crab sized.


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Thanks, This does seem like the easiest experiment to start with.

 

[j-bird]

I grated to an existing tree this past year....just to see if I could do it. You can top work - which is where you cut the entire tree essentially to a stump and place a couple of scions in it....OR you can prune back different limbs and graft to those as well.... I have an ornamental crab apple I plan on pruning more of this spring and grafting into a Frankenstein type tree from all my other apples and crab apples. Plan on failures with grafting in the field like this, but like you said - what do you have to loose? In the end I had about 50% success, but I had little clue as to what I was doing as well....but I didn't learn to ride a bike in a day either...

 

[Barndog56]

Grafted my Frankentree this past spring, put 25 varieties on it and at this point I have 21 that survived the summer. It was a crabapple with fruit too small to mess with.

 

[Charman03]

I have a 20 yr old ornamental crab here at the house that I’m really considering grafting some slightly large crabs onto it.

I don’t want to cut the whole thing down but can I knock some limbs back and top work those?

 

[DLH]

I would atleast try and bark graft a few it’s a nice skill to have with apples and persimmons it also works on those wild Bradford’s. Just pick a few varieties you think would work for your drop times. Idk what zone you are in but I would search through natives posts and pick whatever he goes crazy about. Reminds me I need to give you guys and update.

 

[Barndog56]

I have a 20 yr old ornamental crab here at the house that I’m really considering grafting some slightly large crabs onto it.

I don’t want to cut the whole thing down but can I knock some limbs back and top work those?

Yes you can. As soon as buds swell in the spring is the time to graft onto them. I used cleft grafts for mine as the branches I grafted to were similar in size to my scions. And feel free to use longer pieces of graftwood as the large root system of the existing tree should have no trouble pushing multiple buds on each graft. That way you'll have the chance for fruit buds to develop on each graft, giving you fruit next season.

 

[Telemark]

Heck yeah! I did about twelve bark grafts this summer, and they all took. They were wild trees that produced small unappetizing apples. I'm looking forward to cutting off the nurse limbs and fertilizing the trees in June! Bark grafting is incredibly easy, and more enjoyable than other types, in my opinion.

 

[Bill]

I posted this on my land tour but thought I’d follow up here.
I decided to try some bark grafts. Time will tell if I did it right :). Thanks for giving me the courage to try.

 

[Bill]

Like the old meatloaf song “two out of three ain’t bad”

Should I prune these back a bit or let them do their thing?

 

[Smokegobbler]

I'd let them do their thing this year. Watch that lower one doesn't grow through the fence (or a deer will prune it for you).

 

[Native Hunter]

Don't prune this year. They need all of the leaves they can get right now. There will be plenty of time for pruning and shaping next year.

Bill, don't forget to brace that with something like a cane pole and duct tape. Before I started bracing, I lost several to the wind, but since then I haven't lost any. You are going to be surprised by how tall those get before the end of the year - especially that upright one. It will likely be as tall as the part that you cut off at the end of the growing season this year. All you need is something rigged up that will last for about a year that keeps wind pressure from breaking them off. After everything hardens up the next year, you should be able to remove the bracing.

 

[cavey]

Ditto on most of the posts, One of my best late dropping deer trees is an unknown root stock that suckered up from a girthed apple tree - has 1 1/2" fruit and is disease free. I also would let them go this year and if you want to cleft or bark graft them out next year. I wanted to find a pic of acres and acres of topped work trees. If they can re work a whole section of commercial apple trees you can too.

 

[Bill]

Bill, don't forget to brace that with something like a cane pole and duct tape

Thanks!
Used wire but kept it nice and loose.

 

[Bill]

Wow! These grafts took off. Guess I’ll have to pull apples off it next year so it doesn’t break.

 

[mikmaze]

looks good Bill, you took the time and tried hard, and it paid off.