Recent content by BuckSnort

Not sure of your location but you could try again if you still have scionwood (maybe too late), bud graft this fall, or try again next spring. I would give your tape more time to ensure everything is healed. But be careful, I’ve heard it will take the bark right off, might be better to just make...

I just topworked a few trees this week, NW WI but I’d say timing was perfect here. Leaves starting to pop and bark slipping nicely.

I’m curious on your reasoning for grafting 8 branches over to Kerr instead of just grafting the entire top over with 1 graft?

I’m certainly no expert but I’ve always figured if the rootstock was showing some life it would help with getting everything flowing and the tree healing. Never had any issues. I’ve been doing a good amount of top grafting as well and there I think it definitely helps the bark pop open nice so...

I’ve gone with smaller fences and pruning lower branches off that the deer will get anyway. I don’t plan on ever removing those cages, apple trees are like a magnet for bucks to rub on and I’m not taking the chance. I did get some rolls of cheap wooden snow fence, it’s not ideal but has worked...

I’m planting in sand and B118, Antonovka, and a few Dolgo have all done well so far. Just planted some M7 but too early to say there. I know a lot of people like M111, the one year I ordered and grafted they all died, maybe just a fluke but it was not a good experience for me. Quite a bit of...

I would plant what you can in a garden or temporary bed. I’ve also used 5 gallon buckets or old storage totes in a bind. Make sure you drill some holes in the bottom. After a thread on here even tried the cloth Walmart bags. It all works in a pinch, it’s not as sexy as the Rootmaker pots I’ve...

I bought some Dolgo seedlings back in the day and let them grow out. All ended up being small bird crabs so I’ve top grafted them to other varieties and they’re growing great.

A friend of a friend asked me to graft a few trees for her this past spring. Having never seen it before, I drove past this week. I was quite impressed with the size & taste of the fruit. Kind of glad I grafted one for myself.

Unfortunately a trip to the hunting property resulted in the discovery of a decent amount of apple trees looking dead or in rough shape. I guess it’s a good thing there are more in the garden that I have grafted. Not sure if it’s disease or what? We’ve had more rain in June than we did all last...

Ryan has some good info on his FB page.

It was wax on the ends to keep moisture in. It fell off during transport but they’ve been sealed long enough that I just left it alone.

My coworkers got a lesson in topgrafting today. Bark was slipping well and I was done in about 5 minutes. I think they were surprised how easy it was. Or at least how easy I made it look

My Buckman Crab bud grafts are just starting to wake up in NW WI.

The other nice thing about trimming back to 1 trunk is that all of the energy from the root system will go into a single place instead of multiple.