Can I grow an apple tree from an existing one?

[Dan Maranto]

So a little back story, the property I now own, was once a large 125-ish acre apple orchard, 50+ years ago. It was split into 3 large lots (one being mine, and 2 others) and sold off over time. It has since grown up into mature woods. Talking to the neighbors whose family has lived here for almost a century is how I got most of that info. I found a satellite imagery of the property from (if I recall correctly) the 1930’s. I will have to find where I saved it and can post if anyone is interested.

I have been here a little over 10 years now and have always been on the look out for any “left over” apple trees, but no such luck.

Until today…I was looking at an oak tree along a clearing and something next to it happened to catch my eye….apples! I checked it out close up and used a “picture this” ap, and all it says is it’s apple tree. I didn’t see any on the ground, so something’s eating them, and there are a few left on the tree. I am not super knowledgeable in apple trees, but It appears to be an older tree. Approx 25’ tall.

The only problem is, it is on my neighbors property. I have permission to hunt there, but that’s not really why I’m here. I think it would be cool to be able to grow a few apple Trees from this tree, kind of like having a piece of history from the original homestead.

How could I go about doing this? I’m doing some researching on grafting, but it is super overwhelming.

Any tips or points in the right direction I would appreciate!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Yes, you can. Grafting is the way to achieve it. Grafting isn't as hard as you might think it is. There are plenty of online videos that show how. You could even ask a local orchard or college to show / help you to save an heirloom tree like that. The time to cut scion from an existing tree is late winter - March is a good time to cut it. It should be cut during the dormant season, and March is typically before trees come out of dormancy. The scion must be kept damp - NOT wet, and refrigerated until grafting is started. Placing scion in zip-lock bags with damp paper towels is how many guys do that. Again - lots of online info for watching & reading.

The scion samples have to be grafted to a rootstock that'll serve your tree size and disease-resistance needs. Lots of info online about those points too. There is much info on this forum about grafting as well. Browse this forum to get more info from guys who've done it.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Grafting is actually pretty easy. Find some 1 year old shoots on that tree and cut them in late winter and store them in a fridge. You can purchase some seedling rootstock for around $5 per tree (most places have a 10 or 20 tree minimum order though). No special knives or grafting tape are needed. I use a straight edge razor box blade to cut the scion and rootstock using a cleft graft. That's a very easy graft to master and success rate is very high if you can find scion wood and rootstock sections that have the same diameter. For grafting tape, I just cut a plastic convenience store bag into strips and use that to attach the scion wood to the rootstock.

There are lots of videos online that show this - it is actually pretty easy and definitely worth a try.

 

[Feelslikefar.]

That's the funny thing with apples... you can take seeds from those apples and grow trees. Then you will truly have the "offspring" of the old trees. But you won't get the same type of apples. (if you care)

Or as the others said, you can graft from the old tree onto another sapling and get sort of a half new, half original tree that WILL have the same apples. (and if your saplings came from the original seeds, it'd be 100%-ish as you can get original lol)

 

[Dan Maranto]

Thanks for the input! I went out and knocked one of the few apples left off with a stick. It was very good, red delicious maybe?

We do have a large apple orchard right up the street, I am going to contact them about helping. That was a great idea, thanks!

 

[Dantana]

I started grafting a few years ago and like yourself, found it to be a daunting task initially. But after diving in, it's pretty easy. I have around a 75% success rate. Find rootstock compatible with your hardiness zone then graft 1-year old scion from the original tree onto it. Mehrabyan Nursery is a good place to view/read about a bunch of rootstocks and their characteristics. I'm in Zone 4b/5 and have used Antonovka and M111 roots.

 

[Dan Maranto]

How am I determining the age of the scion?

 

[Smokegobbler]

How am I determining the age of the scion?

It's the growth that occurred this year. There are also nurseries (39th Parallel and Maple Valley) that will do the grafting for you (you supple the scion and pick the rootstock to be used).

 

[bigboreblr]

Looks more like a gala or Fuji than a red delicious. Those are more 1960's and 1979's varieites. There are many different apples out there, around 4,000 cultivated varieties. Many more one off's. That could be a seedling of a apple tree. Could be a shoot from a root of another tree too.

Rootstocks are selected for the size of the tree, the type of soil, and the general climate.

I recommend a mix of grafting and buying barefoot trees. You get a 2-3 headstart with bare roots. But get some rootstock to graft. M111, antonovka, dolgo, siberian crab, P18, G890, and M7 are several good ones.

Image 9801 looks like ti has a graft union about a foot up from the ground. 9802 either doesn't or it's not obvious from that ang;le. A young healthy growing shoot about a pencil diameter is a good branch for grafting. As long as it's a branch above the graft union. Below it might be the rootstock tree variety. Rootstocks can grow their own apples, sometimes decent ones. M111 is mostly northern spy. Colonial times, hewes was often used for rootstock. As you look along at the ends branch, you can see a disruption every few inches or a foot or two. That basically each years growth. As you go back to the tree, its less obvious or not noticeable at all because its been so long.

Baldwin, Winesap, Johnathan, mcintosh, hawkeye, Rome beauty were popular in the 1940's.

 

[H20fwler]

Cool find.
Ask the property owner if you can prune the tree some, then in a year you can easily tell what is new growth for good scion wood.
The pruning should get it throwing new wood.