Gifted apple tree.

[Brush Creek]

A neighbor of mine gave me an apple tree from Gerten's Greenhouse in Inver Grove Heights. He had it for a while before he gave it to me. I planted it and before fall the top of the tree which looks like it was grafted was dead.

Should I try to graft a new trunk to the tree? Should I leave it alone? I don't know what kind of apple it was or what the rootstock is. I have five other apples I could use for grafting.

 

[j-bird]

If you have never grafted before it sounds like a great candidate to learn on. It's "broke" so you can't really make it worse can you? Obviously this is if you want to screw with it. Just my 2 cents worth. I would rather learn something new on a tree that I can "afford to lose" than on one I fear to screw up and kill.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

If you still have life above the graft Union at the base you should be able to establish a new central leader an prune accordingly

 

[Brush Creek]

I haven't looked at it closely, but for some reason I thought only the grafted part was dead.