Anyone have experience with grafting using mature fruiting wood as scion? What kind of success have you had? There are a couple trees I would like to graft from, but they are both overgrown with very little new growth. I’m planning to just take some older wood and graft as usual. I expect lower take rates but curious to hear what others’ experiences have been.
Grafting with older/mature scionwood
- Thread starter Highwater
- Start date
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
It is much easier on some varieties than others. Apples we have had success, usually more of a 2 year project it seems. You usually will get it to graft fine, but then it needs to be "convinced" to grow a shoot and not just bloom. There needs to be a latent vegetative bud somewhere on that scion, they are not always clearly visible to the naked eye. I would probably graft 2x as many as you think you might want in this instance. Let the graft heal and pick off any blooms as soon as you see them. See if the graft throws a shoot then, or you might have to do some selective pruning to try and get a vegetative response. I would probably also use a slightly larger piece for scion as well. We have tried multiple years to graft an old apricot for a customer and repeatedly failed to get any grafts to take.
bigboreblr
5 year old buck +
Guess here, but I would cleft graft, and find 2 small pieces of growth. Like a 1/4" bareroot, split it in half, and stuff 2 little guys in there.
Also, could do a topwork of a mature tree. Get a little fresh growth tip and grat it to a branch, then use that branch of growth next year for scion material. I have some old trees that do not produce I will be abusing for scion growing medium......
There are many apple varieties around, maybe we can help you ID what you have and you can get some scion material of the same species.
Lastly, IF the tree lives another year. Try watering it extra and giving it some fertilizer. I found out that is an excellent way of making plenty of water whips.
Also, could do a topwork of a mature tree. Get a little fresh growth tip and grat it to a branch, then use that branch of growth next year for scion material. I have some old trees that do not produce I will be abusing for scion growing medium......
There are many apple varieties around, maybe we can help you ID what you have and you can get some scion material of the same species.
Lastly, IF the tree lives another year. Try watering it extra and giving it some fertilizer. I found out that is an excellent way of making plenty of water whips.
Thanks for the tips. I tried cleft grafting a couple years ago with very thin little scions and the grafts failed. I probably knocked them out of alignment while wrapping them up, just too small. So now I’m trying to use something older and thicker just to hopefully get better contact.
I’ll try grafting a couple scions onto an actively growing tree like you suggested. Maybe that will give the old scionwood some extra power to send out a new shoot this year.
I’ll try grafting a couple scions onto an actively growing tree like you suggested. Maybe that will give the old scionwood some extra power to send out a new shoot this year.
Prof.Kent
5 year old buck +
If they are overgrown with little new wood, then prune the tree back. get rid of the overgrown wood. You will get a lot of new growth the next year and will have an abundant supply of new wood the next grafting season. If the tree is very unmanageable, then just make a few cuts to remove some large branches. You will still get a lot of new growth.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
This. ^ ^ ^ Pruning stimulates new growth. Prof Kent is right. I did it myself for stimulating new scion wood on some old trees.
