Hey all,
I have a few questions on selecting which graft to use, and then the general procedures (although I will be doing a thorough google search). I have 3 situations.
1. Our "orchard" (a few trees across the street from our cottage) had a pretty bad fireblight infection. A few trees I had to completely cut the top off of, except for a few suckers. I am thinking about using either a cleft graft OR a bark graft. The trouble is, these trees are about 20 years old, and have a pretty big diameter. Here, I'd me mainly looking at something like liberty, for an earlier apple. Can I do a graft on a tree this large? as far as I know, the blight didn't get into the trunk.
2. I planted a few big box apple trees of various types (Mac, northern spy, golden delicious, cortland... maybe another one). I am wondering if I will be able to switch these into another variety, preferably ones that are disease resistant. I think they are a few years old, as they are about an inch in diameter. I have fairly limited space, so although I'd love to just plant another 10 trees, I can't unless I get rid of some of these. For these, I am somewhat lost as to what kind of graft to use. I am also curious (as I am for the trees in the previous area) as to where on the trunk I would have to graft in order to get onto the rootstock, and not just the scion.
3. I found a few apple trees that I am saying are wild, although they may have been planted by the previous land owner (he was 8_ when he sold it to us 10 years ago). I started to lightly release them 2 years ago, and went at it a lot heavier last year. I am wondering if it is possible to "top work" these trees with getting another limb (or 5) going in some varying drop time and late hanging disease resistant varieties. Although these trees have some apples that hang late, I think it'd be pretty cool to get another few branches that have multiple varieties.
Other than those specific instances, my overall questions:
If I'm able to graft, when should I plan on doing that? Should I worry about getting scions this year, or should I wait another year?
Am I able to "topwork" without getting another full sized tree growing out of my existing tree (i.e. how do I make sure to graft low enough to get onto the rootstock?)?
I have a few questions on selecting which graft to use, and then the general procedures (although I will be doing a thorough google search). I have 3 situations.
1. Our "orchard" (a few trees across the street from our cottage) had a pretty bad fireblight infection. A few trees I had to completely cut the top off of, except for a few suckers. I am thinking about using either a cleft graft OR a bark graft. The trouble is, these trees are about 20 years old, and have a pretty big diameter. Here, I'd me mainly looking at something like liberty, for an earlier apple. Can I do a graft on a tree this large? as far as I know, the blight didn't get into the trunk.
2. I planted a few big box apple trees of various types (Mac, northern spy, golden delicious, cortland... maybe another one). I am wondering if I will be able to switch these into another variety, preferably ones that are disease resistant. I think they are a few years old, as they are about an inch in diameter. I have fairly limited space, so although I'd love to just plant another 10 trees, I can't unless I get rid of some of these. For these, I am somewhat lost as to what kind of graft to use. I am also curious (as I am for the trees in the previous area) as to where on the trunk I would have to graft in order to get onto the rootstock, and not just the scion.
3. I found a few apple trees that I am saying are wild, although they may have been planted by the previous land owner (he was 8_ when he sold it to us 10 years ago). I started to lightly release them 2 years ago, and went at it a lot heavier last year. I am wondering if it is possible to "top work" these trees with getting another limb (or 5) going in some varying drop time and late hanging disease resistant varieties. Although these trees have some apples that hang late, I think it'd be pretty cool to get another few branches that have multiple varieties.
Other than those specific instances, my overall questions:
If I'm able to graft, when should I plan on doing that? Should I worry about getting scions this year, or should I wait another year?
Am I able to "topwork" without getting another full sized tree growing out of my existing tree (i.e. how do I make sure to graft low enough to get onto the rootstock?)?
