Grafting onto a big stump

[olbol]

This spring I've cut an old apple tree, didn't feel too good about it,
but it bore horrible and quite useless fruit and looked next to dead
after two cold winters. Much to my surprise four months after the
stump refuses to die and is currently throwing shots. I am thinking to
use it as a base for grafting few different branches from 'crab'
looking apples. Few questions:

a. Can I graft something on a very grown-up (15cm wide and decades
old) stump? b: what's the best technique for such kind of graft? c:
does the size of the receiving parent means I can use bigger scions?
d: can I do it in autumn or is it strictly a spring job? f: given the
size of it, can I graft more than one branch and if yes, what's the
minimal distance between scions?

Thank you.

[Dries Muylaert]

http://www.ncw.wsu.edu/treefruit/graft/

 

That type of graft, but make sure to cut the stump deeper (into fresh wood) in spring.

Or work on the new shoots, if mature enough, also in spring.

 

2010/9/6, olbol <du...@olbol.net>:

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[Stephen Hayes]

Grafting over or top-working a sound tree that produces worthless fruit is an excellent technique. The best option is to graft on to the new shoots. The best technique depends on the diameter of the recipient wood, if its under a centimetre I would go for the saddle graft every time-an excellent graft which requires stock and scion of approximately equal diameters. If about 2cm a double cleft graft is good, much above 2cm and a rind graft is your best option.

 

Timing is critical, cut the scion wood in late winter during full dormancy, store in a polythene bag in the fridge, do the grafting in early spring one growth has just begun. NO WAY do it in autumn, the graft will definitely fail.

 

You can graft as many as you like, no minimum distance, they may not all take and you can adjust later.

 

You can graft one or 2 scions to a thick sawn trunk, the rind graft is the one to go for, but I think a larger number of grafts higher up is better.

 

I have just made a video from my orchard showing some trees that were grafted over using a mixture of these different techniques and which is bearing well in the second autumn after grafting, will post sometime this week on my YouTube channel.

 

Stephen

[Melanie Wilson]

I cut severely back an old apple tree , last year, for much the same
reasons. I tried grafting into the old wood (rind grafting, in April but it
was totally unsuccessful ! I think Stephen does a lot of this grafting & if
he or anyone else has any ideas why it failed I'd be interested to hear, I
tried various methods from a course & Stephen's videos

But my tree threw up lots of new growth so I'm planning to graft onto that.
I've grafted in this way a few time and I tend to graft lots of different
cultivars onto the tree, mainly as I'm trying to keep older varieties going
& it allows me more in less space, until I can build up an orchard
elsewhere.

I can't see why there would be a minimum distance, but I'd tend to leave
some of this years growth for next year & then to graft those over once the
others establish. The reason I would do this is I've read one of the bigger
danger of top working old trees is that they get too hot if they don't have
enough leaf, some old books suggest a wash of white (can't recall if it was
whitewash as such) to reflect the sun to stop this overheating.

Somebody told me you can graft anytime & the graft will take off the next
spring, but most sources tend to suggest late winter, I tend to start in Feb
& end in March, my April grafts were mostly unsuccessful, but the scion was
taking off by then, if it had been more dormant maybe it would have been ok
& the tree wasn't the greatest.

Mel

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From: "olbol" <du...@olbol.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2010 11:33 PM
To: "Cider Workshop" <cider-w...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [Cider Workshop] Grafting onto a big stump