Grafting Apple Trees

April 13^th

Pruned crab apple tree

I spent a good chunk of the day learning about apple trees.  I remember grafting apple trees in High school but today's lesson was much more involved and educational.  We started with a grown crab apple tree and pruned it, we literally cut most of the branches off.

Then we split the ends of the branches right down the middle, exposing the cambium layer. we used a screwdriver to hold the slit open.

Matching the cambium layers

Next you take the branches of the types of apples you want to grow; we chose Honeycrisp and State Fair.  We carved the bottoms of the new branches into a point, exposing the cambium layer on the new branch.  It is very important to match the cambium layers from the tree to the new branches, this ensures they grow together.  There may be some that fail but I think we did such a good job that all the grafts will take.  The last thing you need to do is tape the split together with lightweight paper tape and then use grafting wax to seal the hole.  The wax protects the tree and ensures that it won’t have to spend its energy healing the wound.

Tape and wax

After grafting trees in the orchard here, we headed over to Grant and Christy’s to graft some of their apple trees.  We have 6 kinds of apples in the orchard including the most recent addition, three Honeycrisp trees. 

This morning I noticed some flowers blooming, some snow drops and crocuses.