Grafting fruit branches onto native trees

Hello, I've had this thought in the back of my mind for quite a while now; as you might see from my profile, we live in the coastal scrub and chaparral part of Baja California and we have little rain, just 250 mm or 9 inches I think. I love the native plants here and I've noticed there's a few Prunus that grow wild here. The ones I found are:

Prunus ilicifolia (Holly leaf cherry)



Prunus fremontii (Desert apricot)



I was wondering if it's possible to graft peach, almond and other Prunus fruit branches onto them? I'm kinda new to this so, is it viable? does it affect the quality or quantity of fruit it produces? does it affect the taste? it wil need more watering that the native plant normally does right? will we have a more heat tolerant shrub or tree this way or more resistant to pests?

Sounds like a good idea. Since the plants and the grafts are in the same genus it should work. The book Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips has a lot on grafting.

I think it's a great idea Mike!

The rootstock (native plant) will just affect the general height and shape of the tree, and the fruiting benefits of the grafted fruit variety will be unaffected.

The downside is the top grafted portion can still be pretty susceptible to disease depending on if it's vigorous in your climate, and the fruit can also still be susceptible to pests.

Some of the benefits are that you could get fruit earlier, and the fruit you graft on to the native trees can hopefully cross pollinate with it, and there's a possibility that you can plant the seeds to create new varieties that are more adapted to your area!

Best of luck!