Monthly Food Forest Tours! Let's create a food forest together!

Turning a grafted apple tree into an own root fruit tree.

Steve :

  Turning a grafted apple tree into an own root fruit tree.

This is very interesting Steve!  Can I ask you how you encourages roots to grow like that?  My fruit trees struggle here and it's very difficult to get own root trees, which I'm expecting wouod be a bit more vigorous. Thanks.

For this one I just buried the graft a few inches below the soil. I've taken a knife and cut the bark and cambium layer off of some older trees and think that it probably works better like that, but I haven't dug those up to see for sure. I remove a section about 1 centimeter by 5 centimeters and then bury it a few inches under the soil.

Yeah Nancy I totally recommend it for increasing the vigor and health of the trees. For the ones I've done this on so far, they seem to be generally healthier and tougher overall. I think these trees will also live longer and hopefully still be there for future generations to enjoy!

Would love to see how yours turn out if you make some!

My apple trees are mostly on M25 rootstock (the most vigorous I could find).  I have one on it's own root which did better to start with and then seems to have slowed down.  I planted them all in made up land in what should be a more sheltered bit.  My bedrock is only a foot or so down, but I build up the soil there so these have at least double that.  All the apple trees are pretty small still (aboit 5ft after 5(?) Years).  We are an extreme climate here for top fruit.
I'm wondering whether to be brave and cut the grafted trunk right down.  Assuming they survive this, they would grow more lke a shrub with low branches, then If I bury them again I may get the branches to root like yours have and get several trees.  Either that or the tree will die altogether and I'll have to try again!
I'm just trying some grafting again this year.  I have some scion wood from a local tree that had to be cut back due to disease but fruited pretty well.  If I have enough seedling stock I could see if I can graft my main trees as well as insurance.....

Giant pokeweed roots

The year before last, my oldest plum tree had a bumper crop of plums. A squirrel or some other critter was also enjoying a few of the plums, and dropped the seeds to the ground beneath the tree after eating some plums.

I noticed the numerous plum seeds on the ground as I was walking by, and quickly gathered up as many as I could find. I was working on another project that day that I was trying to finish up, so instead of diligently planting the plum seeds, I think I remember using a shovel to break up the soil in a nearby spot, and I may have made a slightly raised area. I pushed the seeds into the soil with my thumb, about an inch down, pressed the soil firmly on top of them, and may have covered it with a very light mulch. I may have spent ten minutes collecting and planting the seeds.

I was walking by this spot the other day, almost two years later, and had completely forgotten about the plum seeds that I had planted here previously. The area is now filled with numerous wild plants, and I was looking at another tree that I had planted nearby, when I noticed what looked like a patch of small trees growing. Upon looking closer, there leaves were just coming out, and I noticed that they looked like little plum trees. My mind flashed back to the memory almost two years ago, when I had planted the plum seeds here. There are about thirty plum seedlings growing in this area all close together. It's hard to beat getting about 30 plum seedlings with about 10 minutes of work.

Sometimes it's nice to be just plum surprised.

My black locust hardwood cuttings are leafing out, hope they make it!

This is the parent tree of my plum seedlings.

It is worth growing just for its blooming fragrance alone.

Cherry buds are about to break!

Pear seedlings sprouting!