Grafting advice

Last year, I had a nice rootstock from Stark Brothers that didn’t survive the winter. So, I placed it in a pot, and in September, I grafted two Ginger Gold buds onto it.
Please check the attached image.

Both buds started growing nicely this spring, and now I’m facing a dilemma: should I prune one of them or let them both grow?

Hi, I am unsure about your message: so your rootstock survived, the variety died, and you grafted 2 scions on your rootstock which took? I see on the right it appears that you grafted above ground, on the left I don't see the grafting point. Did you bud it just where it grows out?

There are many ways to deal with it:
1) You remove one completely, OR
2) you try to remove one with a tiny bit of root, and then you have two trees with a low risk OR
3) you dig it out, and split it in two, having 2 trees but risking of losing both in the process

Personally I would go for option 2, having one with a high likelihood and one a bit slower.

PS: And regarding timing: If you do it now, survival might be lower than in dormant season, especially as it is in full foliage.

Hi Hans,

Thank you for your reply!

Let me clarify a bit: last spring, the rootstock produced many sprouts. I removed all but two, and then in September, I grafted a Ginger Gold bud onto each of those two remaining sprouts—both grafts are above ground.

What you see in the middle are the remains of the original tree that didn’t survive—likely due to bunnies.

As for your suggestions, I’m hesitant to divide the roots, as you mentioned there’s a risk of losing the plant in the process. But just to make sure I understand point #2 correctly: are you suggesting that I dig around the roots and try to remove one of the sprouts with a small piece of root? If that works, I could potentially end up with two trees, and the risk to the left one would be minimal—is that right?

Thanks again for your advice!

If you want to try option 2, you could maybe encourage more roots to develop on the sprouts by adding more soil or burying the tree slightly more by a couple of inches - if you can encourage them to layer, you may have two nice trees and still have the root stock to graft again next year....

Apple rootstock loves to root and sucker, and you can use this tendency to your advantage. Do the mounding that Nancy recommends and try this as well: Take a sharp knife and slice that main stem right down the middle as far as you can easily cut. Put a thin wedge of clean wood in there, and then just keep it happy during the growing season. Come next winter, when it's dormant, lift it out of the soil and separate your two trees.

I rooted a plum cutting once that had two leaders coming from a branch node, and this was how I got two trees out of the bargain. They're both doing well and producing big plums.

My advice would be to let both of them grow for at least a year or two, and then cull out the weaker one. A lot can happen to a newly grafted tree, so it's good to have a backup.