posted 7 years ago
I don't have an answer to your question, just a thought about what I'm going to do next. I had a delicious but very old Greengage tree in my garden, next to it was a young wild plum which was no doubt planted by the previous owners to take a graft. I didn't know how to graft and kept putting it off till the Greengage was blown down during a storm, and dearly regretted it. Then discovered permaculture and started learning the all too numerous reasons for this or that choice. Now my very old and delicious Cherry tree is dying. I still haven't learnt how to graft but have just been reminded that I can reproduce it by AIR LAYERING. The main advantage compared to taking a cutting is that the daughter will have a well-developed root system BEFORE being cut off from the mother, & the mother will remain undamaged untill the layered plant is removed. I can plant my layered cherry and if I decide it's going to get too big for my garden, I can still graft it, even if the mother has died in the meantime. Or I can do both, and decide later, even years later, whether to keep one or both of my new cherry trees. In fact, it's my next job in the garden, and a friend is going to try to do the same for her delicious old Greengage tree, so hopefully we'll each have a delicious cherry and a delicious greengage !