posted 6 years ago
My grafting experiment began this march. Apple scions onto 3/16-1/4" seedlings in 2 gallon pots. whip and tongue with a knife. The 3/16 size was hard to work with, but was mostly successful at just below 90%. The next batch was on two top worked 8yr old box store trees that never produced well 41 rind or bark grafts with 8 failures. Three of the failures were due to my rookie knife skills coupled with poor placement. two were possibly due to suspect scions. in any case 80%. The grafts that "took" on these top worked branches showed by far the most vigorous growth of all the grafts, including the diameter and the vigor of the shoots. I have learned that 4-5 " shoots may seem viable, but they are being nourished from the scion only (and eventually fail), and not through the graft. When they grow to about 6" and beyond they are then usually successful grafts. A few weeks into the experiment I then purchased some Antonovka rootstock (75) about 1/4 " diameter to take advantage of the 17 varieties of scion wood gifted to me. I'm still clearing the land for my future orchard site, so these were grafted and potted in two batches in 2 gallon pots The first 30 had three failures so 90%. The next 35 had one failure. 5 of these were not grafted but left to produce variety #18 (antonovka). looks like 96% on the second 30 grafts. The second 30 were dusted on the bare roots with a Mychorrizal (4 type) formula. These were clearly the most vigorous of the potted grafts, so I would definitely dust all bare rootstocks in the future. On the Antonovka grafts I found and used a 15.00 grafting tool using modified (U) cut. The grafting tools I had found on various sites were priced from 70-150.00 for what seemed to be the same tool as what was purchased. It produced clean cuts , had three cutter types, and has now produced 70+ grafts, and could be rotated to a second cutting edge on each blade, or resharpened when that became necessary. found on T mart site. I was willing to spend .20 per graft for the 15.00 cutter but the 2.00 per graft for the 150.00 unit was not in my budget. Having said that, the results have been so encouraging, and the process enjoyable that I can see this becoming a possible revenue source as my skills develop. This inexpensive (cheap) tool could easily produce hundreds of grafts lowering the cost per graft to pennies. If the neem oil continues to repel the hungry aphids drinking from all the new and tender leaves, there may be a picture of an orchard to post in a few years. Thank you shout out to the many who share their experiences and expertise on this site.