Hello permies folks. I live on a farm in central Vermont with a number of old apple trees, which I'd like to clone and propagate. I've been researching grafting, trying to prepare for an attempt this spring. One particular tree with delicious apples is definitely losing vigor, and is completely hollow, so I'd like to preserve the genetics as soon as possible. I just went out to try and collect some new growth, and found that while there are some fairly long new shoots (2 ft plus), the tips have died back. I've read that people sometimes trim the terminal buds of scion wood - is the die-back something I could trim off, or is this a sign that this shoot isn't viable?
I'd be very grateful if anyone had insight on this question, or experience grafting from very old apple trees in general that might not have growth as vigorous as a younger tree - for example, on a different tree the biggest new growth I can find is maybe 3/16" diameter, 8" long. Is this worth attempting to graft, or is it too small and would be a waste of a rootstock?
Thank you in advance for anyone who can offer advice.
