I have been grafting for a few years and would like to be able to talk to other grafters that are still in the early stages of grafting. This site is super helpful but sometimes I get lost in the correct terminology or advanced grafters. Looking for simple tips in the few years after grafting to encourage a nice shaped apple tree as well as suggester fertilizer and watering methods. Thank you in advance!
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Where are you starting the scaffolds? And what rootstock are you putting them on? Assuming you are a few years out from doing graft I’m curious what you did.
I did grafting for the first time this year. Something like 80+ apples on M7 and a couple pears & stonefruit. Most took but I lost a few I put into pots instead of inground and all the potted ones grew less than a ft vs 4-5ft+ for the bench grafts I put in my garden.
I’ll be cleaning them all up in a few months and trying best as I can to- as you say- “encourage a nice shaped apple”. I dont have great pics I can probably take some in a few days or so, feel free to throw some up if you got any to post. 
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Not sure about the scaffolds! Stuff I still need to learn. I been using the M.111 and like it so far. The scions I normally take from an apple tree already in my property but I want to start experimenting with scions I can buy online or get from somebody willing to send me. I’d be more than happy to post pics and hope to get some feedback! This has been a. Fun hobby. Trying to add apple trees for wildlife!
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Does anybody mulch over young grafted trees to protect them from freezing over the winter? Winter fertilizer?
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I am in zone 7b southern middle TN… dont have to worry about apple trees over winter here.
I grafted 2 novamac and 2 early mcintosh scions to M7 rootstock in the spring of 2022.
Those were my first apple grafts. All 4 took… i gave 2 to a friend.
That fall they were near 4 ft tall… and I planted them out in my new orchard.
This is what they look like today.
I am letting scaffolds develop at 5 ft. or higher… got plenty of deer here.
TNHunter
On developing scaffold branches…
This spring when I late winter pruned my NM and EM… i basically removed any growth below 4 ft. What I had left at that point was a 6-7 ft tall whip… with no branches.
I need scaffold branches to develop in the 5-6 ft range (above deer browse).
In that 5-6 ft range I knotched the buds I wanted to develop into scaffolds.
It worked nicely as you can see from my current pic above.
I did bud knotching on these two apples this spring as well as a couple of pear trees and several persimmons. It worked well on all.
TNHunter
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Could you please elaborate on this bud knotching technique? I currently have spring 2023 grafted apples that are 6 to 7 foot whips (above deer graze). I need to start scaffolding. I was just going to prune the centeral leader tip and hope for the best. This technique seems like I could choose my scaffold buds and keep the centeral lead, is that correct?
Thanks
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@JesusisLordandChrist … that is correct.
When you knotch a bud you are basically selecting the buds you want to develop into scaffold branches… so you may want to select 4 buds … each pointing out in a different direction (N S E W).
And space those buds out some up the tree.
Any other buds you can just rub off or if they do start to develop later just prune them off.
In the 5 to 7 ft range having 4 scaffold branches heading N S E W… was what I was hoping to accomplish…
Then you can let your central leader continue growing up 2-3 ft… and repeat your scafold branch development for the second tier.
Skillcult on youtube has some good vids detailing how to do this.
Normally a bud that is knotched will grow much faster and stronger than an unnotched bud.
TNHunter
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Thanks for the reply
You are welcome… link above to a skillcult vid on bud knotching.
TNHunter
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Who knew? Turn of the century technique called bud knotching for scaffolding selection and leaving the central lead to grow. I like it and will give it a try this spring.
Thanks again
I’m in the same boat as you. Just a couple bench and top work grafting seasons under my belt. I’ve grafted apples, pears, peaches, aprocoits and cherries. Air-layered sugar magnolia and MM111 apple rootstocks, and rooted mazzard cherry rootstocks from root cuttings. Spouted plum and peach seeds that will most likely become rootstocks at some point in time.
I find it all very interesting, enjoyable and rewarding.
When I pot up my bench grafts, I no longer fertlize them. Nor do I fertlize when I plant them in the ground. I started out fertlizing and in all honestly, I think I gave them too much love, especially peaches. As I had them growing so well that the tips didnt have time to harden off before winter set in and all the tips died back. I may fertlize again. But if I do, it’ll only be once in early to mid spring and that will be it. Now i’m more conserned about amending the soil to obtain the correct PH, watering and mulching more than anything else.
Had I known… I probably would have planted rootsocks first. Let them grown out a season or two then top work graft them.
But experience is a strange thing… you get it right after you needed it.
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Notching worked really great for me. The notch fools the bud below it into thinking that the tree has been pruned there and the bud below the notch sends out a shoot to become the new central leader.
After the new branch gets to be between two or three inches long, you can hang a clothespin or two on it to get it to grow sideways. It becomes a fruiting branch instead.
I had no trouble doing eight notches on about a four foot tree. That the branches grow where you want them to be is especially nice.
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I have one tree on M111, what do you like about it? I chose M7 and im not sure if they will be too big for me. Of course no idea what the storebought trees are on so its just experimentation at this point.
I’d be happy to send you scionwood in a few months. I have a bunch of different stuff, if you’re trying to add trees for wildlife and just want to graft I can send you a bunch of different types. What are you growing? I’d can send you a list of whats available in a few weeks if you want to pick out anything you like.
Mine are about 12 ft apart but a bunch pictured are not apples. As for your mulch question these are woodchips from the side of the road I collected. Even here in Zone 5 apples dont really need protection from winter but lots of benefits to mulch/woodchips so its always a good idea as far as I know. Did you get a soil test?
Bed 1 of Bench grafts from this year:
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I’ve never heard of this technique! Wow so cool to read about. Is this what’s recommended to creating the scaffold branches? I see store bought young trees nice with scaffold branches. So far the few grafted trees I have that are about 7-8 ft are kinda a straight shoot. Is that because I haven’t trained any branches to go out?
I don’t know. I sort of think it is at least influenced by choice of rootstock. Stuff on G.890 wants to grow straight up for me. (Although I really like the rootstock for other reasons.)
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