Beginner Grafting Guide

General Fruit Growing
#30

My tool

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serration fits curvature of trunk for t budding… It also cut a vertical cut that is visible and much easier to lift to insert the bud.

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#31

Steve I’d be interested in seeing a video of your method! I don’t know that I’ve heard anyone recommend a serrated edge for any sort of grafting, but I’m open to learning if you have success!

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#32

I’ve read that blog post and it makes lots of sense to me. I use the Tina also. Unfortunately can’t find that Antonini knife for sale or I’d probably try it.

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#33

Is there a cheat-sheet on which rootstock/scion combos go together? I’m imagining an apple scion wouldn’t work on an oak or pine tree.

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#34

I could do 1 tomorrow but it would die at this time of the year. It is very easy and I never get slice open or slip across the tree and just tape the wound shut to save the tree.

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#35
#36

Oh don’t worry about it until it makes sense this spring or summer. It would just be cool to see.

#37

I have made over 100+ grafting videos made for beginners, different types of grafting for a different types of fruit trees. Most videos have English subtitles :grinning:.
I hope my videos will help someone to graft fruit trees successful as beginner.

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#38

My basic understanding of graft compatibility: apple and crabapple; pear and quince; stone fruit and stone fruit; Asian and native persimmon; European and Asian pear.

There may be some exceptions to this, but in general it’s how it works.

You can convert Bradford pears to European pear (in most cases) thereby eliminating a destructive invasive species.

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#39

I have successfully grafted 3 Seed grown Callery pears int Asian and 1 European fruiting pear

#40

Thanks for the rabbit hole to fall down!

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#41

Ok so the theme I’m seeing in that reference is fruit tree rootstock, not random trees like oak or pine (like in my woods). I saw an almond - peach grafted tree, so is the rule of thumb broader, like edible trees only?

It also seems like there’s a certain attitude of meh let’s try it and see what happens. Grafting isn’t going to hurt a healthy tree (unless one cuts it off completely like I saw in some videos), right?

#42

Oh thank you! That’s really helpful!

I’ve heard several people kvetch about invasive Bradford pear, so I’ll steer clear. Any other invasive fruit trees I should steer clear of?

#43

Almond, plum, peach, nectarines, and their hybrids are closely related enough that they can be grafted together using the proper rootstock.

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#44

My Callery per could either be grafted with something great or been cut down and re-cut the stump sprouts for the next 5,000 years. I chose 1 hour of grafting care over 1000 hours of rootstock stump sucker cutting.

#45

@IntrepidNewbie I would check with your local extension office for invasive info and help with other topics.

Each county has an extension office with ag/hort knowledge plus a state extension website like this one for Maryland:

#46

@thejunkpunks Is chip budding peaches more successful than grafting scions?

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#47

Yes, and maybe moreso here because you’ll want to graft when the weather is warm, like daytime low 80s, and peach dormant scions don’t seem to keep well.

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#48

I wouldn’t have thought of almonds being related to stone fruit. But no other nuts, right?

#49

Next time you eat a stone fruit, try cracking open the pit with a nut cracker. Don’t eat it (most are toxic), but you’ll see the almond resemblance!

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