I have a good story/experience this year that shows just how tough and forgiving apple wood can be.
So last spring I grafted King David to Antonovka. It grew fairly well last summer until in the fall I was going around putting tree guards on all the trees for vole protection. In true clutz fashion I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking and literally kicked the top of the King David right off at the graft union! I proceeded to say a few choice words and went about my work and largely forgot about it, figuring I’d get some fresh wood and try again this year.
Fast forward to spring when I was back in the orchard doing some spring cleaning when I came across the top of the king David I had kicked off. It was just lying on top of the grass where it had spent the winter under the snow and to my surprise it looked pretty ok…I picked it up, dusted it off and scratched the bark a little to take a peak, it was still pretty green! Now I wasn’t quite ready for grafting yet, so I did the only thing a sensible orchardist would do and buried it in the dirt at the base of the rootstock for a few more weeks until I was ready.
I field grafted the scion back onto the same Antonovka rootstock it came off with a simple cleft graft and this is what it looks like today:
