The other day while walking my property I was checking out the trees, and what I assumed was a wild black cherry, I now think is a wild crabapple.
There are essentially 4 trees here and some are so close the trunks are touching (which you can kind of see in the background of the first picture), so for the longest time I paid them no mind but upon closer inspection today I noticed one that did not look like any of the others. the node spacing on this one is much closer than on the wild cherries and given we have had some very windy days recently, It was easily apparent after all the leaves had dropped that instead of black cherries this one had red fruit.
I think this is an old picture is what the blooms look like
I’ve never attempted grafting for one good reason
For those that are unaware, I had talked about it in other threads, but I have a genetic neurological disease called an essential tremor. My hands shake uncontrollably (and sometimes my neck) and it gets worse when my hands are outstretched and unsupported. so typing at a desk with my hands rested I’m pretty good but changing a bulb in a ceiling light fixture with arms outstretched I’m a shaky mess. It gets worse when I’m tired or under stress (both physical stress and emotional, believe it or not). From an outstretched hand fine motor skills kind of go out the window.
Sometimes I get sporadic random extreme tremors for no reason. I always have a top on my morning coffee so I don’t end up wearing it. about 2 weeks back I had one of these tremors while making my coffee but before the top was on, and this was the result.
As a result I’ve always steered clear of grafting.
Since I’ve now just discovered this very mature crabapple, I’m thinking I might try to get my hands on some scion wood for a few different cultivars of apple scion wood and attempt to graft them on some of the laterals or water spouts to see what I might be capable of. I’ve read apples are generally quite easy to graft so I thought this might be a good opportunity for me to practice
I was thinking of picking up one of these v top grafting tools and giving it a try. Would this be the easiest?
I have these. They start out ok. But increasing crushing of the wood with continued use. They are not easily sharped.
I have since adapted to razor shears. Which make wonderful long oblique cuts that are easy to tongue cut. My success rates are climbing. And in no way do I have steady hands after decades of heavy rotary hammer work.
They are basically use them until they start crushing the limb then throw them away and buy another one. I had one and it did the same thing, crushing the limb or scion wood. It happens.
I’ve read them all already. that’s how I found the tool I linked.
I believe that the main identifier is the blossoms appear to have multiple pistils, while a cherry has a single pistil. this is a close up of one of the flowers from the picture above.
Kind of expensive too.
I bought two other varieties similar but without the " blade" looking item on it. They do okay but I think it was my first time grafting and I had zero success. I believe it was what I did or did wrong that was the problem not the grafting tool.
The one shown that I said was crushing the wood was a waste of time and money to try and use. maybe someone else would have better luck with it. Not me.
The FunTeck Omega one is the one that crushes the wood, in my experience.
The ViaGasaFamido is more of what I have and does a better job of cutting scions and the branches.
The Zenport ZJ60M is the one that was close to $100 for the grafting tool. That was the one I said I thought was too expensive.
I believe I have a Zensport one that I only paid about $30-40 for. Not sure what the model is though. I only get that out in the early spring. Then back it goes in the tool drawer.
Same concept. Mine are a pair of older Craftsmen shears. I like them as the blade is easy to remove and I can sharpen it myself. Good ones are expensive like the pair you showed.
Look at A.M. Leonard. They have better brands there.
Mike, first off your trees very much appear to be apples.
I’d recommend going with something like a barn door style, or cutting them down and top working over a v-cut tool for this particular situation.
The v-cut is a decent option from a safety perspective in your case, although I did cut into my nail with mine one night so it’s not foolproof.
Definitely go for the zenport style tool over omega, they are less expensive on temu and aliexpress and the exact same thing as what is on Amazon for twice the price.
I will say I bought the 4T grafting tool from AM Leonard. I was quite disappointed. The tool is well made. But forget using it on most 1/4" or smaller diameters. The blades are too large.
I would say it would be excellent for top working older trees.
I’m not cutting the tree down and top working it . I’m not trying to make a very old and very large crabapple tree into just a apple tree.
I’m just looking to practice on some branches. Personally, I think I’m going to be absolutely terrible at grafting, but if I do it on individual branches, I can test out different methods until I find something I’m comfortable with. If I got a few takes, that would be ideal, but I’m not looking to destroy this existing tree that has somehow survived for many years on this property with zero care.
I don’t have multiple crabapple trees. I literally just have the one. The other few that are in the same space are wild black cherries. I thought they were all wild black cherries, but it turned out one was a crabapple.
That’s barn door. I’m not sure how comfortable you are with a knife, but if being removed from the sharp blade is the objective, top working would allow using a hatchet and a screwdriver to graft. There is a cherry top working video I saw somewhere on the forum that demonstrated what I was envisioning for you.
I’m actually pretty good with a knife when I have access to a place to rest my hands, wrists, or elbows.
Believe it or not, I actually have a collection of pocket knives. Between 40 and 50 of one specific brand that I like.
If I were to cut the crabapple tree down entirely then top work it, I would probably be fine with just using a knife. In fact, it would probably be better with a knife than with a screwdriver trying to remove the bark.
If I cut the tree down low I could basically just lay on the ground and rest my elbows down low and top work it there
Or I could cut it at roughly waist or even chest height and have easy access to top work it from a place of comfort
But if I screw up, I’m basically killing an entire tree that’s probably several decades old at the very least, and that’s just something I’m not willing to risk.
I envisioned using a v-cut tool like the one linked to have near unlimited practice on grafting Branch to branch, which is the type of grafting I really would like some practice with.
Even if I ended up screwing up every single branch that was within arm’s reach, I wouldn’t be killing the tree entirely, just giving it a a long overdue pruning LOL.
I do have a wild white mulberry that is maybe just a few years old that I do plan to cut down and top work with some girardi dwarf mulberry Scion wood when I get a chance. That will give me the opportunity to try that type of grafting
I have a flowering crab in my back yard 20+ years old. Beautiful red/pink blossoms… but tiny inedible fruits.
It is about 18 ft tall and wide.
I have successfully grafted onto limb tips high on the sunny south side… several limbertwigs, pristine and a couple of crabapples… trailman and chestnut.
But they dont grow much… only like 4-6 inches… and the second year still very little growth. Some have bloomed and set fruit… but the fruit did not really fully develop.
Hope you have better luck grafting to your crab than I have.
I have successfully grafted Pristine and trailman to my novamac, espellar on B9… and they grew well and produced nice size fruits.
I have also grafted chestnut, trailman and pristine to some 3 year old apples in my orchard on m7… and they grew well.
My older crab just seems to refuse to push the growth. I was hoping to turn it into a franken tree… but not much luck with that so far.
