Hi Phil and Annie.
They are good questions.
And Phil, there is no such thing as ignorance, only unknowing.
This would be the process:
Suppose Phil is looking for the Rootpac-R rootstock, and Annie is looking Colt cherry rootstock (these are just examples).
Both find fruit trees at a good price in an online nursery , grafted onto the rootstock you are looking for.
You buy a tree each in winter bare root.
When the tree arrives in the middle of winter to your house with bare roots, you put the roots of the tree in a bucket with water so that it hydrates overnight.
You prepare the hole to plant the rootstock, in a corner of the garden where it does not get in the way, since it will be several years old (although it will not grow).
The next day, you will have to locate the grafting point and cut two or three centimeters below the grafting point and seal the cut with healing putty (pruning mastic, melted wax, or chewing gum hahahaha).
Now you each have a decapitated rootstock, which from now on we will call “mother plant”.
You plant the rootstock in the hole, so that the trunk only protrudes from the ground a few centimeters (15 centimeters more or less).
tread the earth well to prevent air from entering the roots, and apply a good watering, and after two or three days another good watering.
All this process is taking place in winter, when you receive the tree, and you will take care of it as if it were a fruit tree.
Spring will arrive, and the rootstock will emit its first shoots.
As it is very young and has been planted for a short time and is not yet vigorous, it is normal for it to emit two or three shoots, as the years go by it emits more and more regrowth each year.
It’s already spring and the shoots are growing (don’t be hasty), let them reach at least 20-25 centimeters high, and then we will proceed to make the layering (probably this will happen at the end of April, mid-May).
When the shoots are 20-25 centimeters high, you remove the lowest leaves of the stems, to promote apical growth and proceed to make the layering, that is, the cuts in the bark for the emission of roots.
Cuts in the bark will be made very close to the ground (as close to the ground as possible).
You will make two good wounds one in front of the other, eliminating a portion of the cambium, so that the wounds do not heal and emit roots.
I put an image of a air layering with a partial debarking.
You have to do the same, but since you will make two incisions one in front of the other, it is not necessary for the peeling to be as large as the one in the photo, but it is necessary to remove a portion of the cambium on each side.
Spray a little water on the cuts, so that the powdered hormones adhere well to the cuts made, and apply the powdered hormones with a small brush.
strangle with the wire as in the photo, below the incisions
So that the wire is firm, but not strangle (the scions will strangle on their own as they get fatter).
At this point , the auxins of the plant are concentrated favoring the emission of powerful roots.
Now you cover the scions with land of the orchard ( well covered with land , forming a mound ) , step on the soil and water .
From here, you have to look at the mounds from time to time, so that they always have some moisture.
The shoots will grow, and when they get bigger, you will pile up more land making the mound bigger and always keep the mound moist.
When winter arrives (February), you will remove the earth, the scions will have emitted roots, you cut them below the root (it is possible that you can break them without scissors due to the strangulation of the wire), and you plant them in the orchard in the suitable place to be grafted in spring.
It’s that easy.
If you have doubts, please ask me.
Regards
Jose
P.S.: Sorry for the bad English, but I was in a hurry and Google translate is quite a scoundrel.
