This was only my second attempt at apple grafting. Last time was 2 years ago and none of them took. Basically I didn’t know what I was doing. However, thanks to growingfruit.org and all the helpful folks here I’m feeling much more confident about my chances for success. If these work out, I plan to try more in the future. Who am I kidding, I’ll probably try again even if they don’t. Thank you to @JesseS for the Roxbury Russet scions…
All of the wood was about a pencil in diameter and cut so there were two buds per piece. I used the whip and tongue, wrapping them up tight with electrical tap and sealing with tanglefoot…I grafter on piece of the Roxbury Russet onto each of my trees, 2 Dorsett Golden, Gala, Big River and Joys. These are all low chill warm weather trees so it will be interesting to see how the Roxbury respond.
grafts were done about two weeks ago. Here’s how they look today…While I’m not sure how they’ll pan out in hot humid Florida, I figured it was worth a try.
Your grafts will almost surely take, but low chill varieties don’t play well with others, especially Dorsett Golden. It will sprout and grow vigorously months before Roxbury wakes up, sucking all the energy. The Roxbury branch will remain about that diameter while the Dorsett branches are as thick as broom handles.
High chill varieties need their own rootstocks in warm climates, I recommend M111. You should try some more disease-resistant varieties like Arkansas Black, GoldRush, or Hunge.
These days, I stop using grafting seal because it’s not necessary. After I wrap the grafting union tightly with paraflim and Temflex or green garden tape on top, it is tight enough that sealing is not needed. I do cover/seal the exposed end of the scion with parafilm.
You probably have quite a bit more grafting experience under your belt…maybe when I get to that point I’ll try it without…in the meantime I’ll be thrilled if these take…
I usually just smear a dab of toilette wax on the end of my graft to seal it, seems to work well. Those look good btw, mine arent that clean looking, but usually take off just fine.
Most of my trees are relatively young so no top work needed. I did top work once a couple of years ago. I used Dr. Farwell grafting seal. Still have half a container left.
Jeremy’s graft in the pic is pretty much what I have done these past two years.
That’s some serious growth! I assume all 6 grafts took? Did you pinch them as they started to grow? Looks like many more than just 6 branches…what was the original stump ?
All of them took. However, I forgot to tell the guy I did it for to loosen the name tag wires as the grafts grow and one got pinched and snapped in a storm. No worries, since fortunately there was another of that variety that I had grafted (I think it was Pristine). I think the guy said the tree is around 25 years old. He hated to kill it, but it never produced good tasting apples. They were always bitter. He wasn’t sure what they were, but it wasn’t what was advertised. He was surprised when he heard from another friend about the grafting work I did over his crab apple. This pictured was my 1st professional graft, and the guy couldn’t be happier. In fact, he wants me to graft some Granny Smith and Honeycrisp on it in the spring.
