How to plant an apple tree in summer, spring and autumn with fresh cuttings for beginners step by step

When there is little space in the garden, but you want different varieties of apples to grow in it, you can solve this problem by grafting. Also, this procedure helps to improve the variety and create a tree that is resistant to diseases and temperature extremes. A competent gardener knows how to graft an apple tree in order to get the desired result faster.

Why you need to graft an apple tree

Every gardener has his own reasons for grafting an apple tree. Here are the most common:

1. To grow several varieties of apples on one tree. This is especially true when there is little space in the backyard or garden.
2. To keep the grade. It happens that somewhere near the house an old apple tree grows, and its life is coming to an end or it has been damaged by pests. In order not to lose this variety, it is grafted onto a suitable stock.
3. To improve the hardiness of the tree. To do this, cultivated tender varieties are grafted onto more hardy wild varieties with a good root system. This will allow the tree to better tolerate frost and drought. There will also be fewer problems with pests.
4. In order not to take seedlings somewhere, but to grow them ourselves. It takes several years to get a sample from a tree. And if the variety is not what you wanted, time will be lost. It is more profitable to plant the variety that you need yourself.
5. Some growers graft for fun, as a hobby.
6. Also, without vaccination, you cannot grow a dwarf apple tree.

A grafted tree will always retain the varietal qualities of the scion. If you graft early varieties onto late game, the result is an early variety, not the other way around. The stock is needed only for the root system.

How to tell if a tree is ready to be grafted

To get a good result from grafting, you need to know if the tree is ready for such a procedure. There are some simple rules for rootstock:

1. The tree must be at least three years old, with a well-developed root system.
2. It should be strong, without damage or signs of disease.
3. Vaccination is best done during active sap flow. At this time, the bark of the trees is moist, elastic. It can be easily removed from the tree. If the bark is removed poorly, then the sap flow has not yet begun, and the grafted cutting may not take root.

If a mature perennial tree is used as a rootstock, it must be cleaned of damaged old branches and the cut points carefully processed. To do this, you can use special tools, paint or ordinary lime. This will prevent infection and close access for small pests.

Required tools and materials

Grafting a tree can be compared to a surgical operation, so there are a number of requirements for tools:

1. The main tool for grafting is a garden knife. It must be very sharp in order to minimally injure the tree. It also needs to be treated with a disinfectant. For this, ordinary alcohol or an alcohol-containing agent is suitable. You can use peroxide or iodine.
2. Secateurs. It is used when you need to clear a tree of unnecessary shoots.
3. A garden saw is used to clear larger branches.
4. Banding material. For this, ordinary adhesive tape, electrical tape, twine, a piece of film may be suitable. It is important that the material is durable and fits well.
5. Material for covering wounds. If it is not used, the quality of the vaccine deteriorates significantly and nothing may work out. To do this, use garden pitch, paint, special putty or ordinary plasticine. The main purpose of the putty is to close off the air to the wounds and prevent infection.

The success of the vaccination depends on the quality of the inventory by 50%. Violations in this area are not allowed.

Apple tree grafting dates

There are several dates when you can plant an apple tree. But the best ones are still in early spring, when the sap flow began.

Spring

The best time to graft an apple tree is when nature awakens from hibernation. When the frosts receded, and the sun began to warm, all plants begin to grow rapidly.

During this period, the scion takes root best. He has no shortage of food, because he gets everything he needs from the juice of the rootstock.

All this happens in March-April, depending on the region. At this time, it is better to do cuttings. Budding is done a little later, in early May.

Summer

Summer vaccination is done in the middle or end of August, depending on the region. At this time, the period of the second sap flow in the trees begins. In the northern regions, this happens in July.

At this time, it is better to use a dormant bud for grafting. It takes root better than cuttings, as it requires less nutrition. It is better to take the kidneys fresh - immediately after cutting from the tree, transfer to the stock.

Autumn

Autumn budding occurs at the end of September - beginning of October, subject to warm weather. If the daytime temperature drops below 15 degrees, it is risky to vaccinate, it may not take root.

In autumn it is better to use methods under the bark or in splitting. And do it on young trees. Mature trees do not like fall disturbance and can get sick.

Vaccination Methods

For a long time, many ways of grafting trees have been known. A stalk or a kidney is used as a scion. It can be taken sleeping or sprouting.

Vaccination is done behind the bark, in a split, with a bridge, by the method of copulation, budding and others. For beginner gardeners, it is better to try cuttings in a split or budding. Let's take a closer look at the most common methods.

Bud and cuttings

Grafting with a kidney is called budding, and with a cutting - copulation. The material for the procedure is prepared in advance and stored in a cold place, or collected immediately before work.

Grafting with a bud can be done in early spring or autumn after the leaves have fallen. The cuttings are harvested in the fall and used in the spring. If the grafted cutting is covered with green shoots in summer, they must be removed, leaving the strongest.

Split

This method is quite simple and effective. You can use one cutting or up to four at the same time.

Gives a good result when regrafting of an apple tree is required. For example, when a grafted apple tree grew up, gave a test, but the fruits were not as expected. In this case, you can cut off the branches and plant another variety at the place of saw cut.

Made on trees where the thickness of the branches does not exceed 5 cm in diameter, and their age is no more than 6 years. The vaccination is done as follows:

1. Carefully cut down the branch at the place where the procedure will be performed. Tools must be disinfected before work.
2. With a sharp knife, split the cut in half. If you plan to pin 4 cuttings at once and the thickness of the saw cut allows, the split is done crosswise.
3. To prevent the wood from closing, a small peg is first inserted into the split.
4. The cutting from below is carefully cut into a wedge and inserted into the split so that it fits snugly. It is important that the cambium layer on the cutting matches the cambium on the rootstock.
5. The rootstock branch or stump is tightly tied with a garter so that the split is pinched as much as possible.
6. Then, all places where there is no bark are carefully smeared with any material prepared for this.

If one cutting is grafted, it should be slightly thinner than the rootstock. But if more is grafted, they need to be taken thinner so that they fit well and feel comfortable. When placing the cuttings, you need to monitor the alignment of the cambium.

First, one split is expanded and two cuttings are inserted on the sides. Then the wedge is moved to the second split and two other cuttings are inserted.

Eye budding

To conduct budding with a kidney, you first need to determine the place of vaccination. It can be a place under a branch or on a tree trunk. To do this, you need to carry out the following actions:

1. Cut out a bud from a suitable tree along with a small piece of bark.
2. In the place where the vaccination is supposed to be, cut the bark in the shape of the letter T.
3. Then it is gently pushed apart and the cut out eyelet is inserted. The borders of the cambium must match.
4. The bark is pressed and bandaged with a dressing. For these purposes, electrical tape or adhesive tape is best.

You can't remove the bandage during the summer, but you need to make sure that it does not pinch the tree and loosen it if necessary.

The method is good because it saves planting material.

Grafting pruners

Currently, there are special secateurs that allow you to properly cut cuttings for this job. Here's how to do it step by step:

1. A fresh or pre-prepared cutting is taken.
2. Secateurs cut off the tip.
3. Then the branch is cut where the vaccination will be carried out. It is important that the thickness of the material match.
4. The stalk is inserted into the cut and tightly wrapped with adhesive tape.

The work is very easy and convenient, but the reviews about this method are more negative, the survival rate is low.

Bridge

This method allows you to save a tree in the event that its bark is badly damaged, and it may die. Graft the cuttings to the trunk to restore the canals.

If damage was found, it must be urgently processed and covered with garden pitch. So it can hold out until the next sap flow. Before it starts, you need to make bridges from the cuttings through which the juice will flow to the crown of the tree.

Do the following:

1. Prepare cuttings, slightly longer than the wounds on the tree.
2. Clean the putty off the wood and trim the edges of the wound.
3. Under the wound and above it, cut the bark in the shape of the letter T.
4. Remove the buds from the cuttings and cut the ends with an oblique cut.
5. Insert the ends of the cuttings under the bark of the tree from the underside. It is important that the cuttings are placed correctly, not upside down, so that the juice moves up.
6. Tie the tree at the place of the cuts, pressing the cuttings tightly.
7. Insert the top ends under the bark.
8. Tie the top of the tree.

If everything is done correctly, the tree can still live for several years and make it possible to graft it onto another tree.

For the bark

This is one of the easiest and most effective methods to graft an apple tree cutting into place. Cuttings of young trees or from fresh annual shoots are used. It is carried out in the following way:

1. Choose a place to work. It can be a sawn central trunk, a stump or a thick branch. The main thing is to have a he althy elastic bark.
2. The edge of the bark is cut with a cut from top to bottom by 4-5 cm. The bark is cut to wood.
3. The cutting is prepared in advance, but the cut is made immediately before the procedure. Cut off the end with an oblique cut, four times the diameter of the handle.
4. The cutting is inserted behind the bark, but not to the full depth of the cut, it should be 2 mm higher than the cut.
5. Wrap the trunk or branch tightly around the place where the cutting is inserted.
6. Cover open areas with var.

This method allows grafting on trees of various thicknesses and ages. You can put several cuttings at once, but then leave the strongest.

Selection of scion and rootstock

Cultivars are usually grafted into wild game. But options are possible when a certain variety is grafted onto a seedling of the same variety.

The graft is chosen from the fruit tree of the variety you like. The tree must be he althy and produce good yields. If there is a suspicion that it is sick, it is necessary to treat it during the summer.

Cuttings are best prepared in the fall and stored until spring. They are cut with a sharp knife at a distance of 30-40 cm from the edge, they should have at least 3-4 buds. The cut is made oblique, and its diameter should be greater than the diameter of the cutting itself.Then the cut point is treated with garden pitch or other putty and taken out for storage. They store cuttings in the basement, but you need to make sure that they do not start growing. It is better to prepare them with a margin, so that in the spring you can choose those that have wintered better. They must be clean and free of stains.

As a rootstock for an apple tree, it is better to use a wild young apple tree or a cultivar seedling. You can graft on an old tree if you need to update it. It is important that the rootstock is he althy, without signs of disease, without violating the integrity of the bark.

Apple tree can also be grafted onto pear, rowan, quince and hawthorn. But this may affect the result and such a tree will not live long. In addition, with such a relationship, the quality of the fruit may deteriorate. They may become small and not as tasty.

Features in different regions

Different climatic regions have their own characteristics.

Spring vaccination in the southern regions is done two weeks earlier than in the northern latitudes. There you can start budding as early as March, while in colder places the time is pushed back to mid-April - early May.

Summer budding in the northern regions is done earlier than in the south. It is held from mid-July to early August, while in the southern regions it can be held until mid-September.

Autumn vaccination is not performed in northern latitudes. Due to early frosts, the graft dies. You can take a chance and wrap the tree well. But the chances are very small and it is better not to injure the tree once again, but to postpone the procedure to spring.

Possible mistakes beginner gardeners

Beginner gardeners may not know many subtleties and make mistakes when grafting an apple tree. This leads to failure and wasted time. Here are some reasons why it might fail:

1. An infection has been introduced into the place of budding. It could be brought in with dirty tools or hands, touching the cut points.
2. Incorrectly calculated the timing of the procedure.
3. The cuttings were harvested correctly, but were stored in a warm place and began to grow prematurely, or began to dry.
4. Cambium layers misaligned or shifted.
5. Poor quality putty with harmful impurities was used.
6. Insulation was not carried out for the winter.

Some gardeners wrap the place of the procedure in a film, forgetting to leave air access. In the heat, this leads to steaming and death of the scion. The rootstock can also suffer from this.

Apple tree care after vaccination

To be successful, the correct procedure is not enough. The tree needs to be looked after, otherwise the scion may not have time to get stronger and dry out over time. Care is as follows:

1. It is important to ensure that the cutting has enough moisture. If the summer is dry, the grafting site can be wrapped in a film, after pouring a little earth between the wood and the film. It needs to be moistened regularly as it dries.
2. In order for the stalk not to be broken by birds or the wind, it needs to be protected. Cover with a paper bag or tie to a peg.
3. For the winter, the scion is wrapped in burlap so that it does not die from frost.
4. You need to watch the dressing. It must be borne in mind that the tree grows, and the dense dressing material squeezes it. If this occurs, the dressing should be loosened regularly. When the inoculation site is completely healed, the dressing is completely removed.
5. A grafted apple tree will produce many new wild shoots. They need to be cleaned regularly, they weaken the tree.

Otherwise, the care is the same as for an ordinary fruit tree - top dressing, watering, removing weeds and loosening the soil.

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