Grafting Apple Trees

This is every thing you need to graft apple trees; root stock, a twig from the variety you want, a razor sharp knife and some rubber electrical tape. There are many ways to graft trees but this is the easy ,beginner graft. Here's what I do. First make a clean flat cut completely through the root stock about 3-4 inches above the highest roots. Now split the top of the root stock down about 1/2 inch. Take your graft stock and make two long cuts through the stock to form a long tapered wedge. Push this wedge down into the split you made in the root stock. The cambium layer,or inner layer of the bark on each piece must make contact. If they do not match up with each other the graft will fail. In a case like mine where the root stock is larger in diameter than the grafting stock the graft is made with the grafting stock to one edge of the root stock to get that contact of the cambium layer. Next the graft is tightly wrapped with a 3-4 inch long piece of the rubber tape. This will pull the split tightly against the graft wedge as well as sealing the cut and preventing it from drying out. It needs to be rubber tape because that will break down when exposed to sunlight for several months and prevent your new graft from being girdled by the tape.You could use grafting wax which will seal the graft but that does not hold it together tightly like the tape.

Here you can see the split and how the graft stock is to the side so that the cambium layers line up. All of this root stock was purchased from a nursery. The grafting stock is all from trees in our orchard.This grafting stock will produce semi-dwarf trees that are hardy in our zone 3 climate. The new varieties at the nursery are generally patented and growing your own grafts from those would be infringing on the patent.Old heirloom varieties or volunteer trees you sometimes find are fair game. This is a handy graft if a tree you have planted dies but sends up shoots from the roots. Just cut the new shoots off near the ground and graft something back on.