Starting Your Own Fruit Trees
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Article by: Thomas Leo Ogren *Note: This article first appeared in Grandiflora Magazine. Starting Your Own Fruit Trees , Growing manual for the production of Sandersonia cut flowers. Thomas Ogren I flat , Tips for choosing a landscaping firm out love growing , Preformed Watercourse and Waterfall Ideas fruit trees , Older homes benefit most from energy efficiency incentive and have been crazy about them all my life. Or at least, as much of my life as I can remember. Actually, the very first thing I can clearly recall involved fruit trees. , Increase Curb Appeal With Flowering Shrubs and Bushes I was about three, possibly four years old. It was a warm, lazy spring , Red Roses If I Love You, Yellow If I Don't: The Secret Language of Flowers weekend and my older sisters were gone somewhere with my mom, but my dad was home, , Be safe on your Ladder! working in the garage. , Japanese Garden Design: The Practical Use of Stones and Boulders I wasn't allowed to cross the street by myself, but down the block, across the street, was a beautiful , How To Analyze Any Property In Less Than One Minute Flat! pineapple guava tree , The Importance of Kitchen Design in Kitchen Remodeling growing in the middle of some grouchy old man's lawn. , Hillside Landscaping - Properly Watering Hillside And Sloped Landscapes The tree , Increase Curb Appeal With Flowering Shrubs and Bushes had a huge crop of large, green, , Design Your Own Rose Garden totally delicious fruit, , Hillside Landscaping - Properly Watering Hillside And Sloped Landscapes but the owner wouldn't let any of us kids pick guavas from his tree, , 5 Steps to Protecting Your Hardwood Floor From Disaster much less climb it. He claimed that we would break the branches. He would however let us have fruit , Wind Chimes Go Great With Gardening that fell on the ground, but these guavas were generally too soft and mushy. That day I walked down the street by all by myself, seeing no adults or even any other kids around. I looked at that tree , How to Do Indoor Gardening and dashed across the street. The old man was nowhere around and I climbed up his guava tree , How To Analyze Any Property In Less Than One Minute Flat! and started stuffing big, fat guavas in all my pockets. I picked as many as my pockets could hold and climbing back down I did indeed break a few small branches. Looking both ways (of course!) I ran back across the street with my loot. Back at home , Plants and Trees Native to Bridgeton Township Pa. I found my dad still in the garage , Overwintering Ponds and I showed him my stash, expecting him to yell at me for crossing the street. But dad never did make the connection and thus my first episode of crime was all in all, a total success. Some fifty years later I now have five guava trees , Gardening - Lawn Maintenance Chores Part I growing in my own yard, , How To Replace Lawn Mower Tires all grown from seed. , Ten Ways People Hurt Themselves With A Lawn Mower I also have many other fruit trees, , Be safe on your Ladder! all of them homegrown ones. Fruit From Cuttings Some fruit , Mosquitoes in your yard? Try planting these. is so easy to propagate I always wonder why everyone doesn't try it. Grapes, figs, mulberries, and pomegranates are all easy to grow , Selecting The Right Bonsai Pots Is Very Important from directly-stuck cuttings. I cut off a piece of dormant wood, , Top 5 New Plants for Your Garden 12-18 inches long, and I bury almost all of it in the ground where I want it to grow. , Why It's Important to Get Pre-Approved I leave at least one good bud , How to Do Indoor Gardening above ground. Sometimes to insure a better take, I'll stick five or six such cuttings in the same spot. If they all grow, , Selecting The Right Bonsai Pots Is Very Important then the next winter , Why It's Important to Get Pre-Approved I dig up the extra ones and give them to friends. I use cutting wood , A Great Shrubs For Doylestown - The Burning Bush that grew last year and find that wood , Arbor Swings - Which arbor is right for you? that is about pencil thickness or somewhat thicker roots , Red Roses If I Love You, Yellow If I Don't: The Secret Language of Flowers the best. I recently accidentally discovered a way to get plum wood , Blue Spruce Trees -Not a Good Choice in Horsham Pa. to root , Blue Spruce Trees -Not a Good Choice in Horsham Pa. for me. I used a long whip of plum branch (dormant wood) as a stake in a one gallon pot , A Great Shrubs For Doylestown - The Burning Bush of some fancy gold heart ivy. To my surprise the plum wood , Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) rooted and started to grow , Arbor Swings - Which arbor is right for you? the next spring. , Arbor Swings - Which arbor is right for you? I now do this on purpose, using plum wood , The 10 Most Important Rules of Choosing and Dealing With a that is from last year's vigorous growth. I select plum whips 2 to 3 foot long, with no branching on them, and stick each one all the way down into the center of a gallon pot , Growing Great Tomatoes of some well-rooted perennial flowers , Have you been looking for the latest opinion regarding bathr or herbs. , Growing manual for the production of Sandersonia cut flowers. A surprising number of these plums grow, , Japanese Garden Design: The Practical Use of Stones and Boulders and since they are "on their own root, , Easy to grow roses " they don't need to be budded or grafted. Try it. From Seed I have a spot in my backyard , Blue Spruce Trees -Not a Good Choice in Horsham Pa. next to my compost , Water Pond Wildlife - How To Attract More Animals to Your Backyard heap, and here I toss any and all old pits from plums, apricots, peaches, and nectarines. I toss apple and pear seeds , The 10 Most Important Rules of Choosing and Dealing With a in here too. At the end of the summer , Easy to grow roses I shake an inch or so of old compost , COMPUTER COURTESY over the area and see what grows. , Preformed Watercourse and Waterfall Ideas Since I do this every year, I always have a ready supply of seedlings each year. In the winter , Replace the White Birch With River Birches In The Furlong Pa. Area months, or in the very early spring , Have you been looking for the latest opinion regarding bathr months if you live in a zone 4-7 area, dig up some of these year-old seedlings, bare root, , Design Your Own Rose Garden and pot , Japanese Garden Design: The Practical Use of Stones and Boulders them up one to each one gallon pot. , Finding The Right Rug! I use a 50-50 mix of potting soil , Ten Ways People Hurt Themselves With A Lawn Mower and garden , COMPUTER COURTESY dirt. I then water , Preformed course and Waterfall Ideas the pots, , Building A Foot Bridge set the potted seedling on a table, clip off most of the top, leaving 4-6 inches of trunk above ground, and then cleft graft the seedling. Cleft grafting is, I think, the easiest method and it works well with apricot, peach, plum, nectarine, quince, apples and pears. I use a thin bladed knife and tap it (tapping the back of the knife blade with a small hammer or a piece of wood) directly into the center of the cut seedling, going down only about one inch. I cut scion wood , Replace the White Birch With River Birches In The Furlong Pa. Area (whatever you want to convert your seedling to) that is from last year's growth. I like to use scion wood , Red Roses If I Love You, Yellow If I Don't: The Secret Language of Flowers that has a diameter that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the seedling I'm going to graft it to. The grafts, or scions, should be about 3 to 4 inches long and each should have several good, dormant buds. , Love to garden but short on money? Her?’s 10 money saving ideas. The scions can be cut to shape with a sharp pocketknife. Try to get your scions cut smoothly, with a gradual taper. The scions are then tapped into place , How to Do Indoor Gardening in the split seedling (the rootstock), making sure that the cambiums of both scion and rootstock match on at least one side. The cambium is the thin green , Plan for Winter Plantings layer of wood , Replace the White Birch With River Birches In The Easton Pa. Area that is just inside , The 10 Most Important Rules of Choosing and Dealing With a the outer bark. To keep your work from drying out, cover the entire finished graft with a thick coating of grafting tar or grafting wax. I also put a dab of the tar or wax directly on the exposed cut tip , Blue Spruce Trees -Not a Good Choice in Horsham Pa. of the scion. Be careful as you do this, not to knock the scion out of contact with the rootstock cambium. Now, unless a kid, bird, , Building A Foot Bridge or a cat bangs into this graft and knocks the scion askew, if you did it right, come springtime the scion will sprout and grow. , Selecting The Right Bonsai Pots Is Very Important Voila! You've got a grafted fruit tree. , Easy to grow roses You can graft peach onto almond, apricot, plum, peach or nectarine rootstock, and visa versa. For sandy soils , The Importance of Kitchen Design in Kitchen Remodeling peach or nectarine make the best rootstocks, but for heavy clay soils, , Plants and Trees Native to Bridgeton Township Pa. plum is by far the best. Apples can be grafted on apple seedlings, as can pears. Pear can also be grafted on apple stock. If so inclined, scion wood , Ten Ways People Hurt Themselves With A Lawn Mower from quince can also be grafted onto apple or pear. An apple or pear grafted onto a quince rootstock will be a dwarfed tree. , How to Do Indoor Gardening If your soil , Seven Ways to Emphasize a Decor Style is clay, a pear rootstock grows , Finding The Right Rug! best. If sandy or loamy, apple is preferred. I grow , Have you been looking for the latest opinion regarding bathr these new fruit trees , How To Analyze Any Property In Less Than One Minute Flat! on in the gallon pots , Replace the White Birch With River Birches In The Furlong Pa. Area for a year, making sure to cut off any sucker wood , Japanese Garden Design: The Practical Use of Stones and Boulders that arises from below the graft. Keep them well fertilized and watered and they will often grow , Building A Foot Bridge 3-5 feet in one summer's time. The next year either plant , Rosemary: The Herb of Remembrance and Friendship them or give them away to friends. If you have a potted fruit tree , Japanese Garden Design: The Practical Use of Stones and Boulders seedling where the graft fails to take, simply cut off the unsuccessful grafted part. You can re-graft it the next dormant season. , Sealing a Deck If you have year old seedlings left in the ground that you won't get around to digging and grafting, consider chopping them off just above the ground in the late fall. , Overwintering Ponds The next spring , How to Do Indoor Gardening these seedlings will grow , Love to garden but short on money? Her?’s 10 money saving ideas. up with multiple trunks. The next winter , Older homes benefit most from energy efficiency incentive dig your second-year seedlings with multiple trunks, thin them back to the strongest 2 or 3 stems, and then cleft graft each of the stems to something different. I have made many three-in-one trees , Red Roses If I Love You, Yellow If I Don't: The Secret Language of Flowers this way, part plum, part apricot, and part nectarine. These make extra nice presents. You can of course just as easily graft each branch to a different cultivar of the same species, such as three different kinds of plum on the same rootstock. A tree , Planning, Creating & Maintaining Rock Gardens like this is often very fruitful, since it will cross-pollinate itself. Budding Just a little here on budding. In zones 3-8 most budding is done in May,. June or early July. The easiest method is shield budding. A T cut is made on the rootstock stem, cutting through the outer bark and the cambium, down to the hardwood.. Next you cut a thin, shield-shaped slice of wood , Part I: Home Buyer Terms and Definitions (from scion wood , Replace the White Birch With River Birches In The Easton Pa. Area of the cultivar you wish to bud), containing one dormant bud. , Part I: Home Buyer Terms and Definitions This shield will be about 3/4th of an inch long. This bud , Easy to grow roses is then inserted in the T cut under the bark of the seedling rootstock. I use thin, clear plastic , Plants and Trees Native to Bridgeton Township Pa. tie tape to wrap the bud , Plan for Winter Plantings up tightly. I will sometimes cut a tiny slice in the middle of the tape and wrap the tape over the tip , Water Pond Wildlife - How To Attract More Animals to Your Backyard of the bud , Wind Chimes Go Great With Gardening itself, which should just peak out of the sliced portion of the tape. The tape serves to keep the bud , Be safe on your Ladder! in close contact with the rootstock and also to keep the bud , How To Keep Your Plants In Bloom With Dead-Heading graft from drying out. Keep an eye on the budded stem for several weeks and by then if the bud , Email Marketing Is Alive And Well and the shield are still plump and green, , Planning, Creating & Maintaining Rock Gardens consider it a take. Cut off the rest of the stem half an inch above the new bud , Have you been looking for the latest opinion regarding bathr graft, and this will force the new bud. , Replace the White Birch With River Birches In The Furlong Pa. Area Budding is not quite as easy to do as grafting, at least not at first. It has several advantages though. You can bud , Hillside Landscaping - Properly Watering Hillside And Sloped Landscapes when the weather , Hillside Landscaping - Properly Watering Hillside And Sloped Landscapes is nice and if the bud , Design Your Own Rose Garden doesn't take, you can try it all over again in a different spot. Budding is easiest on thicker rootstocks. I find that for me I have the best luck budding roses, , A Great Shrubs For Doylestown - The Burning Bush apples, pears and apricots. Plums can be a little trickier. Cherries, by the way, are considerably more difficult to graft and bud , Growing manual for the production of Sandersonia cut flowers. than are the other stone , Overwintering Ponds fruits. If you are lucky enough to know an old gardener who knows how to , Growing manual for the production of Sandersonia cut flowers. graft, ask him or her to show you how to , Do Indoor Gardening cut your scions. A little practice always helps as does a sharp knife. There are many books with drawings of cleft grafts and these too can be used as guides. It may sound a tad snobby, but once you can graft your own fruit trees, , Water Pond Wildlife - How To Attract More Animals to Your Backyard you join a rather select group. Almost all gardeners know what grafting is, but not that many actually know how to , Seven Ways to Emphasize a Decor Style do it right. One last thought: cleft grafting is also easy to do on existing dormant fruit trees. , Gardening - Lawn Maintenance Chores Part I There is no reason you can't graft some different varieties on each of your trees. , Easy to grow roses I have an apple tree , Tips for choosing a landscaping firm with about a dozen kinds of apples on it and a pear tree , Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) that has five kinds of pear, plus quince and apple growing , Bare Root Roses on it. I also have almonds growing , Selecting The Right Bonsai Pots Is Very Important on one branch of a plum tree, , Gardening - Lawn Maintenance Chores Part I four kinds of plums on another tree, , The Importance of Kitchen Design in Kitchen Remodeling and both plum and nectarine on the apricot tree , Part I: Home Buyer Terms and Definitions in my front yard. , Wind Chimes Go Great With Gardening I have five kinds of roses , How to Do Indoor Gardening budded on the climbing rose , Love to garden but short on money? Her?’s 10 money saving ideas. that grows , Have you been looking for the latest opinion regarding bathr on my front porch. , Gardening - Lawn Maintenance Chores Part I I guess my plants , A Great Shrubs For Doylestown - The Burning Bush are all mixed up, but then, what can you expect from an old guava thief? Tom Ogren is the author of Allergy-Free Gardening, , Bare Root Roses and, Safe , Gardening - Lawn Maintenance Chores Part I Sex in the Garden, , Sealing a Deck both by Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, California. About the Author Tom Ogren's newest book, 2004, is, What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing , Email Marketing Is Alive And Well the Perfect Lawn, , Plan for Winter Plantings from Time Warner Books. |
  
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