Apple Propagation. Some Experiments. 11.24.15

Apple graft removed from trunk of rootstock. 11.25.14

Apple sucker removed from trunk of rootstock.  11.25.14

 In March, I grafted a NOID apple from my yard, onto sprouts that had emanated from a culled Golden Delicious apple tree.  I don't know the rootstock - the tree was in the semidwarf range.  In 7 years, it gave no apples, and it had recurrent blight problems.  So I cut it down. 

This Spring, I saw sprouts that had grown up from the old rootstock.  I chose 2, and grafted a NOID columnar apple onto them.  The were 6 inches apart.  I thought, if only one grew, that was OK.  If both grew, I could cut off the smaller one.

Today, I dug out the smaller one.  These sprouts turned out to be attacked to the trunk, not more distant roots.  It was difficult to remove the grafted sprout with any intact roots.

It will be interesting to see if, in removing this one, I killed the other one.  It was more distal, so the taller one may have lost its main roots.  I did not dig further to find out.  It seems fairly attached to something in the soil.

There was also a small sprout.  I was not gentle, did not mean to keep it.  It looks viable, so I'll give it a try.

I have seen apples and peaches with this few roots survive and grow.  They are almost like a big cutting, but with a few roots already growing.  The most difficult part with cuttings is getting through the stage of initiating roots.  Once the first roots grow, they serve as the start for many roots.

Apple experiments, potted up.  11.25.14

These are now potted up.  I'll try not to expose them to too severe of a freeze.  They may take a while to grow.  If the rootstock heals and grows, I can use it for future grafting.