More Grafting. Making Small Dwarf Columnar Apple Trees. 3.18.19

I decided to try grafting Northpole apple onto a more dwarfing rootstock. I like this apple for fresh eating, pies, and apple sauce. However, my tree is too vigorous.  I don't know what rootstock it is on, but I'm guessing it isnt very dwarfing.

I supect that the tables describing how dwarfing a rootstock is, are not quite appropriate for columnar trees.  I think the dwarfing effect may reduce total scion biomass, which would mean smaller conventional varieties compared to columnar types, which are sort of 1 or 2-dimensional, almost, compared to conventional variety's 3-dimensional shape.  I decided to try Bud-9 which is among the more dwarfing types.

My existing Northpole needed some corrective pruning, I removed all of the vigorous shoots, leaving flowering spurs in place.  That was fairly drastic.  We'll see if the tree blooms and produces this year.

Meanwhile, I selected shoot tips to graft onto Bud-9 rootstock, which I boight mail order from Burnt Ridge nursery.  I used whip-and-tongue grafting method, with 1/2 inch strips cut from freezer bags as the binder, then parafilm to wrap the rest of the graft to reduce the risk of dehydration.  I planted these in potting soil in 1/2 gallon nursery pots and watered well.