[denmylne]

for all those interested, the pear rootstock arrived in fife in fife today
ill be home on monday and will start grafting next week

[deepinthewoods]

have fun

any chance of doing a grafting 'how to' for us amateurs here on tas?

[clydesdaleclopper]

that's a good idea

[denmylne]

1. cut the top off a rootstock, or any branch of a fruit tree
2. with a knife cut into the branch/rootstock lengthways, as if you were filleting a haddock, or cutting a french baggette in half..just over 1 inch
*** use a clean stanley blade, i use a tea light or alcohol to clean the blade between each tree***
3. Take scion, about 6 inches, and sharpen it, like a pencil, only flat on both sides, like a chisel 
***if you look at any fruit tree, you can see the growth from last year on the tips of the branches, not only is the bark cleaner and brighter, you can also see the point at which it was cut the year before, it is this new growth of branch whiich is used as scion material****
4. Stick chisel end of sharpened stick into the split in the rootstock or branch,
5. Cut  1/2 inch strips of a plastic bag 5 inches long and wrap it round the graft to close the cleft onto the chisel end of the scion.      jobs a good un

**If you look at any newly cut branch, you will see on the outside, the bark, on the inside the white wood, between the 2 is a thin layer of green wood, The cambium, grafting is an attempt to match up the cambium of the scion and the receiving branch, you can slightly offset the scion wood in the cleft of the receiving wood to increase the surface area of cambium between the 2 which matches up. preferably, you would like scion wood and receiving branches which are of the same diameter, but this isnt always possible, in this case, line up the scion with only one side of the receiving branch

alternatively, type in cleft graft into google for diagrams and a better description

actually, the victorians used to graft entire trees onto tree stumps, with diameters of over 2 feet, by hollowing out the base of the tree and rounding the stump??

[denmylne]

ps
wrt grafting entire trees, better start with many small attempts

[denmylne]

Alternatively
contact a local orchard group near you, they will probably be grafting trees in the next couple of weeks

[JEP]

looking at doing some grafting were did you
get your rootstock from been looking
round
 

[denmylne]

i bought mine from a wholesale outlet in england, although the rootstock was probably grown in holland or belgium
rule of thumb, the more you buy, the less the individual Rootstock costs, i pay about 98p per rootstock

pm me if you want further details

[Big Light]

Denmylne, thanks for an excellent morning grafting and chatting.
Pretty straight forward once you pointed me in the right direction and a very economic way to get  fruit trees for the small holding.
 Thanks for all the scions and rootstock, hopefully we might managed to save/preserve a few species whist literally enjoying the fruits of our labour in future years.
Well worth a visit for any TAS members who want to learn about heritage fruit trees and learn a new skill also
thanks
BL