Pittsburgh Permaculture

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A utility knife was my primary tool, however, my blade was brand new and sprayed with a bleach/water solution.

A very technical diagram of how I cut the receiving tree and the scion for the graft.

Black electrical tape serves to hold the graft union together and resist moisture loss through the open wound.

The Gala scion grafted to the McIntosh tree as it was in late March.

The graft as it is now in May, about a month and a half later. You can see the buds breaking and new leaves forming.

To scroll through the slideshow click next above the picture.

So… last year we bought a McIntosh apple and promptly filled up the rest of the yard to the point that we didn’t feel like we had enough space for another semi-dwarf tree, nor do we need that many apples. The problem is that apples need a different variety nearby in order to set their best fruit and we aren’t sure if there are any other apples or crab apples that would be close enough to do the job (sweet cherries, pears and others have similar needs).

The solution?…… Two varieties on a single tree! Continue reading The Art of the Homemade Graft