Once you learn how to graft a multi-variety apple tree, you can apply the same concept to other fruit trees like those of pears, cherries and peaches. You might even start skipping the produce section at the grocery store since you'll have all the fruit you need right on your property!

Step 1: Materials

• Rootstock, or an existing apple tree from a nursery, or in the ground already.
• Scions of the apple varieties you want to add
• Sharp pruners or a fine toothed saw. Pruners work fine for smaller grafts (< 1cm). Saws are best for larger diameter grafts.Pruners and saws must be sharp or they will crush and shred the cambium.
• A knife, with a thin, straight blade. OR
• A grafting tool.
• Some also cut “chip” grafts.
• Materials to wrap the graft. preferably something non-stick, and stretchy. Here are some options: Parafilm, Rubber splicing tape.
• Grafting sealer or wax (optional)
• Tags for labeling the grafts.
• Gloves.
• A spray bottle of rubbing alcohol to sterilize your tools or a bottle and a clean cloth.
• A first aid kit.

Step 2: Find Scions and Rootstock.

SCIONS (scionwood)

A scion is a young twig, cut from a tree. This can be grafted onto rootstock, and will grow into a tree or branch and produce fruit. Scions are cut during winter, when the tree is dormant, and kept refrigerated and wrapped in plastic bags to keep them from drying out. They are usually grafted in early spring, just as the buds begin to open.

Where to find Scions

When starting out, it's probably easiest to buy scions. Do a quick search for “apple scionwood” and you'll find lots of sources online. They are usually about $5 each.

ROOTSTOCK

Rootstock is the trunk and roots that you graft the scion onto. The roots influence the growth of the rest of the tree, including it's size, growth rate, and fruit production.

Where to find rootstock

You can buy rootstock and graft onto it, or buy a young tree that is already grafted onto rootstock, and add more varieties onto that tree by grafting a few onto branches each year.

A quick google search for “Apple rootstock” will find places to buy them

If you buy rootstock, it will be shipped in late winter, and will be “bare root”. This is a dormant tree with the soil rinsed off the roots, and wet paper or moss packed around them to keep them moist. it's generally best to pot them temporarily until you graft onto them.

Grafting onto existing trees

You can graft onto any apple tree you buy at a nursery. every nursery tree has been grafted already, when it was very young. You can usually see the graft union near the soil line.

Step 3: Where to Start

SIZE

Standard sized trees grow quite large; up to 25 feet tall and wide. They take at least 5 years (or more) to begin fruiting, but they are very long lived.

Semi Dwarf trees are almost as large as standard trees. They are sometimes called semi-standard. They may reach 15-20 feet tall. The advantage is that they produce fruit at a younger age, and are usually free standing and relatively long lived, but not as long as standard.

Dwarf rootstocks produce trees around 10 feet tall. They usually need to be propped up with stakes, and irrigated, and they don't tend to live as long (around 20-25 years).

USES FOR APPLES

• Pie apples: hey are often tart and need sweetening, but have great apple flavor. I know people who eat super-tart pie apples like candy, but the average person would find most pie apples too sour to enjoy fresh.
• Sauce apples: Cook down quickly into sauce.
• Cider apples: Used for hard cider.
• Multi-purpose: Multi-purpose apples tend to be good for fresh eating and cooking. S
• Crab apples are just small apples. Some are good for jams and jellies.
• Sugar or “Sweet” apples were grown for refining into sugar or mollases, or fed to livestock.

RIPENING SEASON and storage. if you choose the right combination of apple varieties, you can have apples from late July until November, with storage apples in the fridge until next spring.

Step 4: When to Graft

The types of grafting I'm going to teach you happen in early spring.

Step 5: Where to Graft

It's best to graft onto younger wood when possible. I prefer small branches directly off the trunk, or vigorously growing vertical “waterspouts”.

Step 6: The Cleft Graft.

This is probably the easiest style of graft. It is often used when the understock (rootstock) is larger than the scion, but it can also be used when they are the same size.

The disadvantage is that it's a bit messy looking.

The scion is cut to a wedge shape, and the under-stock is split. The scion is then wedged into the split. to ensure complete healing, the cambium on both ends of the split must be grafted. on large diameter stock, this may require to pieces of scion wood.

Here's how

1. Find a site to graft onto. It should be the size of the scion, or larger.
2. Saw or prune off the understock branch, leaving at least 8 inches or so.
3. Split the branch stub carefully with the grafting knife. hold the crack open with a toothpick, inserted in the center.
4. With the grafting knife, carve the scion to a 2 inch long wedge. Be sure the cuts are flat, not curved.
5. If the scion and stock are the same diameter:
6. Gently wedge the scion into the stock. Make sure the cambium lines up as much as possible.
7. Wrap the entire graft area with parafilm. Gently stretch the parafilm before wrapping. One layer is fine. Be sure to completely wrap the graft to seal in moisture.
8. Wrap over the parafilm with rubber splicing tape, such as temflex, or with a wide rubber band.
9. If the stock is slightly larger than the scion
10. Split the stock branch just off center, so that the split is the same length as the diameter of the scion.
11. If the stock is more than twice as wide as the scion
12. Insert two scions in the same crack, so that the cambium lines up on one side of each scion.
13. The following spring, after the scions have grown, you will prune off one of the scions. That one is just there to fill the crack in the stock and ensure healing.

Step 7: The Whip and Tongue Graft

This graft works best for scions and stocks of the same size, but it can be modified to accommodate stock that is slightly larger than the scion.

We can make this more stable, and much stronger, by cutting a slit in each piece, and wedging the “Tongues” into the corresponding slits.

Here's how

1. Gather your materials and have them handy.
2. Find a site to graft onto. Prune it off a bit longer than you need it to be.
3. With the grafting knife, cut the stock and scion at the same angle. the cut surface should be about 1 1/2 inches long. The cut surfaces should be flat, not curved or uneven.
4. To cut the scion, hold your thumb against the wood, pressing the wood against the blade with your thumb. Your thumb should be next to the blade, but not in the path of the blade edge.
5. Hold the scion and knife close to your chest. Hold the blade still, and pull the the scion away from you. This is much safer than pulling a sharp blade towards yourself.
6. Cutting the stock can be more challenging, since you can't easily maneuver around the tree. You can either use pull the knife towards you carefully, using the same thumb pressure you used on the scion, or you can stand “behind” the stock and push the blade away from you.
7. Cut the tongue. this cut should be identical on the scion and stock.
8. Start the cut about 1/3 of the way from the tip, or “toe”of the cut surface.
9. Cut shallowly, and slowly, and very, very carefully. This is the most dangerous cut. Be aware of where the blade will go if you accidentally slice all the way through the wood, or if the wood suddenly splits.
10. end the cut about 1/3 of the way from the “heel” of the cut.

Step 8: Caring for Your Grafts

First, LABEL YOUR GRAFTS!!

Not every graft will succeed, especially if you are a beginner. That's normal. your success rate will improve with practice.

Usually the graft will start growing “leafing out” or “breaking bud” in a few weeks. It's actually better if it leafs out late, since the scion can lose water through it's leaves. If the leaves emerge before the cambium has connected to the host tree, it will quickly dry up. Don't start worrying until about a month has gone by.

Occasionally a graft won't grow at all the first year, but will grow the

second year, but this is unusual. if it doesn't grow the second spring, prune it off.

Leave the wrapping on for at least the first month. But you do need to remove the splicing tape eventually, because if the graft grows too much, the tape can squeeze the vascular tissue and choke the scion like a tourniquet. You should remove the rubber splicing tape in mid-late summer, and re-wrap the graft area in parafilm to keep it moist.

Don't let it fruit the first year.

rarely, a scion will produce fruit it's first year. if this happens, cut off the fruit.

The dummy scion is the second scion in a larger cleft graft. It's the one that fills in the other end of the split. let it grow the first year, but you need to prune this off the next spring. two branches growing parallel to each other are going to cause problems later.

Have you been able to graft a multi-variety apple tree? What advice do you have for beginners?

Article and Photo Source: Instructables