How to plant an apple tree in spring: timing and methods, a detailed guide for gardeners
Grafting is a good way for gardeners to help themselves and their trees. For example, if an old apple tree has lost its shape over the years, you can rejuvenate it with a scion. With the help of grafting, it is also possible to obtain a tree of "comfortable growth" from a tall specimen. This greatly facilitates both maintenance and harvesting. And also, taking more frost-resistant varieties for the stock, you can grow a tree that is resistant to low temperatures. Vaccination also plays an important role in the case when the garden plot has a limited area. Having grafted several different varieties, they harvest on one rootstock at different times. At the same time, there is no need for a place for planting new seedlings. Most often, trees, including an apple tree, are grafted after winter. Exactly when and how to plant an apple tree in spring, we will tell you today. Read about apple lungwort!
Terms of vaccination
Grafting with cuttings is best done early, at the end of March. But for budding, it is better to wait until the end of April, when sap flow begins inside the stock.
Although spring is preferable for grafting apple trees, this procedure can be carried out almost all year round, both in summer and winter. The only thing to consider is seasonal. And comply with certain requirements.
When is it better to plant an apple tree in summer
In the summer, the trees continue to develop, moreover, they begin the second wave of sap flow. It is this moment that is most suitable for vaccination, repeated or first. It is held in the second decade of August. The best results are given by summer vaccinations in warm southern regions, especially budding.
When can you plant apple trees in autumn
Autumn is considered the exception to grafting apple trees rather than the rule. This is due to the fact that on the eve of the onset of the dormant period in trees, the movement of sap slows down. Accordingly, the survival rate will be much lower. In addition, in the fall, you should carefully monitor the weather forecast. It is necessary to have time to plant the apple trees on time, before severe frosts. But if it is not possible to keep the scion until spring, then it is permissible to inoculate it in the fall.
Most often in the fall, vaccination is carried out in the following way:
- budding;
- for the bark;
- into cleavage.
September-October is the best time for the fall vaccination. As soon as the air temperature drops below 15 ° С frost, all work should be stopped.
Features of winter grafting of apple trees
Winter is not a good time to work in the garden, but you don't need to go outside for winter grafting. At this time, they work with young planting material, which will "move" to the garden only next season.
Winter vaccination has a number of rules:
- It is important to harvest the scion before frost.
- Before starting the procedure, all material, both the stock and the scion, must be stored in a room with a temperature not exceeding 0 ° C.
- The stock should be transferred to the heat 2 weeks before vaccination, and the scion should be transferred a couple of days.
You can graft all winter, until March, but no later than 2 weeks before planting seedlings in the ground. After grafting, the apple trees should wait for the spring transplant in the warmth.
How to choose a stock
The rootstock means the plant to which the graft will be applied, that is, to which the graft will be grafted. This is how old trees are rejuvenated or new characteristics are given to young seedlings.
You need to graft only on a healthy tree. It is better to use zoned apple varieties that winter well in the local climate. It can be both old and young trees. In the latter case, you need to choose young, at least 3 years old, seedlings - they are easier to change.
What can you plant an apple tree on
In general, all seed crops are suitable for the stock. The apple tree can be grafted onto wild animals, pears, plums, red mountain ash, and quince. But nevertheless, grafting on a stock, which is grown from seeds of the same culture, that is, an apple tree, is considered a classic. Winter-hardy varieties Anisov and Antonovka have the best characteristics for rootstocks.
The apple tree does not take root well on cherries, cherries, apricots, cherry plums, and thorns.
In addition, do not forget about the compatibility of the maturation of the stock and scion. If you plant a winter apple variety early, the result will be positive in terms of engraftment. Such a cutting can even begin to bear fruit. But it will not be able to fully complete this stage of vegetative development. The early stock will already be "halfway" to the dormant period, while the late graft is still ripe. As a result, they will fall off, moreover, the taste characteristics may change significantly.
The best option is grafting early autumn and summer apple trees into the crown of a summer variety. Or for the autumn stock - summer and autumn, including late-ripening varieties. Accordingly, late autumn and winter varieties of apple trees can be grafted onto a winter apple tree.
How to choose a scion
A graft is a plant material that is used for grafting by implanting it to the stock. Depending on the method of inoculation, the following can be used as a scion:
- bud;
- the escape;
- stalk;
- fragment of a young branch.
It is necessary to inoculate proven varieties that have a known taste and type of fruit, and the endurance of the species. That is, the seedlings should have already begun to bear fruit.
How to prepare cuttings
It is not enough to know how to plant an apple tree in spring. You also need to properly prepare the stock. To vaccinate in the spring, you should start harvesting cuttings in the fall, from October. But it is important to have time to take them before the frost. The critical temperature at which the harvesting can no longer be carried out is 11 ° C of frost.
The shoot that is planned to be taken should be wiped with a dry cloth. The cut is made obliquely, while it should not be touched by hands. If the branch suddenly fell, the cut is updated, because an infection could have got into the wound.
The cut cuttings should be wrapped in a damp cloth, placing them end-to-end to the bottom. If the material is small, you can store it in the refrigerator. With a large number of scion blanks, it will be more convenient to lower it into the cellar. But before that, put "standing" in a box with wet sand. In winter, it is important to ensure that the sand does not dry out.
In the absence of a basement, cuttings can be saved in the following way:
- Until frost, keep them in the coldest place in the house, wrapping them in a damp burlap.
- When enough snow falls, remove the burlap and wrap the twigs in plastic. But the upper part of them should remain free.
- Make a hole in the snowdrift and set the bundles with cuttings so that their tops remain on top.
- Fill in a snowdrift and make sure that it does not melt in winter. In early spring, when the snow has completely melted, pick up the cuttings and rewind with burlap.
How to plant an apple tree in spring: ways
There are several ways to graft horticultural crops. You can plant an apple tree:
- Copulation. Cut the shoots of the scion and stock equally obliquely and connect them with cuts.
- Improved copulation. Cut a groove on an oblique cut of the stock, and a tongue on the scion. Insert the resulting cutouts into each other.
- For the bark. Used on mature apple trees to make them stronger and more resilient. At a height of 1 m from the soil, cut the bark on the rootstock and push the edges apart so that the wood is visible. Cut the lower part of the cutting obliquely. Insert the scion with an oblique cut into the incision in the bark and fix it tightly.
- Into the cleft. Most suitable for grafting young trees. For the stock, choose a strong skeletal branch with a diameter of no more than 5 cm. Make an even cut (cut off the shoot). Split it in the center. Cut the stalk of the scion at an angle, while the length should correspond to the depth of the split on the rootstock. Insert the handle into the split, opening it wider.
- Budding or grafting with a kidney (eye). An incision is made on the rootstock, where the bud cut from the scion is inserted.
Let's consider each method in more detail.
Grafting an apple tree by copulation
Copulation gives the highest survival rate and is easy to perform. It consists in connecting together two cuttings - the scion and the stock, superimposing their oblique cuts on top of each other. Therefore, it is important that the diameter of the cuttings is the same. Its optimum thickness is like a pencil, about 10 mm in diameter.
It is better to choose an annual stalk as a stock, but not a top. The latter, although strong in development, but his kidneys are too widely located.
The scion stalk, in addition to the equivalent diameter, must have a length of up to 10 mm and developed buds. Both freshly cut and cuttings harvested from the fall are suitable. Only those that have been stored need to be soaked for 3 days.
You can graft an apple tree by copulation from the second half of March. By this time, the stock can already leave the dormant period. But the scion stalk still has to "sleep".
Copulation step by step
The procedure is as follows:
- Shorten the scion, leaving no more than 4 buds. If there are too many of them, it will be more difficult for the branch to take root. Under the lower kidney, stepping back 1.5 cm, make an oblique cut at an angle of 25 °. Having retreated 1 cm from the upper kidney, make a blunt cut at 45 ° above it
- Cut off the top of the young central shoot or the branch chosen for grafting at the rootstock. The cut length should be at least 3 times the diameter of the shoot.
- Connect the scion to the stock to match the cambial layer as perfectly as possible. Or at least by connecting them along the bark on one side.
- Tightly wrap the vaccination site with duct tape, leaving the kidneys open.
To prevent moisture evaporation, it is advisable to stick a garden pitch on top of the strapping. The vaccination will be considered successful if the kidneys begin to open on the scion after 14-15 days.
Improved copulation
The above procedure is a simple copulation. It is simple in execution, but has one drawback. If the diameter of the cuttings does not match even slightly, it is difficult to connect them tightly. When the junction is tied up, the cuttings shift and their cambial layers do not match.
Improved copulation will help to "drive" the scion into the stock as tightly as possible. It provides for the presence of a tongue-notch on the cut of the scion up to 2 cm deep. And on the rootstock there must be a cut of the same depth. The slices themselves should be long. The cuttings should be connected by inserting them, like a lock, into each other - the tongue should go into the notch.
Inoculation with improved copulation is not only fixed more conveniently and reliably. It also takes root faster due to the dense arrangement of cuttings.
For the bark
This vaccination is carried out when active sap flow began in the apple tree - in the month of May. But depending on the region of cultivation, the timing may shift in one direction or another. Then it is better to carry out an additional check before the procedure, whether the tree has woken up from hibernation.To do this, you need to cut the bark on any branch and try to separate it. If the bark adheres tightly and does not come off, it is still early, the growing season has not fully begun for the apple tree. When the bark was easily removed, it was time for the bark grafting.
As already noted, the bark is most often grafted onto an old tree in order to rejuvenate it. It is better to plant several cuttings on one branch for insurance. But at the same time, its thickness should be taken into account. For thin shoots up to 3 cm in diameter, one scion is enough, up to 7 cm - you can already have 2 cuttings and so on. In the future, you need to choose the most active and developed of the established scions. For the rest, pinch the tops for the first year, limiting their development. And next spring - completely cut out.
How to plant an apple tree in the spring for the bark step by step
Vaccination technology in stages:
- To prepare the stock - cut the trunk or branch and clean the saw cut with a knife.
- On the graft of the scion at the bottom, make an oblique long cut (at least 4 cm). In this case, the kidney should remain on the back side of the cut apex. The length of the cutting is limited to three buds.
- On the branch of the stock, cut the bark from the side and immediately insert the cutting into it, driving it completely with a sharp cut. You can do without cutting the bark. Then you need to separate it with a sharp peg so that a deep gap is formed.
- Fix the vaccination site, cover it with garden varnish.
The graft must be loosened after 3-4 weeks so that it does not cut into the bark.
Into the cleft
Why such a grafting is good - there is no need to select cuttings of the same diameter. It is carried out, in contrast to the grafting for the bark, when the apple tree is still in a dormant period.
Cuttings prepared in advance with dormant buds must be cut by making long oblique cuts (up to 5 cm). Cut down a branch on the rootstock and make a split on the cut, going 5 cm deep. Then insert the scion into the split and wrap tightly. It is better to plant several cuttings on one stock. You can insert 2 shoots into one split, make a parallel split for two more cuttings. Or, split the two splits crosswise.
How to plant an apple tree in spring by budding step by step
Vaccination can be done in early spring, in April, but only after the end of frost. Spring budding is carried out by a sleeping eye (kidney). On the rootstock branch, cuts are made: one long and the second short, transverse. They should have the shape of the letter T. On the "leg" the letters carefully open the bark and insert the kidney into the incision. It is cut off immediately before grafting together with a shield - a layer of wood.
Thus, knowing how to plant an apple tree in spring will help rejuvenate an old garden or enhance the taste of a crop. It is just important to get vaccinated correctly and on time. And then there will certainly be a positive result.