Pear grafting on an apple tree - when and how to do it

I have an apple tree about which I say "hard to carry, but it's a pity to throw it away." The tree is quite good, spreading, gives good shade in summer. But the apples themselves are small and sour; even pets do not want to eat them. I thought of changing it into a pear, but I don't know how. Tell me how and when you can plant a pear on an apple tree?

Grafting of fruit trees has been popular with gardeners for quite some time. If the apple tree has crushed over time, the fruits have lost their juiciness and sweetness, you should not immediately resort to radical methods and uproot it. Grafting a pear onto an apple tree will help to use the tree profitably, and also get a high-quality harvest of large fruits. Of no small importance is the fact that when planting a young seedling, it will take several years to wait for the first fruits, and as a result of vaccination, the waiting time is significantly reduced.

Both trees belong to the pome species and are representatives of the Rosaceae family, so the rootstock with a scion in most cases takes root well.

When is the best time to plant a pear?

The best option for the timing pear grafting early spring is on the apple tree. As soon as the daytime air temperature reaches stable positive values, and the night frosts stop, you can start the grafting procedure. The most important thing is to have time to do this before the buds bloom, so that the time of the scion engraftment coincides with the beginning of active sap flow. Then he will surely take root.

In the northern regions, it is better to postpone the vaccination to April, otherwise there is a risk that the grafted young pear shoot will freeze.

If a long cold spring almost immediately turned into a hot summer, and the moment was missed, you can also plant a pear on an apple tree in July, but not later. Usually, from August, the temperature already begins to decrease, which also has a negative effect on the scion, which is sensitive to its changes.

In the fall, it is recommended not to vaccinate - it is unlikely that the pear will take root and will be able to fully survive the winter.

How to choose rootstock and scion?

If there is already an apple tree in the garden, it is clear that there is no question of choosing a rootstock. In the absence of such, it is advisable to go on exploration in the forest and look for a wild apple tree that has grown by self-sowing. Such a tree is able to grow and bear fruit for many years, while those grown from varietal apple seeds after grafting live an average of 12-15 years.

The choice of the scion depends entirely on the desired result. For example, to get large fruits, it is better to use such pear varieties, like Lyubimitsa Yakovleva or Large-fruited Susova. Cuttings can be cut from your garden, asked from a neighbor, or purchased from nurseries.

For the scion, it is better to cut the cuttings from the south side of the pear crown.

How to plant a pear on an apple tree?

There are several ways to graft a pear:

1. Budding... In July, cut off a young shoot from a pear, cut off the leaves, leaving cuttings and cut out a peephole. On a branch or trunk of an apple tree, make an incision in the bark in the form of the letter "T" and insert a peephole inside it. Connect the edges and tighten with electrical tape. Budding can be done in spring, as soon as the first leaves appear.
2. Copulation... Recommended for grafting a pear on a wild apple tree grown from seeds. On the cuttings of a pear and an apple tree, make oblique cuts and press the branches tightly to each other so that the cuts coincide.

Video about grafting a pear on an apple tree using a grafting pruner