Hello everyone!
I just joined the forum and have a question. I have very little knowledge about grafting, so please bear with me! My wife and bought seven grated apple trees from the HOS in March of 2012 and after planting them a few months later, several have not grown above the graft, only below it. (One, the Gravenstein, has just a little growth above the graft and more below.)
Should I keep the ones with no growth (or very little) above the graft? Is there any future for them? If so, should I just let them grow or deal with them in a particular way?
Any help would be greatly appreciated - thanks!
I should mention we're in Portland, OR
Hi JJ,
Did you have these trees grafted ‘in front of you,’ or where they some of the preordered “Make a Trees?” And, they were grafted over two years ago?
The trees, or ‘rootstock’ below the grafts would now have put on two years growth (if grafted in 2012), and if allowed to grow, should be as tall as you. If so, they can either be ‘Bud grafted’ in August or dormant grafted next March. Have they branched?
If there is ‘little growth’ above the graft and heavy growth below it, the growth below should have been cut off to force energy into the top ‘graft.’ Now, with weather in the 90’s and fully leafed out, would not be a good time to make that cut. Actually, that should have happed in the Spring of 2013…
How many of your seven trees are now ‘as tall as you,’ having grown from their ‘scion’ or top graft?
And any of the trees that are now 2 years in and haven’t put on substantial growth from either above or below their graft may as well be replaced.
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