Hi everyone. I am new here, so let me introduce myself first: My family and I live in North Central Missouri, in a small town. My family has been in this area for around 150 years, and to be honest, though we have lived many other places our roots have grown deep here. My wife is a great, great, great, great........ granddaughter of Miles Standish (of Mayflower Compact fame), while my family dates to prior to the American Revolution in Virginia, Ohio, and then Missouri. (I tell you that in case some of you might have some information to share about foods grown by or propagated by our ancestors). I am a pastor/church planter that is very passionate about helping people understand our responsibility as Christians to be effective stewards of the world God gave us. My wife and I are very interested in historic fruits and vegetables that were grown by our ancestors, and are in the process of moving to a small farm near my family homestead. My 97 year old Grandmother is a dyed in the wool Jonathan Apple loyalist. It is the only apple she will use for her locally somewhat famous Apple Butter (only a very few are gifted a pint each year, and my wife and I are thrilled to be intrusted with the "secret" recipe, and blessed to have spent the time with Grandma being "Properly trained" in making it.)
I am just learning about growing fruit trees and to be honest really know very little, so please bear with me while I learn. One of our dreams is to start a Grandmas Orchid of Jonathan's at the farm, and another dedicated to my Grandfather, who was just an apple and peach fan. It didn't really matter the name to him, as long as it tasted good.
With all of that said, here is my problem. My grandmother recently moved out of her house and into a small appartment, not bad for 97. anyway, we are in the process of selling her house and rental property next door. in the rental property yard is an apple tree I bought my grandfather 30 years ago, while he was dying of prostrate cancer. He really wanted to try one of those "new fangled" apple trees that gave you 4 kinds of apple. So I got it for him as a present when I was 16. He told me almost every time we talked how he was going to live long enough for grandma to make him an apple pie from our tree. He watched the apples as they developed the third year after planting and was so excited to see if he would have enough for a pie. Sadly he died the end of July, the year we had our first fruit, having never tasted the first pie..... it was an AWESOME pie. I really miss him and miss sharing it with him.
By now the tree is thirty years old, and the rental property has been sold to a young guy, and he is going to by the house as well. He has lived with the tree for 2 years, and really isn't interested in the fruit (which just falls off the ground and rots) and he says he will probably cut it down since it "makes a mess". As much as it pains me, it is his tree now. That being said, I am sure he would have no problem giving me cuttings or even letting me try to transplant this big old tree if I wanted. It probably isn't any kind of special tree to anyone but me, but I have no idea how to go about doing any of this.
Questions:
1. Is it feasible to transplant a 30+ year old apple tree? It is on flat ground easy to get to, but it is probably 15'-20' tall, and maybe a little smaller than a basketball around. I am not sure if I could even afford to have someone do that.
2. I read the post about the 70+ year old apple tree that the gentleman is going to take cuttings off and graft. I could do this, but it is four varieties, and I have NO idea how to do, haven't any root stock, and so really don't know how to proceed. I would love to try it, even if I transplanted the tree.
I know you probably get problems like this all the time. Sorry if I am asking the same old thing again. Any advice you all would be willing to share would be very appreciated.
Thanks,
Chad
Hi Chad,
While you theoretically could move the tree, it would be an amazing amount of work. As someone who just moved a 3-12 year old orchard, it is extremely difficult.
My advice would be to take scions now, and then graft them onto another tree. You could even graft those four scions onto another tree, so they would all be on one tree.
That's what I would do.
John S
PDX OR
Thanks John. An advantage of that would be my 3 cousins would like trees as well. We were all very close to our grandfather (especially me).
So what do I do now? And please excuse me, i am such a neophyte that I don't really even know the correct terminology.
I have read a bit on scions and how to cut them, but certainly am no expert. Plus I don't have root stock of any kind. Where should I look for that, and what kind should I look for? Is it best to get root stock from my part of the country?
Also, I have never done grafting of any kind and would greatly benefit from some hands on advice. Does any one here know anyone in N. Central MO that has experience that I could learn from? Are there any dvd's or something I could watch?
How soon after making my cuttings do I need to graft them to the root stock?
I probably have so many questions that I don't even know what to ask. I am sure it is a fairly straightforward process, and I am willing to give it a shot.
Thanks,
Chad
It's really not that hard, but it would be best if you could watch someone do it. I'd search really hard for some organization locally that could do it. Or even get someone to do it for you, maybe from a local nursery?
You can get the rootstock from
Burnt Ridge
One Green World
or Raintree Nursery
or many other fine places.
There was a post from a few days ago on how to take a scion cutting.
You can find videos online on how to do a simple graft.
I'd try grafitng multiple trees, in case things don't work right for you. If you have questions after watching the videos, ask away!
Check out the Missouri Master Gardeners webpage. There is a phone number there with a contact who should be able to point you to a local contact. If you can't find someone then keep asking here.
http://mg.missouri.edu/index.htm
Here is another link to grafting in Missouri.
http://extension.missouri.edu/publicati ... px?P=G6971
Collecting scion wood in Missouri with a contact.
http://extension.missouri.edu/news/Disp ... aspx?N=348
http://ppp.missouri.edu/newsletters/meg ... /v15n2.pdf
[quote="plumfun":16c9k8pq][quote="CHuff":16c9k8pq]I am a pastor/church planter[/quote:16c9k8pq]
Did you really want us to know that?
What brand?[/quote:16c9k8pq]
I guess I don't care that you know it. Just an introduction, that's all. Brand? Christian. What do you do for a living? 
gkowen: Thanks for the links. At lunch today I went over to our conservation office and talked to a local forester. He is getting me a list of master gardeners locally that may be able to help or coach me. I will keep you posted as I progress. I may have more questions.
One question I do have is could I do the initial plating in a 5 gal pot until it gets started?
Chad
Most Standard Apple trees are a labor intensive prospect. Unless this particualr tree has dramatic Aesthetic qualities, or is a superior shade tree specimen, I would have a friend graft the scionwood onto a dwarf, 'M26 or smaller rootstock- and then cut the thing down for good firewood.
Just pruning a 37 year old standard tree could run you over $75 dollars if you hire it done. If you are over 40, you may not want to venture up a 12 foot ladder to prune it either, and to spray such a tree, will take 5-7 x as much as an M26 tree.
It is about as practical as saving 8 track tape players for nostalgia with all their natural flaws.
Thanks for all the advice everyone. I spoke to the Horticulture specialist at the MU extension office for our region. He wasn't very helpful. He told me he had only tried grafting in one lab class in grad school and only got one "budding" graft to work. He said his whip/tongue grafts all failed. He said he wasn't aware of any master gardeners around that had experience grafting. I asked him if he had any idea what root stock to use and he didn't. His best idea was for me to go to a nursery and buy an apple tree and try to graft to that.
Anyway, here are my current questions:
1) is it important to buy root stock locally so that it is adapted well and viable in my part of MO?
2) I would like a semi/dwarf or dwarf tree, give me some root stock ideas and best places to purchase. I see raintree mentioned a lot but don't see a section for purchasing rootstock on their site. They do have some helpful info about rootsock though.
3)There are some commercial orchards around, about 40 minutes south of me. Do commercial growers typically graft their own trees or do they buy seedlings?
4) I am looking at the tree, and there seems to be a lot of good 1st year growth. We have had a very cold winter for our part of the country (2 weeks of around 0-7 degree highs and -5 to -10 lows) is there any way to tell what if any parts of the tree have been damaged and would fail if used for scion wood?
Thanks again for your help resourcing a newbie!
Chad
[quote="Hoopus":1mxtns5u]Most Standard Apple trees are a labor intensive prospect. Unless this particualr tree has dramatic Aesthetic qualities, or is a superior shade tree specimen, I would have a friend graft the scionwood onto a dwarf, 'M26 or smaller rootstock- and then cut the thing down for good firewood.
Just pruning a 37 year old standard tree could run you over $75 dollars if you hire it done. If you are over 40, you may not want to venture up a 12 foot ladder to prune it either, and to spray such a tree, will take 5-7 x as much as an M26 tree.
It is about as practical as saving 8 track tape players for nostalgia with all their natural flaws.[/quote:1mxtns5u]
I looked at the M26 on One Green world and other places. I am a little hesitant to use a root stock that needs to be staked. I am thinking of M7, what do you think?
1) is it important to buy root stock locally so that it is adapted well and viable in my part of MO?
No in my opinion. Maybe try 2 different rootstocks.
2) I would like a semi/dwarf or dwarf tree, give me some root stock ideas and best places to purchase. I see raintree mentioned a lot but don't see a section for purchasing rootstock on their site. They do have some helpful info about rootsock though.
Try here: http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/ ... ttype=ROOT
I live 30 minutes from Raintree, so I use them. Other places will be good too.
3)There are some commercial orchards around, about 40 minutes south of me. Do commercial growers typically graft their own trees or do they buy seedlings?
I don't know. You can always ask. People might do different things. Also, go to your garden center and ask when they will be selling fruit trees and they might know what rootstocks they will be selling.
4) I am looking at the tree, and there seems to be a lot of good 1st year growth. We have had a very cold winter for our part of the country (2 weeks of around 0-7 degree highs and -5 to -10 lows) is there any way to tell what if any parts of the tree have been damaged and would fail if used for scion wood?
If there is alot of new growth that is say 18inches long, I would cut the 18" length and then cut off the 6 inch terminal end. The resulting 12 inch piece of wood is likely not damaged.
As fart as M7 rootstock, I don't know. Others will have to advice you. But you might try several types. Grafting is fun! Just my opinion, but I'd buy 5 each of the 3 rootstocks you'd like to try and graft all 15. If some don't make it you'll have plenty left. And staking is really no big deal. I just buy a metal fence post and drive it into the ground right next to the tree at planting. Then I use wire through a cut up old garden hose to tie it. It is nice to see a 6 foor tree with 30 full size apples on it.
[quote="gkowen":2h48hlh2]1)
Try here: http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/ ... ttype=ROOT
I live 30 minutes from Raintree, so I use them. Other places will be good too.
As fart as M7 rootstock, I don't know. Others will have to advice you. But you might try several types. Grafting is fun! Just my opinion, but I'd buy 5 each of the 3 rootstocks you'd like to try and graft all 15. If some don't make it you'll have plenty left. And staking is really no big deal. I just buy a metal fence post and drive it into the ground right next to the tree at planting. Then I use wire through a cut up old garden hose to tie it. It is nice to see a 6 foor tree with 30 full size apples on it.[/quote:2h48hlh2]
Thanks a lot gkowen. I appreciate your help.
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