Training Cherry Grafts
Categories:
Fruit Growing
I have grafted a lot of seedling cherries, leaving two or three buds on
each piece of grafted wood. In planting these out, shall I put the union
under ground (they are grafted at the crown of the root) and shall I
loosen the cloth a little later when they start to grow? How can I get
the head for the tree? Should I let only one shoot form, and when it is
as high as I want it, cut it off as I would a tree gotten from a
ursery?
If you have used waxed cloth in your grafting, it will be necessary to
loosen it after the tree gets a good start. Common unwaxed cloth could
be trusted to decay soon enough, probably, but it should be looked at to
see that it is not binding. The union should not be placed much below
the ground surface, although it can be safely covered, and the future
stem may look the better for it. One shoot could be allowed to grow from
each graft, choosing the best ones and pinching the others so that they
will stop extension and hold leaves during the first season. These can
be cleanly removed at the first winter pruning at the time you head back
the main shoot to the proper height.