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Top-grafting Apples

Categories: Fruit Growing

Can I graft over a few Ben Davis apple trees 25 years old or

thereabouts, but thrifty and vigorous?



It is certainly possible, by the old top-grafting method which has been

used everywhere with apples for centuries. Graft during the winter. Work

on the limbs above the head so as to preserve the advantage of the old

forking, using a cleft graft and waxing well. It is usually best to

graft over a part of the limbs and the balance a year later.







Will the Apples Be the Same Kind?







I have a mixed orchard, mostly Gravensteins, and I want to graft all the

other trees into a Gravenstein top if I can do so and at the same time

get the early Gravenstein bloom and the fruit would be as satisfactory

as though on other roots.



The new tree grown from the grafts will behave just like the tree from

which the scions were taken if similarly thrifty.



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