Yesterday we ran our second Apple Tree Grafting Workshop. The day started off with Phil looking at the reasons we choose to graft apple trees onto different root stocks. He went on to look at the principles of grafting, including sourcing root stock and grafting material, the grafting processes it’s self and aftercare of the grafted trees.
Freshly grafted Apple Trees
The participants had a chance to practice the techniques on some spare apple prunings, before having a go at the real thing after lunch.
Selecting root stocks and varieties to graft on
There was a buzz of activity as people selected their root stocks and scions of the varieties of apple they wanted to graft on. The scions had been collected by Phil over the winter, and are varieties that he recommends as being likely to grow and crop well in West Wales.
Grafting the trees
It was a successful day, with everyone going home with at least two trees. Several participants expressed the intention to use grafting techniques to graft more productive varieties onto existing un-productive apple trees they already have, an interesting extension of the basic grafting technique.