Uploaded January 2019 | Updated September 2026, 21 minutes ago
Over the past three years i have done a considerable amount of apple grafting. Starting as a complete novice grafter I've added several varieties to several wild trees and I am also in the process of topworking over some varieties we planted when we originally purchased the farm.
My experience with grafting has entailed some successes and lots of failures. One early mistake I made was not practicing my grafts enough before I started. From my limited experience, the key principle of achieving grafts that take, is getting good cambial contact between the scionwood and the stock. This means for grafts like the whip and tongue graft and the saddle graft, that your cuts be as straight and uniform as possible. The cleaner and more accurate you can match the mating surfaces of the cambium, the better your chances are for making a successful graft.
When I researched grafting, the overwhelmingly most popular recommended graft was the whip and tongue when using dormant scions. When I practiced making this graft though, I did not practice enough grafts to start achieving really tight joining surfaces. So I did not use whip and tongue because I thought I wasn't good enough at the cuts to have success. Instead I used the bark graft/rind graft, in many places where a whip and tongue would have been more appropriate.
The big problem I found with using the bark graft like this is that with such small stock size, you have to thin down your scion at the mating surface to matchstick thin slivers to slip under the bark. This makes a very weak spot where the graft is prone to failure. Normally the bark graft is done on much larger diameter branches where the bark is much thicker, and you can make a much larger wedge with your scion to slip under it. My experience with using mostly small diameter bark grafts has been really frustrating. Mainly because the initial success rate was very high, something like 80% of my first grafts took! So I was very happy with the tree full of live grafts. Then by the middle of summer when the grafts had put on considerable growth, they started snapping off at the cut. The wind was putting so much leverage on the thin wood of the scion at the graft union that it was snapping off. Don't make this mistake. Practice your grafts before you begin so you can make the appropriate graft for every situation instead of forcing a graft to fit because that is the graft you are most comfortable with.
The other interesting grafting technique I've experimented with is bud grafting in the summer. I have had a pretty good success rate with doing this, and the only failures were cause by my on foolishness in unwrapping the grafts before they had fully taken, so they dried out and the buds died.
Obviously I am not an expert at grafting apple trees. For great information on apple grafting I highly recommend two channels in particular.
Stephen Hayes youtube.com/user/stephenhayesuk He has a fantastic channel with all kinds of apple growing content and lots of discussion of various types of graftng. The only odd thing about Stephen is he is a big advocate of the saddle graft, which is a really difficult graft to execute even in comparison with the whip-and-tongue.
Skillcult youtube.com/user/1sustainablehedonist The California Steven that breeds his own apples. He's also got lots of great apple content as well as a host of other great stuff you should check out. Good grafting videos, and good apple variety review videos.
I hope this video is useful to other small farmers and homesteaders who are looking to do a small amount of their own grafting, and can learn from my mistakes and not repeat them as they make their homestead orchard.
Over the past three years i have done a considerable amount of apple grafting. Starting as a complete novice grafter I've added several varieties to several wild trees and I am also in the process of topworking over some varieties we planted when we originally purchased the farm.
My experience with grafting has entailed some successes and lots of failures. One early mistake I made was not practicing my grafts enough before I started. From my limited experience, the key principle of achieving grafts that take, is getting good cambial contact between the scionwood and the stock. This means for grafts like the whip and tongue graft and the saddle graft, that your cuts be as straight and uniform as possible. The cleaner and more accurate you can match the mating surfaces of the cambium, the better your chances are for making a successful graft.
When I researched grafting, the overwhelmingly most popular recommended graft was the whip and tongue when using dormant scions. When I practiced making this graft though, I did not practice enough grafts to start achieving really tight joining surfaces. So I did not use whip and tongue because I thought I wasn't good enough at the cuts to have success. Instead I used the bark graft/rind graft, in many places where a whip and tongue would have been more appropriate.
The big problem I found with using the bark graft like this is that with such small stock size, you have to thin down your scion at the mating surface to matchstick thin slivers to slip under the bark. This makes a very weak spot where the graft is prone to failure. Normally the bark graft is done on much larger diameter branches where the bark is much thicker, and you can make a much larger wedge with your scion to slip under it. My experience with using mostly small diameter bark grafts has been really frustrating. Mainly because the initial success rate was very high, something like 80% of my first grafts took! So I was very happy with the tree full of live grafts. Then by the middle of summer when the grafts had put on considerable growth, they started snapping off at the cut. The wind was putting so much leverage on the thin wood of the scion at the graft union that it was snapping off. Don't make this mistake. Practice your grafts before you begin so you can make the appropriate graft for every situation instead of forcing a graft to fit because that is the graft you are most comfortable with.
The other interesting grafting technique I've experimented with is bud grafting in the summer. I have had a pretty good success rate with doing this, and the only failures were cause by my on foolishness in unwrapping the grafts before they had fully taken, so they dried out and the buds died.
Obviously I am not an expert at grafting apple trees. For great information on apple grafting I highly recommend two channels in particular.
Stephen Hayes youtube.com/user/stephenhayesuk He has a fantastic channel with all kinds of apple growing content and lots of discussion of various types of graftng. The only odd thing about Stephen is he is a big advocate of the saddle graft, which is a really difficult graft to execute even in comparison with the whip-and-tongue.
Skillcult youtube.com/user/1sustainablehedonist The California Steven that breeds his own apples. He's also got lots of great apple content as well as a host of other great stuff you should check out. Good grafting videos, and good apple variety review videos.
I hope this video is useful to other small farmers and homesteaders who are looking to do a small amount of their own grafting, and can learn from my mistakes and not repeat them as they make their homestead orchard.
