Taking care of the future harvest - harvesting apple cuttings for grafting in spring

What is the time frame for harvesting apple cuttings for grafting in the spring? I want to rejuvenate an old apple tree that has been very sick in recent years. I managed to save only one branch and now I have a one-sided tree. I decided, in order to level and balance the crown, to plant another variety on the back. If it works out, then one apple will have both early and late fruits.

There are many goals that can be achieved with vaccination. Someone so rejuvenates the old tree, others increase the winter hardiness of the apple tree, which does not tolerate the local climate. Preliminary harvesting of apple cuttings for grafting in spring allows you to make a stock of grafting material. However, for this it is important to know not only which shoots are suitable for this procedure. But also when you need to cut the cuttings, because they, that is, both the shoots and the tree itself, should be at rest.

When can you harvest cuttings

There are two most appropriate times when gardeners can and should go for cuttings. This is when the apple tree has not yet begun its vegetative development and either has already entered a dormant period, or has not yet emerged from it.

Based on this, you can harvest cuttings:

1. Autumn, November, or early winter, January. There should already be good frosts on the street, which will allow both disinfecting the cuttings and hardening them. Such material will be well stored, because the apple tree has completely sunk into "sleep". In addition, even if a very frosty winter is predicted, there will be no problems with vaccination. The cuttings are already prepared ahead of time, and there is no risk of freezing of the grafting material in the garden.
2. Late winter - early spring. This method is more commonly used in regions with warm winters. If there is no frost below minus 20 ° C, cuttings can be cut off all winter.

The specified terms "do not work" when summer cuttings of apple trees. In this case, the cuttings must be cut directly on the day of vaccination and immediately carried out.

Where to store the cut cuttings

Both the branches cut in the fall and the shoots harvested in early spring must be properly stored until the moment of grafting so that they do not wake up. This can be done by placing the grafting material in a cool place, for example:

• just dig in the snow in the garden;
• also leave on the street, but already in sawdust, and after the sawdust freezes, cover with a film on top;
• lower it into the cellar, and there either sprinkle it with sawdust, or put it in a bucket of sand.

When stored indoors, the temperature should not exceed 1 ° C heat. Otherwise, buds will begin to wake up on the cuttings, and sap flow will resume. Such material for spring grafting will no longer be suitable.

How and when to cut cuttings for grafting and where to store them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bj5F6wkbtI