Rootstocks and grafting, step by step
Interactive lesson: from wilding seed to graft — stratification, seedlings, the stool bed, budding in rows and whip-and-tongue grafting at the bench.
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The whole lesson as text
1. Seed for rootstocks
Every young tree starts out as a wilding: a rootstock from the seed of a crab apple, wild pear or cherry plum.
- Ripe fruit — September–October, from fully ripe fruit of healthy, vigorous trees. Let crab apples and wild pears go soft, then mash them and rinse out the seed.
- Washing the seed — Rinse the seed and discard any that float. Clean the flesh off stones and don't dry them in the sun; apple and pear seed must not dry out completely.
- A box of sand — A layer of damp sand, a layer of seed, then sand again. A box with holes, protected from mice with mesh.
- Cold, then sowing — 2–5 °C (36–41 °F), the sand kept damp, checked every 2–3 weeks. When the first seeds start (a white tip), sow all the seed.
Why: Seedlings are vigorous, root deeply and live long, and they're free. But fruit seed doesn't germinate straight away: it has to go through a winter of damp and cold. This is called stratification.
- Autumn sowing is the old way without a box: sow stones in October–November straight into the seedbed, under mesh and leaves.
- Apple seed dried on a radiator won't germinate.
2. The seedbed
The seedlings spend their first year in a loose seedbed, in sun and near water.
- A loose bed — Loose, with compost, weed-free, in sun, with water nearby. For 100 rootstocks a bed of 1 × 4 m is enough.
- Rows and sowing — Rows 25–30 cm apart, a seed every 3–5 cm. Cover with a thin layer of sand and mesh.
- Thinning — When the seedlings have 4 leaves, thin them to 8–10 cm.
- Lifting and grading — In November lift the seedlings with a spade. Grade I: 7 mm and over, grade II: 5–7 mm, below 5 mm to the compost. Trim the roots to 15–20 cm and the tops to 30–40 cm, and keep them heeled in.
Why: Apple and pear seedlings grow 30–80 cm in a season. In autumn you grade them by thickness: only strong plants make good rootstocks, and the weak ones go on the compost.
- Powdery mildew on young apple leaves is common: it isn't dangerous, and you throw out the weakest plants anyway.
- In the first summer weed, water in dry spells and mulch; the soil must never dry out.
3. The stool bed · Locked
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4. Budding in rows · Locked
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5. Bench grafting · Locked
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6. After grafting · Locked
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