Interactive lesson

Grafting fruit trees, step by step

Interactive lesson: from scion wood and a sharp knife to budding, cleft and saddle grafts and top-working an old tree.

Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the Grafting fruit trees module. Already bought? Unlock

This lesson is general guidance, not professional training. Local regulations and expert advice always take precedence. Read our disclaimer.

The whole lesson as text

1. Cambium and tools

A graft takes when the green layer of rootstock and scion touch closely and stay still.

Cambium to cambium — The green layer of rootstock and scion must touch on at least one side. That is the whole secret of grafting.
Two knives — A budding knife has a spatula for lifting the bark. A grafting knife has a straight blade, ground on one side only, sharp as a razor.
One stroke per cut — A cut that is "sawn" back and forth leaves a wavy surface. Always cut away from yourself, never with a finger in front of the blade, and keep a dressing nearby.
Wax, tape, label — Melt the wax in a bowl over a pan of water, never directly over a flame, and apply it lukewarm. Tie with tape or raffia, not wire, and mark with an aluminium label.

Why: Under the bark is a thin green layer, the cambium, which makes new wood and new bark. When the cambium layers touch, within a few weeks they form shared tissue. Everything else serves to make that contact, protect it and keep it from moving.

A graft takes within the same species and with some related ones. Apple on pear and pear on apple don't last in the long run.
If you don't want to work with hot wax, buy a ready-made cold grafting wax.

2. Scion wood

A scion is a one-year-old shoot, last year's growth, from which you take the graft.

Cut in winter — For cleft and saddle grafts, scions are cut in dormancy, from December to the end of February, when the frost is no harder than −5 °C. Not in March, when the buds have swollen.
A healthy tree — A healthy, cropping tree of a known variety, with no canker, virus or fireblight. Never take plum scions from a tree with signs of sharka.
The right shoots — From the sunny, south side of the canopy, pencil-thick, 30–50 cm long. No water shoots and no thin shoots from the shade.
Label and chill — Label every bundle at once: variety, tree, date. Store it at 0–4 °C (32–39 °F), in a bag with damp, not wet, paper, sawdust or sand.

Why: The variety travels in the twig, not in the seed. Scions for cleft grafting must still be dormant when the rootstock has already started growing. An unlabelled scion is a lost variety.

Check the scions every two or three weeks: the bark must be smooth and green when you scratch it with a fingernail.
For budding, budwood is cut on the day of grafting. Strip the leaves, leave about 1 cm of leaf stalk and keep it in a damp cloth in the shade.