How to graft an apricot: 6 popular methods

Apricot cuttings have good engraftment. They can be planted on a dry, warm, but not sunny day. Summer is considered a good time. In autumn, there is a high risk of scion death in the event of early frosts. Spring is considered the ideal time for apricot grafting. The tree begins the active phase of sap flow. The scion quickly grows together with the rootstock and manages to get stronger before the onset of cold weather.

Purpose and benefits of vaccination

A feature of stone fruit trees is their short lifespan.To preserve their favorite variety, gardeners vaccinate. The process brings benefits to owners of small plots. Grafting allows you to develop different varieties on one tree, even differing in terms of ripening.

Most varieties of apricots are adapted to warm climates. Grafting onto a winter-hardy rootstock allows you to increase the frost resistance of the variety. The gardener is given the opportunity to grow a crop in a cold region, while receiving good fruits without changing the taste.

Vaccination time in spring

Not every spring rootstock takes root equally well. The time when the apricot has not yet begun to flow sap is considered successful. This period should remain approximately two weeks. Grafted cuttings take root worse after the sap begins to flow, but most often dry out. It is impossible to accurately determine the optimal date. It all depends on the weather conditions of the region. On average, the best period for vaccination is the end of March - beginning of April. Only an experienced gardener can accurately catch the moment.

Late grafting is accompanied by copious secretion of juice. Upon contact with oxygen, it oxidizes. The scion cut and the rootstock do not grow together and gradually dry out.

What to choose as a rootstock

The main rule for choosing a rootstock is group compatibility. Apricots are grafted only onto stone fruit trees.. However, even such a relationship does not guarantee 100% engraftment in all cultures.

Rules for choosing a rootstock

For the rootstock, seedlings up to ten years old are chosen. The younger the tree, the more ductile the wood. When tissues are connected, they grow together better. However, no one has yet been able to obtain a 100% success rate from grafting stone fruit trees. To get a positive result, several rootstocks are used, preferably from different crops.

It is better to choose wild varieties of apricots as a rootstock. A varietal tree will acquire winter hardiness, will be resistant to drought, and will give the owner less trouble with care. If the soil on the site is highly acidic, the apricot will not grow well. Here it is better to choose cherry plum or plum for the rootstock. The good compatibility of apricot with these trees is evidenced by small growths at the junction of branches.

Disadvantage of grafting on plum or cherry plum is the property of trees to send out a lot of shoots from their roots, which take away nutrients. For successful engraftment of apricot cuttings, all emerging young growth is cut off.

In the video, methods of grafting on plums:

Choose wild thorns for rootstock Only experienced gardeners can do this. The apricot grafting process will be complex and lengthy, consisting of two stages. First, damsons are pinched to the wild thorns. After its engraftment, an apricot cutting is grafted. The popularity of the complex process is due to the production of hardy wood.

Cherry is also a good choice as a rootstock, but the tree is less popular due to its fragility. The crown cannot withstand the large mass of the crop and begins to break. The best result is obtained after grafting a plum or cherry plum onto a cherry, and then pinching an apricot to them. However, the process is very long and does not justify the efforts of the gardener.

How to graft an apricot onto an apricot in the spring

The compatibility of cuttings with rootstock is ideal. Despite the best qualities of other stone fruit trees, the cultivated variety with wild apricot has a high survival rate. This affects the future winter hardiness of the tree, the taste of the fruit, and resistance to drought.

How to graft an apricot onto a plum in spring

For the rootstock, it is advisable to choose a half-wild plum variety. In addition to better engraftment, the scion tolerates frost better. On plum tree needs to be grafted more than one variety. Skeletal branches are chosen as a place, retreating approximately 300 mm from the main trunk.

Apricot grafting onto sloe

To avoid the complicated process of double grafting, it is better to immediately choose a damson rootstock. When using wild thorns, the first graft is made at the very root system. The method allows you to reduce the amount of young shoots produced.

Is cherry plum suitable as a rootstock?

The popularity of pinching apricot onto cherry plum is justified by the improvement in the taste of the orange fruit. In particular, the sweetness is enhanced. Engraftment of cuttings occurs no worse than with a plum.

Advantages of grafting apricot onto dwarf rootstocks

Low trees are called dwarf. The advantage of such a rootstock is that it transfers part of its genes to the scion. The advantages of grafting apricot onto a dwarf rootstock are as follows:

• heat-loving apricot tolerates early spring frosts more easily and is less affected by diseases;
• the first fruiting may occur two years after grafting;
• Enlargement of fruits and increased brightness of color are observed;
• It is easier to harvest a low-growing apricot, it is easier to trim branches, and it is easier to spray against pests.

“Alab-1” and “VVA-1” were recommended as the best rootstocks. Good compatibility with Vavit, as well as Pumiselect.

Which trees are not suitable for apricot grafting?

We can talk about complete incompatibility for pome and stone fruit crops. Apricot will not take root on an apple or pear tree. Even if the cutting initially shows signs of life, it will dry out over time.

Irga is a good winter-hardy rootstock, but similarly suitable only for pome crops. The apricot graft will not take root.

Rowan with plum belong to the same subfamily. This is an excellent rootstock, but also not for apricot.

Cherry It is considered a compatible rootstock, but there are many negative aspects. In addition to the fragility of the future tree, the rootstock and scion do not grow together well. Not all cherries are suitable for grafting, even if you pin a plum to it first.

What can be grafted onto an apricot?

When used as a rootstock, apricots adhere to the same compatibility of stone fruits. Usually another variety of apricot or plum is grafted.

Grafting peach onto apricot

Apricot and peach are ideally compatible. The best time for vaccination is early spring, around mid-March. However, warm days should set in outside without the return of night frosts. In late March - early April, the graft is wrapped in film. In May, they additionally use a paper bag cover. In summer, peach can also be grafted. This is done in early June or mid-July.

Frost-resistant semi-wild apricot varieties are considered a universal rootstock. The winter hardiness of peach increases, growth accelerates, and early fruiting begins. The peach growing season ends earlier than the apricot, which is why the young branches have time to ripen before the onset of frost. The varieties “Greensboro”, “Veteran”, “Juicy” are considered excellent rootstocks.

Scion selection and preparation

It is better to harvest apricot cuttings in the fall. In winter, young shoots may partially freeze out or simply become hypothermic. The result will be bad from such a scion.

Harvesting, storage conditions and scion preparation

Cuttings for grafting are cut from annual branches 5 mm thick. The length of the scion is made from 10 to 15 cm. It is important that the cutting contains a minimum of 5 - a maximum of 10 living buds. Cut branches are stored so that they do not enter the awakening phase until spring. Store the scion in the refrigerator or cellar, where the air temperature does not exceed +2^OC. Allow the temperature to drop below 0^OIt is also not allowed to store cuttings in the place where they are stored. The scion will die.

If you store apricot cuttings in high humidity, the bark will begin to rot and the buds will disappear. The beginning of the process is difficult to determine by appearance. In the spring, before grafting begins, the cuttings are examined for rot. The lower bud is cut from the scion and separated with a knife for inspection. Green color indicates vitality.

Gardeners practice soaking apricot cuttings in water the day before grafting. The scion will be saturated with moisture, awaken, and metabolism with the rootstock will begin faster.

Preparation of tools and material

The main tool for grafting is a sharp budding knife. It differs from the usual one in that the blade is evenly sharpened on only one side. This allows you to make perfectly even cuts of branches at an angle.

Branded tools are expensive. If you are not involved in vaccinations professionally, a budding knife can be made from an ordinary penknife with a blade length of 5 cm.Sharpening is done on a fine-grained grinding wheel. The quality of the cut is tested on any thin tree branches.

Secateurs are used to take cuttings in the fall. The tool must have sharp blades, otherwise it will crush the twigs.

The materials you will need are garden pitch. The vaccination site is wrapped. You can buy a special tape or simply cut strips of plastic film. Insulating tape, used by electricians to insulate wires, is popular among novice gardeners. It can also be used, only with the sticky layer facing out. If the electrical tape sticks to the graft, then when unwinding it will tear off the young bark.

What methods of apricot grafting exist?

Gardeners use six methods of grafting apricots. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is optimal to test all methods and choose for yourself the one in which the cuttings take root best.

Copulation

A feature of copulation is the use of cuttings and rootstocks of the same diameter. The maximum thickness of branches allowed is 15 mm. The rootstock can be a tree no older than two years. A prerequisite is to make the same cut on two branches:

• same length;
• at one angle;
• with one knife cut.

When folding the two parts, the result should be a twig, as if it had not been cut.

Apricots are copulated in the last days of March or the first ten days of April, if there is still frost outside. The process consists of the following steps:

• inspect and wipe the area of ​​the branch to be grafted with a clean rag;
• applying a budding knife, make a cut towards yourself at a sharp, smooth angle;
• a similar cut is made on the apricot cutting under the lower bud;
• the two parts are connected to each other so that the sections coincide tightly;
• The graft is wrapped tightly with tape.

The final copulation is to cut off the top of the cutting with pruning shears and treat this area with garden varnish.

The video shows the copulation of an apricot:

Grafting into the cleft

If apricot cuttings are grafted onto an adult tree, the thickness of the branches will not match. Always take a larger diameter rootstock and a thinner scion. The time for vaccination is similarly chosen as the end of March - the first days of April.

The cleft grafting method involves the following steps:

• The lower part of the cutting is cut off on both sides with a budding knife to form a wedge;
• the tree chosen for the rootstock is cut down so that the bark of the remaining stump is not damaged;
• They place a knife in the center of the hemp and, using smooth but strong pressure, try to split the wood up to 10 cm deep;
• A cutting is inserted into the resulting split using a wedge, ensuring that the bark matches;
• The split area is tied tightly with tape and treated with garden varnish.

If the rootstock is very thick, then you can insert two apricot cuttings. You just need to combine the bark on both sides. Over time, if two apricot cuttings take root, the weak graft is removed.

Kidney grafting (budding)

The easiest method is suitable for beginners. The bottom line is that it is not the cutting that is grafted, but only the bud. An important condition for engraftment is above-zero temperature around the clock. Apricot bud grafting is done no earlier than mid-April. It should already begin to awaken, but not yet bloom.

The process consists of the following steps:

• on the rootstock, select an area with young smooth bark, make a cut in the shape of the letter “T”;
• From a fresh scion, a bud with bark is cut off with a knife, capturing a thin layer of wood;
• The bark on the rootstock is carefully peeled back, a bud is inserted, the graft is wrapped with tape and treated with garden varnish.

Only the cut points need to be wrapped with tape. The top of the bud should be visible, as a shoot will grow from it. During budding, do not touch the cut areas with your fingers. Engraftment may deteriorate or infection may occur.

How to graft an apricot graft onto the bark

Grafting of apricot cuttings by the bark is carried out in the spring when the juice begins to flow. The method is used when the diameter of the rootstock is greater than the thickness of the scion. To perform vaccination, perform the following steps:

• Depending on the thickness of the rootstock, the required number of cuttings is prepared. Usually they take from 2 to 4 pieces. The lower part of the branches is cut off with a wedge, but only on one side. This creates a transverse wedge.
• The tree prepared for the rootstock is carefully cut down so as not to damage the bark. Burrs and protrusions are cut off with a knife.
• The bark of the rootstock is cut to a depth of 5 cm. The sides are moved apart and an apricot stalk is inserted deep into the pocket. The wedge should press tightly against the wood.

When all the cuttings have been inserted in this way, the stump is tightly wrapped with tape and treated with garden varnish.

Side cut

The method is used for cultivating wild varieties, as well as to increase the yield of an adult tree. Clothes pinning into a side incision has been performed since mid-April.

The principle of the method is as follows:

• The lower part of the apricot cuttings is cut into a wedge on both sides;
• Make a side cut on the rootstock bark with a knife, lightly gripping the wood;
• The cutting is inserted with a wedge inside the pocket, the cut is wrapped with tape, and treated with garden varnish.

15 mm is cut from the top of the cutting with pruning shears, and this place is also lubricated with varnish.

The Bridge method will help save damaged trees

In winter, hares love to gnaw the bark of fruit trees. In the spring, the apricot may die if rescue measures are not taken in time. At the end of March - early April, a bridge is installed at the site of damage:

• The top and bottom of the bark of the damaged area is leveled with a knife. Slots about 3 cm in length are made vertically opposite each other. The distance between them is kept 2 cm.
• Apricot cuttings are cut with a wedge at both ends, inserted inside with a pocket, connecting the upper and lower parts of the tree bark.
• The finished bridge is wrapped with tape and treated with garden varnish. The bandage is not removed until the fall.

The bridge of cuttings will transfer nutrients from the roots to the tree.

Follow-up care for grafted cuttings

In order for a grafted apricot twig to take root, it needs to be given strength. Care is performed according to the following rules:

• shoots that draw juices for their growth are removed from the roots of the tree;
• the rootstock is often watered, fertilized, and the soil is not allowed to dry out;
• The foliage that has blossomed on the cuttings is sprayed with preparations against pests and diseases.

Next spring, the grown cuttings begin to be formed using pruning.

Reasons for possible failures when grafting apricots

Often the cause of poor engraftment of apricot cuttings is a dirty tool. It is unacceptable for infections, fatty oils, and dust to get into the cut. The second mistake of unsuccessful vaccination is performing the procedure on a rainy or simply humid day. The third reason is considered to be violation of the rules for caring for the tree after grafting.

Conclusion

It is more difficult to graft an apricot than a pear. Cuttings take root more difficult. However, you need to try, follow the rules, choose the appropriate method. When you fail for the first time, don’t give up.Mistakes should be analyzed so as not to repeat them next season.

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