Apple trees

[SwansEatQuince]

I wonder if anyone can help me with instructions on how to take cuttings from an apple tree and graft them on to a root stock?

Do you take cuttings now and put them into a cold frame ?

Do you wait until winter to graft onto the root stock?

Where do you take the cuttings from - is it from a fruiting part or one of the 'whippy' stems?

Finally, can anyone recommend a good apple ident book?

Thank you.

I just looked this up in 'How to Propagate' by John Cushnie - it has full instructions and photos. Best thing to do is to get this book out of the library (or get it for Christmas, as it's well worth it).

You don't do anything until winter, basically.

Thank you, GrendelsMum.

I was lurking round the apple trees today but could not allow myself to actually cut anything. There are some wild apple trees which would have been ideal for rootstock but I will leave it all until winter and look for that book in the meantime.

Are you propagating particularly interesting trees / varieties? Do tell us more!

I once went on an apple pruning course where the course leader had a wonderful book with an incredible number of paintings of apples which he used for identifiation. It was called something obvious like 'The Apple Book'.

I'm not sure, but I think it's this one:

www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-Book-Rosie-Sanders/dp/0711231419/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qi d=1279994328&sr=1-5

I am interested in getting this book too! THanks! We have bought a house with an orchard at the bottom of the garden. Te apples are already starting to drop onto the floor and are rotting or being eaten by animals or insects within minutes of being down! i know nothing about any of the varities we have and when tehy are ready for eating etc.... will get the book and learn!

Inspired by the Phil McCann RHS thread, I have decided to make it my life's mission to create an orchard growing mainly the old Scottish varieties eg The Bloody Ploughman, Lass O'Gowrie etc.

We have a few old trees, the oldest one is circa 1900 so I wanted to take cuttings and graft on to the rootstocks which have sprung up in the garden.

We are very exposed here and some of the Southern English apples do not grow well in this wind battered area. That said, we want to try some cider apple trees.
The pear tree has never born fruit so I wanted to move it and plant a few more to keep it pollinated but it is probably more exposed here than on Rockall.

The Rosie Saunders book has not been released yet but it looks amazing.

I think that sounds wonderful!

I've actually got a book on old varieties of fruit and vegetables, and that encouraged me to think about going for older varieties when we plant our mini orchard (i.e. about 6 fruit trees) this winter.

If the Rosie Saunders book isn't yet published, it can't be that one I saw, because I saw it about 4 years ago - I wonder if this was an earlier edition? I'll try and make time to check to see if we've got the book in a local horticultural library so I can confirm.

For a specialist project like this, there might be specialist books about apple grafting that you could try?

The new Apple Book

I am passionate about this and have enrolled for a short course on grafting but it does not start until the end of August.

We used to play in this orchard as children and I am delighted that it has been brought back to life after having been neglected for so long. Some wonderful varieties here and they would do very well further south as the Orchard is on the same line of latitude as Moscow!