Grafting of trees is an effective way of quickly renewing the garden or to increase the yield and immunity of trees. This procedure is sufficiently simple and with minimal knowledge and the necessary tool, it can be performed by anyone.

Optimal seasons for grafting trees

Fruit trees do not differ in caprice, so they can be grafted within a year, but it should be remembered that most cuttings grafted in winter do not take root with a probability of up to 90%. The most optimal periods for graft are spring (from March to early June) and summer (from the last decade of July to mid-August) when the trees are actively sap flow. Grafting trees in autumn can be more or less successful. The percentage of survival of cuttings is about 50-60 units and depends on the beginning of the period of frost.

Cuttings of trees with stone fruits should be planted from the end of March to the beginning of April and with pome fruits from the beginning of April to the middle of June.

Preparation of cuttings for grafting

Part of the success of the graft depends on the timely preparation of the cuttings. It is best to make them from annual shoots whose thickness is from 5 mm. Additionally on each shoot should be from 3-4 mature buds that are located not far from each other. Ideal sources for cuttings will be healthy trees with good fruitiness or rather external and well-illuminated parts of their crowns.

For cutting cuttings, you can use garden shears or a pruner. During cutting, it is necessary to view the core of each cut, it should not be brown. On average, need to prepare from 35 to 40 cuttings to save most of them when storing the material.  Cuttings for summer grafts are cut on the day of the procedure. Preparation of cuttings for graft in the spring or winter is performed in autumn after all the foliage is opal from the trees but before frost.

The brown color of the core of the cuttings indicates its freezing. Such a cutting cannot be used.

Immediately after preparing the cuttings intended for spring and winter grafting on the site, you need to find a dry place in which water does not accumulate in the spring. At this point, dig a trench depth of 25 cm and put there cuttings that must previously be wrapped in film and then fill them with earth.

After that, cover the trench with straw or fallen leaves. As an alternative storage for cuttings, you can use wooden boxes filled with filings that you need to keep in the basement.

From the repository, cuttings should be removed 2 days before the graft. It is necessary that they are used to changing the temperature.

The simplest methods of grafting trees

There are many technologies for grafting trees, but the most popular and simple ones are the following:

• Copulation;
• Inoculation per cortex.

Copulation. It implies the use of cuttings (for spring grafting) with 2-3 kidneys as a material. An important point in this method is a 100% coincidence of the thickness of cuttings (graft) with the thickness of a branch of a tree or a bush (rootstock) that will be used for grafting. At the same time, both graft and rootstock sections are made at oblique angles and of equal length. The procedure is completed by combining the slices and secure fixation with gauze.

Inoculation per bark. It runs from the end of April to the first half of May. For this, a sharp knife is taken and an incision is made on the branch of the rootstock, and then a little is taken away and a scar is placed in the formed space, covering it with bark. At the last stage, the structure is wound up. The main difference from other methods of grafting is that the thickness of the graft and rootstock can be different.