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cas_sowinski

grafting question

10 years ago

is it ok to graft fruit trees onto non fruit trees, like apple onto birch or maple>

thx,

cas

Comments (5)

  • 10 years ago

    Unfortunately not. Apple should be grafted on apple , pear on pear...etc.

  • 10 years ago

    Grafting requires the use of genetically compatible stock to be successful, as explained briefly above. The more genetically distant the graft (scion) is from the tree base (root stock), the more
    likely the graft will fail, whether immediately or shortly after.
    Grafting plant material that is from the same plant will have perfect or
    nearly perfect success, grafting within the same species has a very good but
    lower rate of success, grafting within the same genus will have quite a
    bit less success, and grafting between botanical families is generally
    considered to be physiologically impossible.

    It's a bit like organ transplants with humans :-) A kidney from an immediate family member should be fine; a kidney from a total stranger may be OK, maybe not. A kidney from a dog won't work at all!!

  • 10 years ago

    I have grafted several varieties of apple onto one tree, pears onto an apple, nectarines on a peach, and apricots onto a plum. Typically fruits with the same seed structure (seed or pit) will have some success but yes, different varieties on the same species are far more reliable.

  • 10 years ago
    last modified: 10 years ago

    Generally it is possible for all stone fruit species to be grafted onto each other, but some are more compatible than others. Grafting incompatibility shows up as severe stunting, and often the graft, even if it seems to do well initially, will wither and die a few years later. Cherry usually has to be grafted onto myrobalan plum, and slower growing scion species (like peach) are more likely to fail on a faster growing rootstock species. It is possible to graft tart cherry onto sweet cherry but this is not considered to be very compatible. (sweet cherry can also be grafted onto flowering cherry) In some cases it is possible for apple to be grafted onto pear, or pear onto quince, but this only works with some varieties. I've even read about loquat being grafted onto apple, and pear on medlar. Normally apple and pear are not considered compatible though. It's easy to graft apple onto crabapple, or pear onto ornamental pear. All citrus can be grafted onto each other, but generally people seem to find grapefruit has a somewhat lower degree of compatibility with the others.

  • 10 years ago

    thank You