On 01/12/2017 22:47, wrote:
On Thursday, 30 November 2017 11:32:22 UTC, Martin Brown wrote:
On 30/11/2017 00:39, tabbypurr wrote:
Hi everyone.


I'd like to explain in the simplest possible terms how to grow a
grafted tree of 40 different fruit to someone that knows nothing
about gardening. And I don't know all the details myself! The

40 sounds a bit of a push unless you allow different varieties of the
same fruit. I suppose a multistemmed variety of wild prunus with as many
prunus cultivars bud grafted onto long supported stems might get you
there. Does it have to be 40? You will spend most of the time just
reading out all the names. 3 or 4 is a lot more practical.

audience will include interested children as well as adults. I don't
need to touch on details they can learn for themselves.

Help!

Family apple trees usually limit themselves to 3 or 4 since you have to
match the vigour of the stock scion pair to the next tier down and there
is a limit to how much top growth the rootstock can support.

They also need careful watching or one variety will run away - usually
the one directly connected to the rootstock. I have Sunset on Egremont
Russet on M9 and it works very well even though the russet is dominant.

That's 3 if you allowed a rootstock sucker to fruit as well.

There are trees with 40 on, I just need to explain how to do it as simply as possible

There are, but they are done by artists and will surely be very short
lived and fragile. Family trees of 4 or 5 fruit varieties are about the
realistic limit for grafting with apples and pears.

You have to pick the order carefully so that each one is approximately
suited to the vigor of the previous stock if they are grafted as a chain
or take one vigourous established rootstock tree and bud graft a whole
load of things onto it and pray. Eventually you may be rewarded.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/...g-fruit-trees/

The grafting step is no different to any other sort of grafting. The
choice of varieties that will cohabit peacefully is much more tricky. I
don't expect the artist who did this really cares about that so long as
it looks absolutely fantastic for one season.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown