hubops wrote:
The seeds I planted and actually grew (not a natural green thumber)
were all from decades old trees....at least 50 years old or older.
They just don't make em like this any more and I'm old enough to
know that....so since they're growing anyway, I'll just wait and
see what happens. Who knows....maybe nothing. But it's worth the
try. Donna in WA


I'm jumping in late to this thread .. sorry. Can anyone say
whether-or-not directly planting "branch-clones" of old fruit trees
will produce the same fruit of the original tree ? "branch clones"
being the result of girding & rooting a branch _ON_ a fruit tree -
then cutting and re-planting it. .. or does this rooty-branch need to
be grafted to a strong root stock ? later on. The property where I
grew up has some ancient fruit trees - 3 or 4 apple and 1 winter pear
- that might be worth preserving. John T



It should work. If you want to search for information, the technical
term is "air layering". I air layered a magnolia limb when i was a kid
just to see if i could. The resulting magnolia tree in my parents' yard
is pretty big now.

You could also harvest some "bud wood" or "scion wood" and graft it to
another apple tree to keep the old variety going.

HTH,
bob