On Thursday, February 20, 2014 11:09:06 PM UTC-8, David E. Ross wrote:
On 2/20/2014 9:13 PM, Guv Bob wrote:

"David E. Ross" wrote in message ...

On 2/19/2014 2:11 PM, Guv Bob wrote:



What kind of trees can I graft an apple branch onto? In the yard I

have meyers lemon, avocado and a living fake-orange tree stock that

had a real orange branch grafted onto originally.





You have to graft to a closely related plant. Apple to pear, rose,

quince, and crabapple are possible. (My mother had three different

varieties of rose all grafted to the same apple stock.) Even apple to

loquat might work.



The best would be to an apple seedling. The seedling would unlikely

bear fruit similar to its parent but might have strong roots. This is

how apples are propagated for commercial orchards.



No, you cannot graft an apple to citrus or avocado. It just won't work.



Note also that less than half of the attempts to graft even the best

like-to-like actually succeed, except possibly for the most experienced

orchardists.





Thanks David. My neighbor has a couple of trees that have the

sweetest apples I have ever had. I didn't know apple trees would

grow at sea level until moved here. The current residents let them

rot on the tree like typical city folks. Previous neighbor had

planted the trees and took care of them for many years.



Growing up in the mountains of NC in the 60's, I remember watching my

uncle graft all kinds of fruit and nut trees. Said he learned from

the "old timers."





If the trees are getting a good crop in a coastal, mild-winter area,

they are a "garden variety", not a commercial variety.

Older couple I knew got truly unbelievable apples from their tree in the middle of downtown Los Angeles which in summer can get HOT and in winter would never get the requisite "winter chill" that AFAIK, apples are supposed to need.

Never did ask them what variety, dernit. Dunno if they are still around.
OMG, if tree could do that well down there, couldn't it do better out here by the sea with milder all-round weather.

Speaking of winter chilld, after years of yearning for blueberries, when they finally developed blueberries that supposedly did not require so much winter chill, I bought a couple of bushes from my nabe nursery, but they did not do well in 2nd & 3rd years. Sigh!

HB

HB