PUT TOGETHER AN ORCHARD BY YOURSELF!
A beginner's guide to grafting trees, planning an orchard and growing traditional varieties.
 |
The Cider Press: Although making your own cider does require some patience and a little elbow grease (even if the little folks lend a hand), the results make all that effort seem well worth it.
|
Learn how to graft apple trees and grow the
old-time varities.
RELATED CONTENT
Plant a fall garden to get a six-month jump on spring gardening chores....
A guide to growing apples ecologically, including antique versus modern varieties, resisting diseas...
In a recent study on the quality of organic wheat vs. conventional wheat, Swiss and Austrian scient...
It's been known for years that organic farming is better for the environment than conventional grow...
By Katherine C. Rhee
Sweetbough, Black Gilliflower, Sops of Wine, Adam's Pearain
— these old apple varieties were introduced to our
country by the first settlers from France and England.
American farmers selected the most vigorous and
disease-resistant of these seedlings to grow in their own
orchards, and anxiously awaited their first autumn harvest.
After examining their bounty, farmers found that although
the apples were small and roughlooking, they nevertheless
held an aromatic smell and a tart, crisp taste. Then in the
late 1700s, New York and New England farmers found that by
experimenting with their farming methods, they could make
all sorts of new varieties. And they did. Thanks to these
inventive apple breeders, we were blessed with a dizzying
variety of apples to choose from.
Only you won't find too many of the old-fashioned apples in
supermarkets today. Sadly, these apples are getting harder
and harder to find. They haven't vanished altogether,
though — people who find modern apples as boring as
boiled potatoes are on a mission to bring these old
varieties back by grafting and replanting them in their own
orchards and gardens.
Now if you're planning to grow old varieties of apples in
your own orchard, understand that almost all of these are
complex hybrids, which means their seeds won't grow up to
be anything like the parent tree. So in order to reproduce
a particular variety of apples, a nurseryperson must take a
piece of that grafting stock and graft it onto another tree
(the rootstock). Thanks to grafting techniques, it has been
possible to keep old-time apple varieties true-to-parent
for centuries.
Today there are retail nurseries which carry grafted trees
of old apple varieties, particularly the Mailing series
(see "Where to Order" for a list of nurseries and their
addresses). It's really quite simple to produce your own
grafted trees, and you can do it for next to nothing
(except, of course, for an expenditure of time and
patience) if you grow your own seedling rootstock and
collect grafting stock from your favorite wild or abandoned
trees.
Most people do their actual grafting during the winter, but
there's plenty of planning to do over the fall. First,
you'll have to select which types of rootstocks you want to
use. It's not a bad idea (and plenty of fun) to go around
to different orchards and fruitstands this fall to do a
little taste-testing.
There are a few different ways you can go about it. You can
graft onto an apple tree which is already growing on your
place. If you want small, early-bearing trees, or
extra-hardy ones for your orchard, you can buy special
rootstock. Or if you want named varieties of apples, like
the types described in the table, grafting stock can be
purchased by mail order. For the price of four or five
conventional apple trees, you can buy rootstock and
grafting stock for an orchard of 50 trees of the most
unique and choice sorts!
Page: 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Next >>
