Lawrence Weston is a Professional Work Placement working at RHS Rosemoor. Here, he describes the propagation work they are doing
Rosemoor is home to the National Collection of Devon apples, as well as a significant collection of other quality apple cultivars, displayed as both open grown orchard trees, and in a variety of trained forms. We have spent the winter months planning additions to our orchards, and have sourced scion wood of interesting varieties for propagation and grafted them onto rootstocks. Grafting is an ancient art of propagation used to pre-determine the characteristics of a tree, ensuring the fruit quality is identical to the mother plant, and regulating the size/disease resistance. Trees are best propagated in this manner during the dormant winter period when not in leaf, so as not to dry out your material via evaporation before the grafting wound has time to callous over. However, looking forward to the height of summer there is another technique for readers to try out called budding. Budding is a widely employed horticultural practice for the propagation of apple trees, offering a precise and efficient method to reproduce desired apple varieties. This technique involves grafting a single bud or a bud along with a small piece of bark, known as a bud shield, onto a rootstock. The rootstock serves as the foundation for the new tree, providing it with a robust and disease-resistant root system. The chosen bud carries the genetic characteristics of the desired apple variety, ensuring that the propagated tree retains the desirable traits of its parent.
The budding process typically occurs during the growing season when the bark is most easily separated from the rootstock. July and August are the optimal time for this to take place. When propagating at Rosemoor we will carefully make a T-shaped incision on the rootstock and insert the bud into the cut, securing it with a binding material, such as grafting tape. Strips of clear polythene from a plastic bag can also be used by home gardeners. As the growing season progresses, the bud develops into a new shoot, and the union between the bud and rootstock heals and strengthens. This method of propagation allows for the rapid multiplication of apple trees with consistent fruit quality, disease resistance, and other desired traits. It is important that you carefully note which bud on the rootstock is from the desired apple, and the following season you may benefit from rubbing out all other buds on the rootstock that aren
