How to Graft Different Fruit Trees

Orange trees are among the trees that can be successfully grafted.

Fruit trees can deliver color and flavor to your home garden. In order to successfully grow a bountiful harvest, however, it's important to graft fruit trees with wood from another mature tree. Grafting between trees of two different varieties allows you to have multiple fruit on the same tree. One method of grafting, the cleft graft, is particularly popular when grafting two different fruit trees together.

Things You'll Need

• Knife
• Grafting wax

Instructions

1. Prepare a scion that is 3 to 4 inches long; a scion is a small piece of wood from a tree that has previously shown strong growth. Make two tapering cuts 1 to 2 inches long at one end of the scion using a knife--one on each side of the scion.

2. Cut off a branch on the rootstock, the tree in which the scion will be inserted. Make the cut squarely across, not at an angle.

3. Make a vertical cut across the top of the rootstock using a knife or grafting chisel that reaches 2 to 3 inches deep.

4. Insert a knife or chisel into the cut to keep it pried open.

5. Place the scion into the cut, making sure that the cambium layer on the scion and the rootstock are in contact. The cambium layer is a thin layer of growth just under the bark. Remove the knife or chisel from the cut to allow it to close around the scion.

6. Cover all cut surfaces with a grafting wax.

References

• Pennsylvania State University: Grafting and Propagating Fruit Trees

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish