When we moved to our current address several years ago, in the back grew one apple tree. It was a misshapen, poorly pruned tree, (at least by my criteria). And though the tree was highly productive, the apples were terrible -- a poster child for bitter pit. I'll say more about bitter pit in another blog, but the poor apple quality drove me to finally stop being afraid of grafting. I determined that I could add another variety of apple to the tree that I'd prefer, replace the apple I didn't like, (couldn't eat) with one tasty and disease free.
About five years ago I finally took the plunge, buying scion wood from Michael Dolan of Burnt Ridge Nursery, a guru of tree and shrub edibles and an anchor of the Olympia Farmer's Market. I selected five apple varieties:
• Red Gravenstein
• Liberty
• Golden Russet
• Spitzenberg
• Tydeman's Early
After deciding how I'd partition the tree and how I'd mark the different varieties, (colored tape), I starting grafting, one variety per section. I tested several different techniques and achieved adequate success -- maybe 50% each. The next summer a friend asked if I could save some fruit wood from a tree likely to be cut down, and I was able to successfully bud graft a sixth variety -- we think it is "Burgundy" -- into the tree. Since then I've grafted more of each into the tree and appear to mostly have a good showing; my rate of success in improving.
I am determined to reduce further the original tree. I'll have to make several harsh stub cuts, and onto each stub I will graft more stock. While I will not fully transform the tree, I hope to make the original tree significantly less dominant. I want to add one more variety, one I found in an orchard that seems to ripen late and keep well; it will probably replace Tydeman's Early, which on my tree is not thriving. Watch for updates.
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