I have been grafting and budding my own fruit trees for a while, and im thinking of branching out (boom tish) into ornamental trees. Anybody have any experience in this field? Where would I find suitable rootstocks, etc? Cheers.
@johnnymarone - I'd love to get into what you're already doing. I've got some land and would like half a dozen apple, a few pear and plum trees.
What are my must go-to resources.
Obviously, I can give you eff all help with your ask 🙂
I got into it because I wanted to grow lots of different varieties of apple in a small space, so started grafting my own trees and grow them as an inclined cordon.
The basic process is quite simple, all youd need are a rootstock, a scion ( twig or bud of the variety you want to grow), razor sharp knife and some grafting tape.
If you want more info or pointers you can DM me here. I usually get around a 70% strike rate when I graft trees,i find it very interesting and its a great way to carry forward memories, such as taking a piece of a favourite tree when you move house, growing a piece of a tree which belonged to dead parents, etc.
And if you want to make plum trees, you are in luck, because the best time to do those is late summer, july/ August time in my experience. Apples and pears are best done in late winter, just before the buds break.