What is Top Grafting - The Permaculture Research … · What is Top Grafting ? ... scion is about pencil thickness, or the thickness of your little finger. ... • Plant companion

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What is

Top Grafting ?Top Grafting ?Many people would like to plant

fruit trees, but often can't find goodtypes. Sometimes the seedlings maycost too much, if you have limitedincome. But difficulty in findinggood fruit trees shouldn't stop youtrying to get them - the solution to theproblem can be found. Raisingrootstock seedlings in the nurserymay take 2-3 years. After grafting, itwill take a few more years beforethey bear fruit. So let's learn an eveneasier way to grow grafted fruit trees.This is called Top Grafting (or topworking).

Top grafting is a method ofgrafting cuttings (scion) fromimproved fruit trees onto appropriatetypes of wild trees which are alreadygrowing in the fields and forests,without needing a nursery. This method is very cheap andeasy, and produces good quality fruit trees which give fruitquickly.

Pear, top graftedonto a wild pear tree

The Farmers' Handbook, "The Fields" Chapter 7 - Top Grafting

WhyWhy doTop Grafting ?

2 3

HowHowMaterials Needed to do Top Grafting

to doTop Grafting ?

• You can grow fruit trees on your own land• You don't have to make a nursery• Many types of less useful wild fruit species

can be made into improved varieties• Trees will fruit sooner and give more fruit than

otherwise• Waste resources can be made into useful ones;• Fruit trees can be grown easily in the forest

You can eat the fruits ofyour labour with fruit trees

plastic

sawrootstock

Healthy, diseasefree, wild fruittrees are called

rootstock.

sharptools secateurs

knife

scion

A cuttingfrom agood fruitingtree is calleda scion.


!

4 5

The methods of top grafting are very similar to that ofgrafting. But while grafting is normally done in a special fruitnursery, top grafting can be done directly on the farmland orin the forest, wherever the appropriate wild fruit trees arefound.

Which types can you top graft onto ?

Local Type What to graft

peach, plum, apricot, almond

Local Type

Local peach

Wild pear

Wild apple(crabapple)

Wild cherry

pear

apple

cherry

What to graft

plum

pear

apple

cherry

apricot

All plants have tiny channels which take water and nutri-ents up to the leaves and down again. These channels areinside the bark but outside the woody part of the stem. Theyform a greenish band around the stem called the cambium.

seen fromabove

wood

cambium

bark

Cross sectionof the inside of

a wild tree

Close-up ofthe cut endof the Scion

wood barkcambium(green)

Cambiumsplits when

bark ispeeled

wood

pith

How does grafting work ?

The Farmers' Handbook, "The Fields" Chapter 7 - Top Grafting6 7

To succeed attop grafting,the cambiumof the scion

and the root-stock mustbe exactlymatched

ScionR

oots

tock

Scio

n

This is how thecambiums are

joined

cambium(green)

cambium (green)

Where to Top Graft ?On farmland, grazing land, or in the forest, wherever

there are suitable wild fruit trees, such as wild peach, wildpear, wild apricot, etc.

When to Top Graft ?Top grafting is usually done when trees have lost their

leaves, in the winter. In lower, warmer places this may be inJanuary (Northern Hemisphere). In higher, colder places thismay be February or March. It is best to top graft about 2-3

weeks before new leaves sprout on the trees.

Top Grafting Method

1. Selecting and preparing the rootstock

• Top grafting can be done on any appropriate local wildfruit tree. The tree shouldbe strong, healthy andfree of disease.

• The cut should be straight and clean.

• After selecting the tree tograft onto, clear awaybrush and weeds fromaround the base, and cutoff any small branchesgrowing from the base.

• Cut down the tree anywhere between 4 inches up to 3feet high above the ground, according to need and theshape of the land.


Let's SeeLet's See

1

The scion is selected from a good fruiting tree. Thescion is about pencil thickness, or the thickness of yourlittle finger.

2. Choosing and selecting the scion

3. Grafting the scionThere are 3 ways to graft

shown in this chapter. They areshown with photos on thefollowing pages.

4. Binding the graftPlastic is used to bind the

scion to the rootstock so air andwater can't get into the graft. If avery large rootstock is used, aseparate piece of plastic is neededto cover the cut section while thescion is bound. This is shown on page 11, photos 6 and 7.

Let's see the 3 methods of top grafting

On the next 7 pages, 3 methods of top grafting are shown.The first method is called bark top grafting, and is on the first4 pages. After this, the second method is called tongue topgrafting, and is shown on 1 page. The third method is calledsplit top grafting and this is shown on 2 pages.

Selecting therootstock

Cutting therootstock

Method 1.

Bark TopGrafting

The cutsection iscleaned

how to doTop Grafting

how to doTop Grafting


2

3

4

6

5

7

From thetop, make a

1-2 inch longvertical cutin the bark.

The scionshould

have 3-5buds on it.

Make a 1-2 inchslanting cut on the

lower end of the scion

Insert the cutend of the scion

into the barkthrough the

vertical cut onthe rootstock.

On a bigrootstock, 2,

3 or morescion can be

grafted.

Spread a pieceof plastic overthe top, and

bind the sciononto the

rootstock withanother piece.

Bind tight soair and watercannot get in.


8

9

2

1

3

12 13

Finally put anotherpiece of plastic over

the top, and bindthis on as well.

This showswhere care is

needed to bind well

Now, graftingwork is finished

on this tree.

When therootstock is

small, as here,only one scion

should begrafted.

The cut on the root-stock and the scionare both slanting andan inch long. In thecentre ofeach cutedge, make a smallnick (tongue). These 2nicks will insert into eachother to hold the graft.

The cambium layerunder the bark of the

rootstock andscion should beexactly aligned

(see p. 5,6)

Bind the graft withplastic, as in theother methods.

scion

tonguerootstockrootstock

tongue

scion

TongueTop

Grafting

Method 2.


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4

5

2

1

3

14 15

4Method 3.

Cleft Top Grafting

Make a cleft inthe middle ofthe cut stem.

Place a sharp toolin the cleft,

taking care not tosplit the stem.

Make an inch-long cut on both

sides of the scion .

the cu

t is 1 in

ch lo

ng

the cu

t is 1 in

ch lo

ng

Insert thesharpened

scion into thecleft. The

cambium ofthe root stock

and scion mustbe exactlymatched.

Finished topgrafting

Bind thegraft withplastic, as

in theother

methods.


6

7

16 17

How tomaintain a

top grafted seedling

After Top Grafting is successful

An improvedpear grafted

onto a wild pearrootstock hassprouted well.

After 4 months,the plastic is

removed. Theseedling is

protected fromlivestock.

Apricot, 2years after

it wasgrafted

onto a localpeach

Aftercare for the grafted tree

• Protect the grafted tree from livestock• Make a round trench around the plant, and use this to give

water and compost. Water as necessary, whenever possible• Mulch thickly around the stem• Plant companion plants around the tree• Pinch or cut off any branches that sprout below the grafted

branch

A grafted fruit treeorchard in Jajarkot, Nepal

Here, vegetablesare grown under

the fruit trees.

After Top Grafting is successful MaintenanceMaintenance


Various plants, such as garlic, onion, marigold, basil,mint, lemon grass, comfrey, coriander, fennel, dill and worm-wood can be planted around the fruit tree, which help it togrow well and give better production.

• Companion plants help to protect from harmful pests

• They attract beneficial insects

• They produce vegetables, herbs, nectar for bees, etc.

• They can be cut and used as a mulch

• They can be stacked densely in different layers

• They help to balance the environment

• They help to conserve soil moisture

• They prevent too many weeds from growing

Companion Planting

Benefits of Companion Planting

There is more information about this inthe Fruit Tree Planting Method chapter

Protect the tree from livestock

Darn ! I'd loveto peck at thoseleaves, but no

chanceHow toeat it ?

Make a small trench around the grafted tree.Use this to give water and compost as needed.

There is more information about this inthe Fruit Tree Planting Method chapter

Give water and compost

water compost


Now your fruit treecan grow well. Tohelp it more, pruneit once a year in thewinter. Give it abasket of compostat the same time.

Maintenance needed each year

compostcompost

Pruning the tree

Remove any branches that sprout from therootstock. More information about pruning is

given in the Fruit Tree Planting chapter.

On a big tree, many scions can be grafted

Top grafted branches are shown

One branch from therootstock is left

uncut at first. Thishelps to pull waterand nutrients from

the roots for the newgrafts. After the

grafts have sproutedwell, this branch can

be cut off.

Manyscions canbe grafted

onto atrunk in this way.


Grafting and Budding chapters

Information about varioussimple methods to grow improvedfruit varieties at home for plantingon the farm are given in these chap-ters.

Subjects Related to Top GraftingThis book provides enough information for you to be

able to do your own top grafting on fruit trees. However, thisinformation is also linked to other methods. For extra benefitslet's read, learn and practice from other related chapters.

Read On !Read On !

Grafting andBuddingchapters

Fruit Nurserychapter

IntegratedFruit Orchardchapter

Fruit TreePlanting chapter

Top Graftingchapter

Agroforestrychapter

22 23

æææææ

ÆÆÆÆÆ

Mr Tek BahadurKhadka

Farmers'ExperienceFarmers'Experience

From Jajarkot district,Khalanga -5, Pokhora village inNepal, Mr Tek BahadurKhadka has done plenty of topgrafting. Now let's read abouthis experiences.

Tek Bahadur Khadka

I work for the HomesteadProgramme (JPP) in 6 VDCs ofJajarkot district. At first I didn't thinkthis method would work, but aftertraining and starting work, I like it alot. I now teach this in the villages. Istarted by top grafting pear onto the wild pear that growshere. At first we used to cut these wild pear down as wethought they were useless. Now we top graft them and havemade a fruiting orchard out of the forest. Before, you'd seejust a few pear trees in the village. Now there are hundreds oftrees, and everyone knows how to do top grafting - even inplaces where I've never been to teach. And it turns the wildpear into a useful tree. You don't have to buy fruit seedlings,and they fruit quickly. Everyone likes the method in thevillages, it's so easy. You don't need any strange tools, and cando it in your own village area.

Gri

hast

hi C

omm

unic

atio

ns

Integrated Fruit Orchard chapter

Information is given in this chapter abouthow to plant fruit trees with various other multi-purpose trees to give more and quicker benefitsfor less work.

Fruit Tree Planting chapterAfter raising good seedlings in the fruit

nursery, if they're not planted well all the workcan go to waste. Information about fruit treeplanting is given in this chapter.

Agroforestry chapter

Planting trees on farmland can bringfarmers many benefits. But you can't plant anytype of tree, nor anywhere. This chapter givesinformation on how to plant trees withoutaffecting farm yield.

Fruit Nursery chapter

In this chapter learn how to make a nurs-ery and grow your own fruit rootstock at homefor grafting and budding.

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What is Top Grafting - The Permaculture Research … · What is Top Grafting ? ... scion is about pencil thickness, or the thickness of your little finger. ... • Plant companion