Spring is the best time for grafting fruit trees, me and my dad started grafting pear trees, we grafted 6 to our quince tree and today April 18, we decided to graft a new pear scion so i'm going to show you step by step how to do it, If you are not too familiar with grafting, it's the technique of inserting a scion of a fruit tree into a slit in a branch of another tree and letting them grow together as one tree, this procedure allows you to obtain a healthy tree with strong deep roots that produce tastier fruits, it also results in fast production of fruits so you won't have to start with a young tree and wait years for it to grow and produce fruits, and what i find cool about grafting is that you can have different types of fruits all in one tree, just amazing!

You will need:

- Pruning saw : https://amzn.to/2LRx0f7

- Grafting knife: https://amzn.to/2VKfnSW

- Pruning shears: https://amzn.to/2LSWzws

-Masking tape: https://amzn.to/2Vz9hjh

- Graft wax: https://amzn.to/2LTTPyA

-Spreading knife: https://amzn.to/2LUUoIL

Step 1: Quince Tree

Before i start with the steps i want to say that the reason we chose to graft the pear scion to a quince tree is because quince trees have strong deep roots that are resistant to a lot of diseases, insects and excess water so they are perfect for grafting, it's also important to pick an old healthy quince tree, ours is 10 years old and produces high quality quinces that we mostly use to make quince jam, so delicious!

So we started by examining the quince tree then we chose a branch with a diameter of 3 cm. the branch that will hold the pear scion is called a rootstock.

Step 2: Cutting the Branch

My dad brought a pruning saw and started cutting the branch horizontally, it must be 1 meter long.

Step 3: Cleaning

After cutting the branch, the surface needs to be cleaned, so he took a sharp grafting knife and started removing the small pieces that were sticking up until the surface become completely flat and even.

Step 4: Making a Slit

After that he took the same grafting knife and made a vertical slit of 5 cm on the branch then carefully pushed the spatula end of the grafting knife inside it a little bit to make room for the scion to be inserted.

Step 5: Pear Scion

We went to the pear tree, picked the scion that we are going to graft that has no leaves growing out of the buds, my dad cut the scion branch from the tree with sharp pruning shears, it had 6 buds so he made another cut to leave only 3 buds on the scion.

Step 6: Pruning

He then took the grafting knife and started pruning the tip of the scion until it's a wedge shape.

Step 7: Inserting the Scion

We then returned to the quince tree, my dad took the scion and inserted the wedge shaped end slowly into the slit that he made earlier in the branch of the quince tree.

Step 8: Covering With Tape

To protect the scion and keep everything in place, he took a masking tape and started wrapping it around the rootstock until the slit is completely covered.

Step 9: Sealing

Now to finish the graft he took a graft wax and applied it on the flat surface of the rootstock then spread it evenely with a spreading knife. the grafting wax helps to heal the wounds and makes a barrier to prevent the loss of sap.

Step 10: That's It

And that's it, if you follow these steps you should have a successful graft and you'll notice leaves growing out of the buds after 3 weeks.

Step 11: Results

I took these photos on May 15, after about a month of grafting the pear scion and as you can see fresh green leaves started growing out of the buds.

Step 12: Before and After Photos

I put the before and after photos side by side so you can see the results better.

Step 13: Old Grafts

I also want to show you these old pear grafts that we did on the same quince tree.

Step 14: Graft Video

I filmed a video of the graft results and my dogs wanted to be in it, Lol! Anyway, i hope you enjoyed this grafting tutorial and found it informative, Bye Bye ❤️

CHRISTMAS!
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