Crab Apple thread graft?

[Silentrunning]

I have searched and searched but can’t find any info on this so I guess I’ll just go ahead and expose my ignorance. I have a very nice flowering crab apple that I have in the ground to develop the base. It has no low branches but does have 4 very healthy suckers growing. My question is, can you thread graft the suckers to start some branches close to the base? I would like to chop the tree in 2020 so they would have time to take.

 

[Bananaman]

Absolutely. Most good eating apples are grown on crabapple stock. They are malleable like a Japanese maple and will graft very easily. I have much better success at approach grafting.

But it's very doable!!

 

[Silentrunning]

Absolutely. Most good eating apples are grown on crabapple stock. They are malleable like a Japanese maple and will graft very easily. I have much better success at approach grafting.

But it's very doable!!

Approach grafting it is. What time of the year would be optimal? Zone 7a

 

[Bananaman]

Approach grafting it is. What time of the year would be optimal? Zone 7a

I have no idea about your zones there, hell I still have maples budding in November! Let's just say Spring is always optimal, but you can time it for best weather by a few weeks. The juices will be flowing before the tree shows it.

60 degrees all day is optimal time.

 

[Paulpash]

Absolutely. Most good eating apples are grown on crabapple stock. They are malleable like a Japanese maple and will graft very easily. I have much better success at approach grafting.

But it's very doable!!

If he's grafting a sucker from the base this might be below the union (if it's grafted) so therefore he might not have a crabapple any more? If @Silentrunning is OK with that then all well and good.

FWIW Crabapples backbud profusely post chop - even if there are no visible buds - they are basically flowering elms. Here's one I thread grafted a back branch onto this past season - it curves from the right hand bottom branch to the back of the apex. I did it before bud swell so I could pass the branch through without taking off the buds.. It looks to have taken but I'm leaving it on til I see a more noticeable difference between the entry and exit branches in terms of width. I chopped this tree initially and regrew the whole 'twisty' half of the trunk. Personally I'd chop and regrow from there - making sure it's 3 r 4 inches above the union. Do you know if your tree is grafted @Silentrunning ? A pic might help.

 

[Silentrunning]

I’llget A picture tomorrow

 

[Soldano666]

Air layer.

 

[discusmike]

When you eventually chop the tree you should get a explosion of branches if the tree is healthy