Can we save our family's cherished old APPLE TREE??

[JimmySimmy]

Here are some pics of the sorry old apple tree in our garden.

It's one of a pair, and we had a tree surgeon (a young guy) recently say it was done for, and would need to be cut down at some point.

What do you think?

This tree provided us many awful sour apples, and also broke my brothers arm, and also once perched a froggy on a branch, from which me and another naughty child forced it to jump from, into a bucket.... (it managed to do so, and we let it go free. Sorry for the former part)

Over lockdown we realised what was up, too late perhaps. My mum also told me to harvest the last apple it would ever produce. So I decided to ritualise it and wait til the next day. It was the only red apple I've ever seen on that tree that I can remember.

the next day it was gone, eaten by birds... or squirrels?

So, I feel a responsiblity to post here to see if we can save it - can we?

Edited August 21, 2020 by JimmySimmy

[Mik the Miller]

Graft it across to some root stock ... apple tree grafting

 

 

[Rushes]

I would recommend that you get a few snips of grannys tree and graft them. You can do if yourself or pay someone to do it. It is the right time of year.  A graft is when you get a rooted young tree stalk and bond a slither of granny's tree to it.  This snip of Granny's tree then becomes a new apple tree.

 

Grannys tree is stuck in the ground and the decking gives it little water - it's not really going to get better, You could prune it, but I think this would very short term. It will grow sprouts and die. It is old and unhappy.

 

So buy a generous apple tree and plant it in ground where it stands a chance, take a graft from granny mean tree for the memory and cut down the original when it looks like it's going to fail [not long - in fact storm Ellen would have done for it had it had more leaves] - so you got lucky.

 

You willl get apples from the new one and the mean Granny tree renewed from the graft.

Tree's are wonderful things. Memories and even sometimes fruit.

Wait long enough and the graft of the Granny tree may break one of your offsprings arm - this is what trees can be.

 

Just do it.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Rushes

[sime42]

I agree with the grafting, everything about the idea. Except the time of year. In my understanding this isn't the right time of year. It should be February/March, when the tree is dormant but just about to start regrowing for the year.

[sime42]

Grafting ornamental plants and fruit trees

WWW.RHS.ORG.UK

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The purpose of grafting is to combine one plant's qualities of flowering or fruiting with the roots of another that offers vigour and resilience. This is a difficult task and requires lots of skill and practice. In most cases, trees and shrubs are available to buy already grafted onto a rootstock.

[sime42]

But I may be wrong .......

[sime42]

This says summer to autumn for chip and T- budding. I've only ever done whip- and-tongue grafting.

[Peasgood]

The fungus brackets are a sure sign it is doomed.

[AHPP]

Hack fvck out of it it. You may be surprised. Apples are tough trees. Silky Fox pruning saw somewhere around £30. A tool worth having anyway.

[eggsarascal]

Out of the few I had I my last garden two were a lot worse than that and still yielded a good crop, I had a local bloke in to prune them each winter.