Save Money, Grow More Food: Learn to Graft

Spring is in the air here in Appalachia. The sap is flowing, and the buds are swelling on the fruit trees, which means it’s grafting season.

There are many types of grafting techniques for many plants, but we will be discussing “whip and tongue” for simplicity’s sake. This is the most common and the one I am most familiar with. However, the world of grafting is complex and diverse, so I encourage you to explore other videos and articles on the subject.

Photo courtesy of Cornell University

Seven trees for the price of one

Grafting your own fruit trees is the best way to save money and build a valuable life skill. Knowing how to graft will be an essential craft in order to prepare for a future based on agriculture. So, get ahead of the game, save yourself a lot of money, and become a great asset to your community. I compiled a table below comparing the cost of buying one Apricot tree from One Green World versus the cost of grafting one yourself from Fruitwood Nursery once you have bought your necessary tools.

My DIY grafting kit.

You can make seven new fruit trees by grafting for the price of one pre-grafted fruit tree. If you consider that most people do not buy just one tree, you could quickly begin amassing a considerable number of trees for very little money. Many nurseries selling rootstocks offer a discount for ordering in bulk. Depending on your goals, you could potentially start a profitable side business selling your own grafted fruit trees considerably lower than the big nurseries (say $20.00 a tree) and still make a decent profit—just saying.

Some grafting terms and tools

Scion: A cutting of twig growth of the desired plant that will be used to graft onto a rootstock. For this post, we will only be using one-year-old