very rare apple tree question

wexfordamatuer · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:13 am Post subject: very rare apple tree question

Good Afternoon all, just recently discovered this site, since i've recently moved by from UK and built a house on family land. to cut a long story short there is a few apple trees well over 80 years of age in the orchard. I only know one variety and that is beauty of bath apples. Now the main tree itself is dead, but there is a few new shoots coming from the base of existing tree. Can anyone advise a suitable donor tree to graft these new shoots onto, so I can plant them in my new garden.

Regards

tippben · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 1:57 pm Post subject:

I'd contact http://irishseedsavers.ie/ as rootstock vigour varies. You could use straight Malus sylvestris, but the guys at seedsavers do this kind of thing on a large scale, and are probably the largest experience bank in Ireland regarding apple varieties and grafting.

wexfordamatuer · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 2:04 pm Post subject:

Great thanks

medieval knievel · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:05 pm Post subject:

if they're coming from the base of the existing tree, that may just be the rootstock sprouting rather than the variety which was grafted on.
if they're 80 years old, it may be hard to tell where the graft was by now.

michael brenock · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 10:37 pm Post subject:

the new shoots emerging are probably from the rootstock You could use these as rootstocks by putting soil up around them to encourage rooting. Get a tree of Beauty of bath and either bud on or graft onto these rooted rootstocks.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)