Low budding leaves

[Todd Ziegler]

One of my apple trees (Rubinette) is leafing out 2"-3" above the graft union and after 6 weeks has failed to leaf out any higher. I scraped the top half and it's still green underneath. Should I prune the top part off or leave it be. I included a picture so all of you experts can see what I am talking about. Thanks

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

how long ago was this grafted?

if done this year i think giving it another month to show more growth may be good, but eventually cutting off the top portion a few bud nodes above where the leaves are may be in order.

edited to add: if it was grafted this year, you only want to use a scion that has 3-5 buds. anymore than that & the top portion of the scion won't get the needed water/sap to get it growing further up.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

how long ago was this grafted?

if done this year i think giving it another month to show more growth may be good, but eventually cutting off the top portion a few bud nodes above where the leaves are may be in order.

edited to add: if it was grafted this year, you only want to use a scion that has 3-5 buds. anymore than that & the top portion of the scion won't get the needed water/sap to get it growing further up.

I am not sure how old they are but I think they are 1 year old. I got them from raintreenursery.com

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

hmmmm...i have 5 of their trees & i don't remember mine being so small or behind in growth like that when i got them a couple years ago.

they look like they could have been grown a year from grafting but i thought Raintree gave them a couple years to grow out before they sold them to people. that way they would be at or about blooming stage for home growers.

i'd give it a little more time to grow out. have you looked at the buds to see if there is any swelling? how does the rest of the stick look? does it look shriveled at all?

 

[Todd Ziegler]

hmmmm...i have 5 of their trees & i don't remember mine being so small or behind in growth like that when i got them a couple years ago.

they look like they could have been grown a year from grafting but i thought Raintree gave them a couple years to grow out before they sold them to people. that way they would be at or about blooming stage for home growers.

i'd give it a little more time to grow out. have you looked at the buds to see if there is any swelling? how does the rest of the stick look? does it look shriveled at all?

I checked and none of the buds above what is already leafing out are swollen. The stem its self above the leaves is green and supple. My other 2 trees bloomed and I hand pollinated them. I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't resist seeing if I would get an apple or two. I will wait a few months and see what happens. I don't think letting it go for a couple months will hurt anything.

 

[Nyboy]

Are you sure new growth is above graft ?

 

[Todd Ziegler]

Are you sure new growth is above graft ?

Absolutely! I got down on the ground to look because I thought it might be the roots suckering

 

[thistlebloom]

What Chickie said.

I do see an issue with your planting hole though. The trees rootball appears to have
shrunk away from the side of the planting hole. This would let air in around the roots and dry them out before they can knit into the surrounding soil. I would water well and try to eliminate that border pocket, then mulch the entire root zone 2" deep.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

What Chickie said.

I do see an issue with your planting hole though. The trees rootball appears to have
shrunk away from the side of the planting hole. This would let air in around the roots and dry them out before they can knit into the surrounding soil. I would water well and try to eliminate that border pocket, then mulch the entire root zone 2" deep.

Thanks. I noticed that too. How far away from the base of the tree should I keep the mulch?

 

[thistlebloom]

Two or three inches from the trunk is good.