I'm nervous and looking preemptively for a little advice ---
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My parents have a neighbor who has an amazing apple orchard - many unusual, heirloom type varieties, and I've picked apples there the past few years. The owner is about 90 years old and one of those living repositories of knowledge (about apples in this case), it's amazing.
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Anyway, he mailed me scions for Penchant apples for me to graft onto my own small (three years old) apple trees - he went over how to graft with me during my last orchard visit, and I have The Apple Grower and have looked up Cooperative Extension articles about how to graft so I feel somewhat confident that things will go well tomorrow when I try to graft them. I know the success rate for a first-timer is supposed to be less than 50%, and hitting that would make me very happy.Â
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I am a little worried about finding grafting supplies. The Apple Grower says I should use surgical rubber and grafting wax or "asphalt based tree-dressing." Also a very sharp knife, and mine are dull, but I can solve that one pretty well. I'm less certain about the surgical rubber and grafting wax. I wish I'd looked up supplies before the scions arrived, so I could have ordered things or etc.Â
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Has anyone grafted, and if so, did you have success using some other techniques/tools? I'll be calling our local nursery and a few shops around town tomorrow, but I have a hunch I'll be lucky to get the grafting wax, let alone "surgical rubber."Â
