good morning,
chick dreamer,
I am new to this, .. but I did have success with the elderberries, so if I select the right cuttings from the apples I should have some success there, too.
there are utube demo's for this also.
check out propagating apple by rooting,
or taking scions of apple trees.
but here it is the way I do it.
right now, while the trees are still dormant:
go and cut several of this year's growth branches .
I take them inside to do the final cutting.
you want scions that are about pencil thick, more or less..
I kept some as large as a penny.
cut the bottom right close to a bud, (node) at an angle.
make the cut on the opposite side of the node.
now move up the twig about 10 inches. find a node in that area. cut above the node about an inch or so. make this cut flat across .
when it comes to planting, you can tell top from bottom by the angle cut.
they will not grow if you plant them upside down.
you will need some planting medium about 10 inches deep.
I used potting soil for my first try. it worked, but the pail was very heavy to handle.
for the next pail full I used equal parts of peat moss and perlite. (or vermiculite)
I use a 5 gal pail.
Push the scions to the bottom of the pail through the mixture..
this should leave just one node above the top of the soil.
stick them in as many as you have. I try to leave an inch or so between them.. it really doesn't matter..
the worst thing that can happen is that the roots could become entangled. that would be a blessing.. just pull them apart gently at transplanting time.
after they are all in the soil, water it down very generously.
from this point you want the root end kept moist , not soggy .. this is difficult to judge. but at first it doesn't matter either, because you can also root the scions by just sticking them in plain water.. I did not have any luck with that method.
to give you an edge, you can buy a bottle of rooting powder. any kind or brand is OK.
apply this just before you push the scions into the dirt.
what I found with my old trees is that there is no such thing as a straight pencil sized scion.
just do the best you can.
.........jiminwisc........
