book3 600x120 7

by Bradford Scott
(Vernal Utah)

Does a grafted branch produce the fruit of the tree it is grafted into?

Comments for Grafting

Jan 01, 2015
Rules to graft by
by: Jacki

Oddly, the only thing that the stock contributes is some kinds of growth characteristics, such as dwarfing.

The scion, which is the stick that is grafted onto the stock will continue to produce what it’s genetically disposed to do and the fruit will be that variety.

So, if your rootstock is a dwarfing variety, and you graft on a Granny Smith scion, a Golden Delicious scion and a Gala scion, each of those will produce fruit of that variety, even though the branch may grow in a smaller version.

This doesn’t have any effect on the fruit itself size wise or flavor, but the growth of the scion will be affected.

Sometimes, the dwarfing rootstock is itself grafted onto another rootstock that will contribute resistance to certain diseases or pests.