Gaetano also arranged for us to meet Nicola, the other agronomist that works with him at Pollinaria. Nicola answered a lot of questions related to the care of fruit trees — like when to start pruning (the year after plantation); how far to prune (cut down to just a few main branches that grow symmetrical at the same hight); grafting mature trees and so on —. He then grafted one of the apple trees there, so that we could get how to do it.
We learned that there is a time to collect branches to graft, and a different time to perform the actual graft, as the rootstock and the bud have to be in different moments of the vegetative cycle. And of course, how to select buds to graft.
Unfortunately the time wasn't right to collect branches, because it would be really nice to bring a little bit of Pollinaria with us to Lisbon, and graft some of these amazing trees at our orchard!
We learned that there is a time to collect branches to graft, and a different time to perform the actual graft, as the rootstock and the bud have to be in different moments of the vegetative cycle. And of course, how to select buds to graft.
Unfortunately the time wasn't right to collect branches, because it would be really nice to bring a little bit of Pollinaria with us to Lisbon, and graft some of these amazing trees at our orchard!
Et voilá!, the tree is now ready for spring and to gift us with delicious apples!
Grafting looks so easy at first, but then, to actually do it... well, I guess it's a question of practice. In a couple of years I hope I can do it as easily as Nicola!