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Seeds
Grafting
55XM

Buy scion / bud wood for grafting

Order wood from a selection of fruit tree varieties growing in our North Canterbury forest garden

Season closed / out of stock

Thanks for your interest. We are not supplying grafting material at this time.

Currently out of stock, try back next season

Almond - Paper Shell scion / bud wood

Almond - Paper Shell scion / bud wood

Details   Sweet almonds with easy to open shell (no tools required). Self fertile.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     almond  scion 
Out of stock
Apple - Boskoop scion / bud wood

Apple - Boskoop scion / bud wood

Details   Heritage variety introduced in the 1850s in the Netherlands. Large fruit suitable for cooking or eating fresh.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     apple  scion 
Learn More Out of stock
Apple - Braeburn scion / bud wood

Apple - Braeburn scion / bud wood

Details   The Braeburn apple is a popular and well-known variety of apple known for its unique flavour profile and attractive appearance. It is believed to have originated in New Zealand in the early 1950s as a chance seedling. Since then, it has gained popularity and is now grown in various apple-producing regions around the world.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     apple  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Apple - Freyberg scion / bud wood

Apple - Freyberg scion / bud wood

Details   A yellow green skin with some russeting. A juicy, aromatic apple with, creamy white flesh with a firm texture. Flavour is a combination of apple, pear and banana with a touch of anise and liquorice.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     apple  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Apple - Fuji scion / bud wood

Apple - Fuji scion / bud wood

Details   A large, sweet, crisp, fine textured, and complexly flavoured apple. This vigorous tree produces excellent eating fruit that store very well. A late season apple, Fuji has eating qualities that are similar to Red Delicious. Requires 500 chilling hours to set fruit. Tip bearing.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     apple  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Apple - Granny Smith scion / bud wood

Apple - Granny Smith scion / bud wood

Details   The classic late season green apple that ripens to a pale preen-yellow. great for eating fresh or cooked although skins can be a little tough.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     apple  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Apple - Irish Peach scion / bud wood

Apple - Irish Peach scion / bud wood

Details   Irish Peach is a very early season apple. It has good natural resistance to many of the diseases that affect apple trees. For such an early apple, the flavour is good, although like all early varieties it really needs to be eaten straight from the tree.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     apple  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Apple - Kentish Fillbasket Scion / Bud Wood

Apple - Kentish Fillbasket Scion / Bud Wood

Details   Very large pale-green apple with red streaks. Excellent for dessert or processing. Vigorous disease-resistant tree. Mid-late season ripener - usually March.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Harvest     March  
Related info Out of stock
Apple - Royal Gala scion / bud wood

Apple - Royal Gala scion / bud wood

Details   The Royal Gala apple is a popular variety of apple known for its sweet and crisp flavour, making it a favourite among many apple enthusiasts. It is one of the most widely grown apple cultivars in the world.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     apple  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Apple - Yellow crab scion / bud wood

Apple - Yellow crab scion / bud wood

Details   Small yellow fruit that hang on the tree late into winter. Attractive food for birds and useful for pollination. Unknown variety found growing wild on a North Canterbury roadside.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Price for 4 or more   $3.30  each if you buy 4 or more
Tags     scion 
Related info Out of stock
Apricot - Jumbo scion / bud wood

Apricot - Jumbo scion / bud wood

Details   A chance seedling grown in 2009 that produces huge fruit with a free stone. Best eaten fresh a some fibre near the stone.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Price for 4 or more   $3.00  each if you buy 4 or more
Tags     apricot  scion  stone fruit 
Related info Out of stock
Apricot – Moorpark scion / bud wood

Apricot – Moorpark scion / bud wood

Details   Freestone variety that has superbly flavoured fruit that are medium to large in size. Skin is deep yellow with orange blush that's fuzz free. The soft and juicy flesh of Moorpark allows the fruit to be suitable for fresh eating, bottling or drying. A mid-season variety best suited for cooler climates.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     fruit  graft  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Apricot - Royal Rosa scion / bud wood

Apricot - Royal Rosa scion / bud wood

Details   Highly productive, early-ripening variety, typically one of the first apricot varieties to be available in the season.
Low chill requirement.
While not immune, Royal Rosa shows reasonable resistance to common apricot pests and diseases, such as bacterial canker and brown rot, especially when proper horticultural practices are followed.
Self-fertile, although cross-pollination with other apricot varieties can enhance fruit set and quality.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     apricot  fruit  graft  scion 
Harvest     November   December  
Related info Out of stock
Apricot – Seedling mix scion / bud wood

Apricot – Seedling mix scion / bud wood

Details   Assortment of healthy apricots fruiting at different times.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     fruit  graft  scion 
Out of stock
Cherry - Mix scion / bud wood

Cherry - Mix scion / bud wood

Details   Selection of large fruiting cherries suitable for eating fresh, varieties unknown
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     fruit  graft  scion 
Harvest     December  
Out of stock
Hawthorn - Crataegus Pinnatifida scion / bud wood

Hawthorn - Crataegus Pinnatifida scion / bud wood

Botanical name   Crataegus pinnatifida
Rootstock   Hawthorn
Details   Chinese Haw (Crataegus pinnatifida) producing large dark red fruit and no thorns. Offering scions as people have struggled to grow this variety from seed. Graft onto wild hawthorn seedlings.

These are sold for budding or grafting purposes. Technically it is possible to grow these as cuttings in early spring but they have a low success rate.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     hawthorn  scion 
View 4 photos Out of stock
Nashi - Hosui scion / bud wood

Nashi - Hosui scion / bud wood

Details   Absolutely delicious to eat, Nashi Hosui pears are renowned for their sweetness, juiciness, and perfect balance of acidity. Their large, golden-brown fruits boast a distinctive russeted texture, and their fine consistency adds to their appeal. Additionally, Nashi Hosui trees are partially self-fertile, simplifying the pollination process for growers.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     fruit  graft  scion 
Harvest     February  
Learn More Out of stock
Peach - Golden Queen scion / bud wood

Peach - Golden Queen scion / bud wood

Details   A popular cling stone variety with firm, deep yellow flesh ripening late in the season.
Can be prone to leaf curl
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Harvest     March   April  
Related info Out of stock
Pear - Beurre Hardy scion / bud wood

Pear - Beurre Hardy scion / bud wood

Botanical name   Pyrus
Rootstock   Quince (dwarfing), Pear
Details   Medium to large, yellow with cinnamon russet. Smooth, melting, buttery and very juicy. Rich aromatic flavour. Vigorous, healthy tree, quite hardy. Regular heavy crops in a warm location.

Beurre Hardy is in flowering group 4 and is not self-fertile so needs a pollination partner of a different variety nearby. Pollinate with Clapp's Favorite, Conference, Nashi Hosui, Williams' bon chrétien

One of the few pear cultivars compatible with quince rootstock and therefore suitable for creating dwarf pear trees.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     pear  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Pear - Conference scion / bud wood

Pear - Conference scion / bud wood

Details   A long necked pear, one of the most popular varieties, known for its sweet and juicy flavour, making it a favourite among many fruit enthusiasts.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     pear  scion 
Out of stock
Pear - Doyenne du Comice scion / bud wood

Pear - Doyenne du Comice scion / bud wood

Details   Large classic variety of dessert pear, bearing delicious pears in mid-to late autumn. Green skin flushed red with white, melting juicy flesh of rich flavour. Tastes like sweetened cinnamon. Mid to late season. Upright and vigorous habit. High chilling hours needed to set fruit.As most pears need cross pollination, the planting of more than one variety is recommended or the growing of a double grafted tree. Pollinators include - Beurre Bosc, Williams bon Cretien, Winter Cole, Winter Nelis, Nashi Hosui and Nashi Nijiseiki.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     pear  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Pear - Louise Bonne of Jersey scion / bud wood

Pear - Louise Bonne of Jersey scion / bud wood

Details   Smaller pears with thin skin and soft flesh. Red blush on the skin.Louise Bonne of Jersey is not self-fertile and needs a pollination partner of a different variety nearby. Pollination partners - Packham's Triumph, Conference
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     pear  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Pear - Red Bartlett scion / bud wood

Pear - Red Bartlett scion / bud wood

Details   Pyrus communis 'Red Bartlett' produces pears with bright-red skin when fully ripe. The fruit is very aromatic and has a melting flesh with good flavour. It ripens in mid to late summer and is an all-purpose pear that can be used for eating fresh, preserving, baking, and poaching.

Pollinators in the North Island are 'Packham's Triumph' and 'Winter Nelis', while in the South Island, the pollinators are 'Doyenne du Comice' and 'Conference'.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     pear  scion 
Harvest     February  
Learn More Out of stock
Pear - Taylors Gold scion / bud wood

Pear - Taylors Gold scion / bud wood

Details  

A medium-sized Comice pear with a russeted, golden-cinnamon skin. It has tender, ivory-cream flesh that offers a sensational, juicy, and aromatic flavor. This pear is perfect for desserts and ideal for bottling.

While partially self-fertile, it yields the best fruit set when cross-pollinated with Beurre Bosc, Winter Nelis, and Nashi pears.

Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     pear  scion 
Harvest     April   May  
Related info Out of stock
Pear - Williams Bon Chretien scion / bud wood

Pear - Williams Bon Chretien scion / bud wood

Details   The Williams Bon Chretien pear, also known as the Williams pear or Bartlett pear in North America, is a popular and well-known variety of pear.Large long necked, green-yellow fruit, that is ideal for eating and bottling. Fruit will naturally fall in February and will keep up to 3 months. Good pollinator. Early season.Pollinators include - Beurre Bosc, Doyenne du Comice, Taylors Gold, Winter Cole, Winter Nelis, Nashi Hosui and Nashi Nijiseiki.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     pear  scion 
Related info Out of stock
Pear - Worden Seckel scion / bud wood

Pear - Worden Seckel scion / bud wood

Botanical name   Pyrus communis
Rootstock   Pear, Quince with interstock
Variety   Worden Seckel
Details   Small fruit with thin glossy yellow skin that is blushed red. A popular heirloom American Pear that dates back to 1881.

A mid-season variety with fruit being ready to harvest in and around April.

Resistant to fireblight and ideal for the home garden.

Partially self-fertile and would benefit from being pollinated by another variety such as Packham’s Triumph or Winter Nelis
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Harvest     April  
Out of stock
Pear - Ya scion / bud wood

Pear - Ya scion / bud wood

Botanical name   Pyrus bretschneideri
Rootstock   Pear, Quince with interstock
Variety   Chinese white pear
Details   This Asian pear originated in China but is now grown in various regions around the world.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     pear  scion 
Learn More Out of stock
Persimmon - Fuyu

Persimmon - Fuyu

Botanical name   Diospyros kaki
Rootstock   Persimmon
Details   A popular, non-astringent variety known for its sweet, crisp, and juicy flesh that can be eaten while still firm, unlike many other persimmons.

Self fertile
Price   $4.40  each
Price for 2 or more   $4.10  each if you buy 2 or more
Harvest     May   June  
Out of stock
Plum - Angelina Burdett scion / bud wood

Plum - Angelina Burdett scion / bud wood

Details   Early to mid-season English plum with greenish yellow flesh and dark purple skin which has a pale blueish bloom.
Excellent dessert plum with rich, sweet highly flavoured flesh.

Pollinate with another European plum
Price   $3.70  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     plum  fruit  graft 
Harvest     January   February  
Colour   Dark purple
Out of stock
Plum - Black Doris scion / bud wood

Plum - Black Doris scion / bud wood

Details   Japanese plum of medium size, with purple black skin and dark red sweet, juicy flesh. Ripening mid to late season.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Price for 4 or more   $3.00  each if you buy 4 or more
Tags     plum  scion  grafting 
Harvest     March  
Learn More Out of stock
Plum - Coes Golden Drop scion / bud wood

Plum - Coes Golden Drop scion / bud wood

Details   Late season yellow freestone European plum commonly used as a pollinator for greengage
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Related info Out of stock

Plum - Dan's Early scion / bud wood

Details   First plum of the season (December in North Canterbury). Japanese of medium size
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Price for 4 or more   $3.00  each if you buy 4 or more
Tags     plum  scion  grafting 
Related info Out of stock
Plum - Elephant Heart scion / bud wood

Plum - Elephant Heart scion / bud wood

Details   Japanese variety with very large heart-shaped fruit and extremely dark red, sweet and juicy flesh. Superb freestone plum. Mid to late season. Good pollinator. Pollinators include - Omega, Santa Rosa and Sultan.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     plum  scion  stone fruit 
Out of stock
Plum - Kereru Gold scion / bud wood

Plum - Kereru Gold scion / bud wood

Details   Japanese plum with medium sized yellow fruit. Apricot type plum. Gold skin, golden flesh. Freestone. Excellent fresh or as jam. Heavy cropper. Self-fertile.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Harvest     February   March  
Learn More Out of stock
Plum - Purple King scion / bud wood

Plum - Purple King scion / bud wood

Details   Large, rounded, yellow fleshed fruit with red-purple skin. Sweet and juicy with a tendency to go dry and mealy when over ripe. Heavy cropper performing well in warmer areas. Cross pollinates with most other plums.
Price   $3.90  each
Price for 2 or more   $3.50  each if you buy 2 or more
Tags     plum  scion  stone fruit 
Harvest     January   February  
Learn More Out of stock

Useful and related information, common questions etc.

Spring grafting season for fruit and nut trees August - October

Spring grafting season for fruit and nut trees August - October

Wood is cut and graded in June for dispatch in July – August. On receipt, scion wood will need to be stored refrigerated until the appropriate local grafting time.

Length: 150 – 170mm with 3 - 4 buds

Diameter: 5 – 12mm


Grafting is the process of adding part of a known, desirable tree onto existing, growing roots of a similar species. This process offers many benefits such as having many types of apple on a single tree or influencing the characteristics of the tree such as size, soil requirements and disease resistance.
  May   June   July   August   September   October  
  graft  fruit  trees 
Summer budding season January - March

Summer budding season January - March

Done during summer, budding can be used to add wood from a desirable tree onto a different root stock much like grafting.

Length: 150 – 170mm with 3 - 4 buds

Diameter: 5 – 12mm

Orders will be cut and dispatched for prompt budding.

  January   February   March  
Collecting, storing and posting scion wood

Collecting, storing and posting scion wood

Collection
Scion wood is collected during the dormant season from shoots that grew the previous year. In North Canterbury that is June - July. Vigorous growth of at least a 30 centimetres make the best scions. Water sprouts from up in the tree usually make good straight scions. Do not collect scion wood while it is frozen, and avoid wood that has been damaged by cold.

Storage
After cutting, scions should be tied in bundles, labelled, and stored under moist conditions in a temperature range of 4 to 7c. Bundles wrapped with damp paper towelling, sealed in plastic bags, and placed in a refrigerator store well providing it does not contain apples, pears, or other ethylene gas-generating fruit, as this is reputed to ruin the scion wood. However, wood sealed in plastic bags may not be affected?

Grafting time
Choosing when to graft can be tricky. What you want to be doing is performing the graft when the host tree or rootstock is waking up in the spring and the sap is rising and buds starting to swell, prior to blossom or leaf burst. Generally the grafting proceeds in the same order the trees flower and fruit, but earlier. Starting in mid to late august with almond followed by cherry, plum, peach & nectarine, nashi, pear and finally apple in late September.

At grafting time, cut off and discard the tip and base of the scion. Buds near the tip are often flower buds, and those near the base are often weak buds. The remaining portion of the stem is used to make scions each containing three to five buds.

Direct or Green Grafting
Scions of apple and pear (possibly others?) can be collected and grafted immediately in early spring. Mid August to mid October in North Canterbury

Postage
When we send scions they are bundled and labelled, sealed in a resealable bag with a wad of damp paper.
  grafting 

Rootstock compatibility for different types of tree

Scions of desirable species must be grafted onto a suitable, compatible root system or ultimately the graft with be rejected by the host tree.
The roots determine to size, growth rate and suitable soil conditions for the tree while the scion controls the flowers and fruit type and timing.
Most are only self compatible and so apple must be grafted to apple but as usual there are exceptions such as almonds onto peach.
  grafting 
Multi grafted fruit trees - Combine your favourite varieties on a single tree

Multi grafted fruit trees - Combine your favourite varieties on a single tree

Imagine a single tree with apples of many flavours, ripening from March to June, or combining apricots, plums and peaches.

A great way to save space and spread the yield over a longer harvest time.

While there is no limit to the number of different cultivars that can be supported from a single root system there are several considerations or complications that arise:
  • Differing growth rates can result in one type becoming overly dominant
  • Each additional variety increases the complexity of pruning
If you'd like extra flavours added to your existing fruit trees you can teach yourself to graft or talk to us and we may be able to help.
Quince root stock for grafting dwarf pear and loquat

Quince root stock for grafting dwarf pear and loquat

Botanical name   Cydonia oblonga
Details   Quinces are used as a root stock for producing dwarf pears, loquat and other quinces.

Root stocks can be created from root suckers, stool bed or seeds from overripe fruit planted in late autumn.
Flowers   White
Fruit / berries  
Tags     graft  dwarf  fruit tree  pear 
Benefits   The primary benefits are smaller trees that fruit sooner
Negatives   Many cultivars of pear are not directly compatible with quince and require double grafting with a compatible interstock
Pears grafted on quince have shorter lifespan than on seedling grown root stocks
Quince trees are prone to suckering, sending up growth from around the base of the tree and near damaged roots. These can be used as rootstocks.

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