PROPAGATION TECHNIQUES
Establishing a tree-based perennial agriculture system can cost a lot of money, especially if you´re planning on buying $30 dollar bagged fruit trees at your local orchard. Luckily, you can propagate many of the trees you are planning to plant by yourself. One of the easiest and best known ways to propagate many different trees, bushes, and other perennial plants is through planting seeds. Many nitrogen-fixing trees and bushes can easily be grown from seed, but other species are best propagated through other vegetative techniques that we will introduce below.
GRAFTING, LAYERING, AND AIR GRAFTING
Grafting is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion while the lower part is called the rootstock. Since most fruit and nut trees won´t grow true to seed (meaning that the seed from the Gala apple you grow will produce fruit that doesn´t resemble Gala apples at all), the way to reproduce a certain type of fruit or nut that you like is through grafting.
Let´s say that you have an old crab apple tree on your land that produces small, sour fruits that no one but the birds enjoys. You can graft a bud or a small branch from a delicious, heirloom apple tree on your grandma´s old farm onto that Crab Apple tree. If done correctly and the cambium layer (or green layer inside the bark) of the two species are touching, that bud or branch will grow into an heirloom apple bearing tree. There are several different types of grafting methods you can use including cleft grafts, bud grafts, whip and tongue, etc. While it does take practice for a graft to be successful, the good news is that once you master the art of grafting, you can reproduce all the fruit and nut trees you need for your land.
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