Silver Creek Nursery Ltd.

Yellow Gravenstein Apple Scionwood

Scionwood is not a tree, yet!

Scionwood, or scions (pronounced 'sigh-ons'), are the young, one-year shoots you graft with in order to propagate a variety. If you want to propagate a Gala apple tree, for example, you would graft with Gala scionwood!

We collect these scions from trees in our test orchards and are happy to be able to offer rare/heritage varieties!

For more information on scionwood and grafting, click HERE!

History: Generally just known as Gravenstein, it is unknown when or where exactly these apples came from but they were imported from France to Denmark in the 1600s by Count Frederik the Younger and planted at the summer residence of the Danish royal family, Gråsten Palace. As a result the variety was named Gråsten (Danish for graystone) which translates to Gravenstein in German. This apple has been popular in Canada since the 1820s, particularly in Nova Scotia, and provided the dried apples and applesauce for American soldiers during WW2. In 2005 it was declared the national apple of Denmark.

Why We Grow It: Yellow Gravenstein's excellence as a fresh eating and cooking apple makes it easy to see why it is grown in so many different countries, even if the tree is slow to bear fruit and is prone to many common fruit tree diseases (although we haven't had much issues growing it here). It has a great sweet/tart flavour and is crunchy and juicy. The fruit is a nice yellow with red striping. 

    $8.50

    Propagation Material:

    27 in stock

    Fruit Traits:

    Recommended Use: Fresh eating, cooking

    Fruit Size: Medium-large to Large

    Storage: Keeps until October when stored in cool, humid conditions

    Harvest: September - Early

    Plant Traits:

    Canadian Hardiness Zone: 3

    Flowering Time: Early

    Pollination Requirements: Triploid. This variety is sterile and cannot pollinate other trees. Requires a pollinator of a different apple variety that blooms around the same time in order to produce fruit.

    Sun/Shade Requirements: Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)

    General Growth Habit: Vigorous and hardy with a spreading growth pattern, slow to start bearing fruit but has good crops once it does, semi-spur bearing. Slightly susceptible to mildew and fireblight, scab and canker, though it grows well for us in our test orchard.

    Shipping: Scionwood can be shipped anytime in the spring, although we generally recommend that customers receive their scionwood by mid-April at the latest to ensure it arrives dormant. We can hold it longer if customers accept the risk that the scionwood may start breaking dormancy after this time.

    Pickup: We will notify you as soon as your scionwood is ready. We recommend picking it up as soon as you are able and storing it at home.

    Click HERE for tips on storing scionwood!

    CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

    Each scion will have at least 2-4 grafts' worth of material and ideally will be approximately 12-18" or 30cm+ long. Since we specialize in so many varieties/species, there will be natural differences in growth habit and vigour so some varieties may be shorter or thinner. We will provide the best quality we can, within natural restraints.

    If a scion is less than 6" or 15cm, it will be discounted accordingly.

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