How do I harvest budwood?

In late summer (usually around August for us*), locate the current year’s growth on your tree. It will generally be thinner, smoother, and glossier than older growth. Cut this off the tree and cut off the youngest end, the buds here will likely be smaller and less plump since they have not matured yet and will not be as successful for chip budding. Remove the leaves but leave the stems so you have a ‘handle’ with which you can hold the hold when working with it later. Bundle the budwood (we use masking tape) and label immediately.

*Look for a slight browning of the buds under the leaf stem. Soft, green tissue is immature. For grafting we want hardened off material with a solid heartwood core, brown bark, and bit of brown to the buds we use. Some varieties are more tricky than others; Muscadet de Dieppe for example can feel hard but look very green, and that's just the nature of it! If in doubt, give the tree another week or so until you are sure the budwood is 'ripe'. But keep in mind, the trees need 15-20 days to nicely callous with warm weather, so be careful leaving it too late in the season. We like to wrap up around early-mid September, though ideally we keep it all in August, in a typical year (weather dependent).

Store the budwood in a cooler and use it for grafting within 24h. Unlike scionwood which can be stored dormant in the fridge for months, budwood quickly dries out and is no longer viable.

Check out the video below to learn about budwood collection in a more visual way from Susan Poizner of Orchard People, and hear a bit about our Online Grafting Course too!

A quick video summary & linked resources:

When are fruit tree buds ripe? And how do you collect budwood for bud grafting? Learn how in this short video with Susan Poizner of the fruit tree care training website OrchardPeople.com and Steph Muma of Silver Creek Nursery in Ontario. To learn more about our award-winning online course "Complete Fruit Tree Grafting and Budding" visit this page: https://learn.orchardpeople.com/grafting-budding-course/40qr2 

🍎 We do offer a few limited-capacity Workshops that happen seasonally on site here at Silver Creek Nursery, but we are not currently able to expand this area. If you are interested in premium fruit tree care education, we recommend visiting Orchard People for many offerings to suit your learning needs.