Scionwood, or scions (pronounced 'sigh-ons'), are the small branches you graft with in order to propagate a variety. It is the one year growth from a tree. The scionwood is what grows into the desired variety when we are grafting! For example, if you want to grow a Pink Pearl apple tree you would collect scionwood from a Pink Pearl tree and graft it onto rootstock. 

Scionwood and budwood are essentially the exact same thing, it's just a difference in time of year that they are collected/used and handling.

PURCHASING SCIONWOOD

We sell scionwood from our orchards. Generally, any tree listed on our website or catalogue is growing in one of our test orchards and we often have extra scionwood available for purchase. We also have many other varieties (over 500 collectively) that aren’t on the website, so feel free to inquire about other varieties.

If you are interested in ordering, you can visit our Scionwood and Rootstock collection for more information on varieties, sizing, placing an order, etc. 

The deadline to place scion orders is Jan. 31, 2026 for spring of 2026. We generally harvest our scions in late winter/early spring depending on the weather and they are often available for shipping/pick-up earlier than our other orders. Please note that we will ship all scion orders in the second week of April or, if you are ordering rootstock/other plants, your scion will ship with them whenever they are ready. If you need to hold your scion dormant until later in the season that is your own responsibility and you can learn how below. 

Scionwood can also be sourced from other growers (eg. Bill O’Keefe in Ontario has an excellent heritage selection) or you can harvest it yourself if you have a tree you would like to propagate!

HARVESTING SCIONWOOD

Scionwood is best cut in late winter/early spring when it is warm enough that there is little risk of the cut suffering from freezing damage but before the trees break dormancy. You want to harvest the one year growth which is often smoother and shinier than the older growth. You should be able to see a growth collar (a small ridge around the branch) delineating the newer growth from the previous growing season. Bundle the cut scions (we use masking tape) and label immediately. Pictured to the left is Steph holding some freshly cut scions in late February, 2022. 

Ideally, scionwood should be about pencil thickness, or the diameter of the rootstock so the cuts match up. You will want 2-3 buds per scion for grafting, or about 3", so if you have a scion that is 15" long, you should be able to get 4-5 grafts' worth of material. See below for a video that covers more about how to harvest and store scionwood.

STORING SCIONWOOD

Scionwood is relatively easy to store at home in the fridge (not the freezer), but you must make sure it is not being stored with any other fresh fruit or vegetables, such as apples. The fruit/vegetables will release ethylene gas that will prevent the scionwood from ever breaking dormancy. 

Outside of ensuring you are not storing your scionwood in the same fridge as fruit, you should ensure it is staying moist, but not sopping wet. We store our scion in our cold-storage where it is heeled into damp sawdust or wrapped in damp newspaper and then stored inside a bag to keep the moisture in. If you purchase scionwood from us, you can store your scionwood in the packaging bag it arrives to you in. You may wish to replace the damp newspaper with a fresh layer of your own dampened paper. If so, make sure it is damp but not sopping, you don't want to cause rot! Use your scion as soon as possible, and check it regularly (weekly is good) to confirm it is staying dormant in your fridge. 

Check out this video below to learn more about scion do's and don'ts from our friend and affiliate, Susan Poizner of Orchard People, and learn a bit about our Online Grafting Course as well!

A quick video summary & linked resources:

Learn about collecting and storing scionwood with Susan Poizner of OrchardPeople.com and Steph Muma of Silver Creek Nursery in this excerpt from their instant access online course Complete Fruit Tree Grafting and Budding which you can find here: 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.