Greetings: I chip budded some heirloom apples onto some young existing trees. So far it looks like 75% of the buds have calloused nicely. I will see next spring how they fare. I do plan on painting the base of each branch that I budded on the mother tree so I can easily find the buds next spring. I also do not want to prune off the branches next March when pruning! I decided I do not need more fruit trees (22 is plenty) but I always want more varieties. Budding more onto some of my younger trees is my answer. If the trees are not perfectly shaped due to some varieties being slower than others, I do not care. I grow them for fruit not shade so their shape is not an issue. I can only dream of the beautiful grafted trees I picked on years ago that had red and yellow apples on them due to a different variety grafted to them by the owner. They did it as a hobby on a few of their trees. One had red apples except the 4 lowest branches which were all gold apple. Mighty pretty in fall.

Those are some great plants you have there. I have only ever seen one Adenium 'in the flesh' for sale here in the UK so for what my humble opinion is worth....my choice would be a triple graft in 3 harmonising colours. If they could be in bloom at the same time as others suggest, I'm sure that would be a real plus point and a definite 'must' for any multi-graft I would think. Then, on thinking about this even further, if they bloomed in succession, you would have the potential of extending the flowering season to months of flowers on one plant surely?? The possibilities and therefore opinions are endless. Gill from the UK. P.S. I would also be very interested in an Adenium plant of any shape/flower colour/specie to save me from growing from seed. lol!

Hi Pepino, thank you for answering my query. My fruit tree is under cover but it still gets the cold weather we are experiencing in Melbourne. It gets some morning sun ( when we get it). My covered area is 70sq meters with an opening of 10meters, so as you see there is a lot of room for good ventilation and no additional heat. I have no idea why it broke dormancy. Two weeks ago I also picked a beautifull bunch of roses as I was pruning, now that too is rather unusual.I am also picking the odd cherry tomatoe from a plant that is growing with the lavender!!!

Personally I don't think grafting is necessary.I don't believe there is any JM,even Bloodgood that won't become a multi stemmed plant.All the ones you see around you are probably traditional tree shaped but will have had considerable 'interference' from the grower to achieve this. Yes it's possible to increase the stems,though I think it may be too late in the season to get much response now.If you were to keep the plant really small,come spring before it leafs out you could prune back to where you want the first division then as soon as the 2pairs of new leaves appear,pinch out the tiny growing tip between them.This will then double the branches and repeat and so on.Alternatively I have a seedling which I stuck in a window box.Each spring I cut back to the first pair of buds on each branch/stem,and it doubles each year. but grows profusely in between.Now it has about 16 stems/branches. Now you have to remember that(especially with Bloodgood)all these stems will eventually get several inches thick.Although it may look quite open with well seperated stems when small,you can imagine if I were ever to put this plant in ground and leave to it's own dedvices,16 stems all trying to get several inches thick within 1ft from the ground is going to result in not only a structually unsound tree but also the middle of the tree will probably die off as it gets impossible for the plant to keep these stems 'piped up'. If you're gonna keep it small then by all means play around.However if it's to go in the landscape I think even Bloodgood will produce more stems than is desirable if left to it's own devices.You have to remember this plant will get quite big in every dimension.