60. Persuading our hawthorn hedge to produce pears...

One of the more unusual ideas suggested by Seymour in his Self-Sufficiency bible is the bud grafting of pear scions to hawthorn hedges.

The principle of grafting is to bind the cambium layer (between bark and the wood) of both scion and stock.

Over the weekend I had a go!

Step 1 - obtain pear scions - 30cm 'bud sticks' of this year's growth
Step 2 - cut a T shaped slit in the hawthorn stock (ie shoots on the hawthorn hedge)
Step 3 - cut small (2 cm or so) shield shape pieces of the scion to include a bud (no leaf)
Step 4 - insert shield into T slit
Step 5 - bind with grafting tape


I did 20 over the weekend!

If it works, we should get pears on our hawthorn hedge. Not only that, but Sarah will eat my hat (albeit with a little creme fraiche).

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