I have a small plot of land where a few old trees exist.
For what I could gather, these are heirloom trees no longer commercially available, probably even local varieties: one pear (possibly two), one apricot, one peach and one cherry tree.
I would like to reproduce these trees without the need to use root stock.
Talking with arborists always returned the same kind of answer: not commercially viable, too long to obtain fruiting trees and even an argument that the new trees would become “wild” and never bear fruit or only bear unedible fruit. This one I find particularly wild…
Does anyone have any sort of experience trying this? Can anyone recommend a technique?
I’ve read about a technique that recommends wrapping branches in cloth, with a lump of soil in contact with the wood to promote rooting but the trees I want to prioritize are not eligible for it as they are extremely old, with very thin and frail branches.
Are there any others you would recommend or suggest?
Even if the fruit bearing wood was grafted onto a root stock, let’s take has an example a pear grafted onto a quince, seeds taken from the pear would manifest the gene pool of the pear. Quince genes would not manifest. But I wouldn’t get the exact same pears I would be taking seeds from due to genetic recombination. Cloning is the only option.
The only tree I think is apt for getting air layering is the cherry but the others are too frail to have their branches loaded, so I’ll try taking cuttings first.