I know I said two days ago that I gave up biology when I was 14 but that's only 99% true. For Latin A level we read Virgil's Georgics, in which is a detailed account of grafting apple trees. I don't remember the details, either in English or Latin but as a result I do know that grafting is the usual way to propagate apple trees.

I am going to have a go at grafting my beloved old apple tree. 

Last spring I thought it was a true tree and in April I potted up lots of suckers assuming they would come true. Many of them survived but I discovered in October that the tree was in fact a graft so they won't produce the fruit I want. This morning I read up about grafting and watched videos then I visited the old house and despite the rain deciding to pelt just as I was starting, I cut 50 scions (I learnt that English word in a Latin A level class too) of last summer's growth. I now have to look after them in the fridge (I wonder what Virgil used...) to keep them dormant until, I'm told, the sap rises in late March. I guess I'll be able to recognise that when the suckers start to show some signs of life again. I've ordered some 'proper' rootstock and will use that, but I'll practise first on the suckers of mine that have survived.

If anyone here has experience of grafting fruit trees, advice would be very welcome.