WW-00532     Reviewed 2009  

Grafting and Budding Fruit Trees

A Glossary of Grafting Terms

Topworking—The operation of cutting back the branches and top of an established tree and budding or grafting part of another tree on it.

Understock or stock—The part on which the scion is inserted; the part below the graft.

Rootstock—That part of a tree which becomes the root system of a grafted or budded tree.

Scion—A piece of last year's growth with three or four buds; the part inserted on the understock.

Cambium—The growing part of the tree; located between the wood and bark. At the season when bark separates freely, cambium will be both on the wood surface and on the inner bark.

Dormant—The condition of live trees at rest—as in winter.

Budding—A type of grafting that consists of inserting a single bud into a stock. It is generally done in late July and August, the latter part of the growing season.

Budstick—A shoot of the current season's growth used for budding. Leaves are removed, leaving ½ inch of leaf stem for a handle.

Cultivar—Denotes a cultivated type of plant. (Now used in place of the term "variety.")

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