Grafting

The ingredients for successful tree grafting are a sharp knife, a steady hand, experience and intuition. It is said that there is as much of art in it than there is of science.

Asexual propagation of oak trees is particularly challenging. As far as we know, Majorca is the only place were the tradition of oak grafting exists. It is a technique that the skilful Majorcan grafters have passed from master to apprentice for generations, together with their special tools. Unfortunately, as it happens with so many crafts of the old days, the world of traditional grafters is disappearing.

We want to thank Simó dels Horts for teaching us the art of oak grafting and also Simó Coll for his help. Without them this project wouldn’t exist.

Holm oak has a wide phenotypic diversity, which, in addition with being a wind pollinated tree, may cause big differences between the mother tree and its offspring. This is even more true when it comes to the taste of acorns.

So, if someone plants a sweet acorn hoping to enjoy some tasty nuts in the future, chances are that he/she will end up about ten years older and with a handful of bitter acorns.

Therefore, grafting is the way to guarantee that our trees will produce sweet nuts. Besides, since we graft adult material, it allows us to skip the juvenile phase and advance the nut production start.