Cloning Fruit Trees: Guaranteed Variety Without the Seed Lottery
Allotment holders and orchard owners pay for varietal certainty. Grafted trees give them exactly what a seed can never guarantee.
This business is built on vegetative propagation of fruit trees through grafting โ a technique that transfers the genetics of a mother plant without change. The grower selects desirable varieties, sources certified rootstock, grafts scion wood, and raises the tree through one growing season. Sales operate through direct channels: online marketplaces, farmers' markets, allotment society notices, or a simple e-commerce page. The key differentiator is expertise and transparency: customers receive a variety description, scion origin, and growing guidance. This model works as structured side income with relatively low material entry costs, but requires grafting knowledge, patience, and the ability to bridge a longer period without revenue.
When buying a fruit tree from a garden centre, customers receive a label โ but no guarantee the fruit will match the description. Seeds transfer genetics unpredictably, so people plant a tree, wait three years, and discover the result bears no resemblance to what was promised. This is a problem the market consistently fails to solve.
๐ฟGenetic Certainty as a Product
Vegetative propagation through grafting preserves the mother plant's characteristics without variation. The customer receives precisely the variety they paid for โ something a seed can never guarantee.
