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Limbertwig is actually a family of apples with a half dozen varieties: the one we have out here is Royal Limbertwig. The weeping habit is indigenous to the species and they are commonly trained so that the trunk is 8' tall and the branches hang down from that. You can graft scions to another tree but they will eventually weep also. You may want to explore other varieties to add to your collection.

Applenut

Applenut,
The tree I'm talking about is a seedling of a Red Limbertwig my great grandfather planted here in WV. I want to graft it to preserve it. No one else in my family has one and if this one dies, I'd like to have a couple to keep it going. The fruit is great and it keeps for months. I'm wanting them to weep, I just want them to be high enough on the trunk to keep them from growing to the ground. I was wondering about the training. Do you need to train the leader up a stake or do you just prune any branches lower than 8 feet as the tree grows taller? I'm not sure of their early growth habit because the one limbertwig tree is all I've seen. No one around here grows limbertwig varieties. The wood is really flexible, but it never breaks under the weight of its apples and it produces a lot of them. I'm hoping to get a few grafted this winter for myself and maybe some for family members.

I have a couple Limbertwigs and have found them not that hard to get to grow "regular". I prune back the long shoots in the summer and that means my trees don't weep all that much.

Scott

Price:

I'd train it up a 6' pipe or stick, letting it branch like a regular central leader tree. As it gains in height, you can start pruning the lower limbs off, which may be laying on the ground with the weight of the fruit. It will bear fruit very early in its lifetime and then bear heavily after that.

Applenut

Hey one other thing you might want to do is to contact Ron Joyner at Big Horse Creek Farm. They sell many varieties of Limbertwig and may be interested in getting some scions of your family tree to see how it compares to the other Limbertwigs.

Scott