Worst case for leaving the parafilm is you end up with a deformed lump of leaves under the film
You can nick the film over the lump like lancing a boil, and carefully extract the crumpled new leaves. They will continue growing and be fine, even if the very first leaves next to the scion don’t recover.
Alternatively, the worse case for trying to fix it before bud break is that your scion snaps off in your hand and you wait to summer to chip bud or next year to try again.
It’s really not a choice; if you make a mistake grafting, leave it alone until you are sure it’s bad enough to prevent it taking.
Mulberry time! I added Illinois Everbearing and Collier to my main tree, although my scions are a little iffy.
In the next week I hope to turn a bunch of seedlings into 2 varieties I’ve selected locally:
Lancaster Lavender - sweet, plump, ripe when white, but will turn light purple if you leave it long enough. The original is growing underneath/through a pine tree. Purple Bridge - A tree whose fruit has served me well on jogs, and keeps getting chopped back from the road. If it compares poorly to IE I may abandon it.
Posting pics of two of my bench grafts. Can someone declare these dead or tell me if there’s still hope. I’m pretty sure the scions are dead. Grafted on March 11. No signs of life yet. I scratched the bark and it does show some green. Not sure what to make of it. If the rootstock sill alive why isn’t it leafing out yet? Everything else in the yard is all green.
Stella cherry graft on Nadia initially took, started to blossom, then failed. I will leave it on for now, probably an incompatibility problem. All 10 of my plum/pluot grafts took along with 5 of 5 sweet cherry grafts. They are growing well.
There is hope. Some grafts sit dormant for months and then suddenly come alive. Various scions cut from the same plant can stay dormant for significantly different periods of time.
This season I coated all my scions w/wax (@Barkslip) a day before grafting. Then put them back in the 'frig. Did mainly cleft grafts (‘in the field’) and IMHO this was so much easier than wrapping w/parafilm.
Almond…
C. Apricot on Myro29c (thanks @tomIL)
Schizandra (Eastern Prince) onto my dioecious variety (thanks @Drew51)
How did you coat them in wax? Hey cool about the Schizandra! Now too you’ll have another source of pollen, besides Eastern Prince being self fertile… Mine looks great as usual, easy plant! I’m going to try an air layer this year.
It is best for the scions to be dry so I’ll take them out of the 'frig, let them come to room temp and dry off the condensation before waxing. Ow the wax won’t stick as well. If the wax pops off, I’ll just parafilm ‘in situ’.
@JustAnne4 Quick dip is what you’re looking to do (once or twice at the most - I dip twice often but quickly) That looks like a lot of wax on pics 2 and 3. Pic 1 looks right.
I can’t tell you if there is such a thing as too much but I’ll bet there is.
Love the tutoring we get here
I think I dipped these 2X. When I pull them out I hold them up-side-down so any liquid wax tends to cover the bottom (actually the outer tip of the scion) more thickly. This is my 3rd or 4th time doing it, so I’m still getting the hang of it. I should probably just shake that excess wax off instead of letting it dry at the tip.
HA! Been there, done that. Nice knowing I’m not the only one foolish enough to do silly things like that… I also love when people use a background for photos like you did with the cardboard. Nice looking grafts, too. What is the sealer you used on tips and edge of tapes?
I also love when people use a background for photos like you did with the cardboard. Nice looking grafts, too. What is the sealer you used on tips and edge of tapes?