Perhaps for your scion wood, you could try requesting some from the USDA (at least for apples). It seems like mostly everyone has had a positive experience. I myself got wood that I ::ahem:: “mishandled” a little bit (left the scions in the box at room temp for about 5 days) and had 0 problems with the health and vitality of the scions. So that way you’d obtain good quality scion wood. (I know some people wrap with parafilm after they get the grafts, but I just put them in the fridge as they had packed them at the USDA, making sure, of course, that there were no other fruits or veggies in the fridge.)
If not the USDA, then this forum is a great resource to find out who sells good-quality scion wood so you don’t get bad quality scions.
And maybe you could invest in a good grafting tool? That way you’d be able to know if your knife work was the problem or not.
I apologize if I seem presumptuous. I just think there’s a good chance these would take care of “the usual suspects” as far as problems, and after that, you have a great chance of having the problem fixed ,or know you’d have to be digging a little deeper into whatever it was.
I learned today to never give up on a scion. This little Plum slowly lost it’s leaves and I thought it was a goner. Today I am hopeful again that it will come back.
Thought I’d give a try to apricot grafting. This is a Zard scion graciously given to me by @Barkslip
I grafted about 10 days ago, and last week was very cloudy, highs in the low 80s. I’m hoping this is a take and not just the apricot pushing a few buds because of its stored energy.
If it’s a take, I’d be very happy as I’ve heard apricot is a bit more difficult to graft. I used a modified side veneer graft and tied the graft area tightly with white flashing tape. We’ll see, I guess! Cross your fingers for me.
I sympathize with Lois, Last year all but three grafts failed at one site. Some others that took were immediately kicked over by passing customers at the U-pick cut flowers section where the nursery had been planted, but the owners were in the throes of caring for the ailing patriarch and never took measures to protect the graftlings. No blame there.
All failed at home and several took at a site in a neighboring county. Pretty low feeling about it it all, but previous years had gone differently, so I soldier on.
This year a surprising number of swaps were offered, so I made all kinds of grafts in order to match goals and the vagaries of wood on hand. Somehow I lost the single scion available from a whip of Wynoochee Early planned for a sister, so will make chip-bud grafts of it later in summer.
Winekist scions are so soft you’d think they were greenwood cuttings instead of dormant scions. They practically shred, so I went with cleft grafts in that case. Time will tell. Saddle grafts worked better than whip and tongue in some cases, and I tried a bark graft on a tree lacking branches on one side. The angle came out nicely and I’m eager to see if it takes.
After making all the grafts hoped for at home there was still standing a leftover Gen222 stock from previous years, so I belatedly put a couple pieces of Redfield to it via cleft graft. Cut from a tree now planted across the street, the buds are already open!
I’ve had birds try to perch on cleft grafts, so whenever I can, I leave a nurse branch a bit taller than the bits grafted to lure perching there. Some grafts were made within a 3 foot tall hardware fence-tube and that should keep birds away until life awakens in that case.
Complacency or confidence? Hard to assess, but hope may be the dominant mindset at present. As Tim Alan’s role says in the hilarious film, Galaxy Quest,“Never surrender! Never give up!”
Well, the results of my little experiment with the plasti-dip are in and quite conclusive. @speedster1 first mentioned the idea, then when I saw a can of this rubberized coating at wal-mart I just had to try it.
It looks great at the time. I used the spray can version instead of the actual dip. I would do my graft and then spray both the scion and rootstock tree. When it dried, it really seemed ideal- nice little rubberized seal over the whole thing. Also, it worked well enough that the new growth was able to break through, so not a problem there.
However, if you saw my original post about this, you may recall that I had concerns about the strong petroleum smell and wondered if putting this stuff on a live tree was akin to soaking a limb in gas or diesel. Turns out, that was the problem and it was pretty bad. THe chemicals in the stuff- whether it was petroleum or other component- did in fact have a deteriorating effect on the wood it was applied to. This affect was slow- in many cases the grafts were able to sprout growth before the damage set it. Just as a control, I also sprayed this stuff on several areas of different trees where there was no graft- just a dormant tree tip. The affect was the same on both- after a few weeks the bark sort of dissolved under the rubberized material and then the graft and plain limb tips either died or at least had the leaves wilt and die. A very few grafts with this stuff on them did survive and I can’t speak to why a few of them seemed more tolerant (it wasn’t a particular fruit tree type) but they were rare and might still die. It is with great confidence that I tell you this stuff is poison to most grafts and limbs (only the area it contacts) and it should not be used.
I’m very glad I gave it a try. After all, experimentation is how we learn, and you don’t know until you try. I’m sure many of you thought it was a crazy idea doomed from the start, but you can’t know for sure without trying. I tried it, it looked good for a few weeks, then it failed miserably! So we’ve all learned at least one more material NOT to use on grafts.
THanks. I wish it had worked, but it just didn’t. I didn’t have any serious damage because the petroleum smell was so strong I suspected it would be lethal to areas where it was applied, so I didn’t put it on anything I couldn’t afford or stand to loose.
I grafted three ohxf 87 over to named varieties this spring, magness, Altoona, and Ayers. The ayers was the last to break dormancy but it is out growing the other two varieties now.
I finally got around to grafting today. Should have done it weeks ago. Upper 80’s and humid. I am a little worried that I’m going to reduce my chance of takes with these couple days around 90 degrees. But it was either do the bulk of it today or never, as I had to take the afternoon off to be around for a delivery.
I still have a few left to do, mostly persimmons in pots and a couple apples. Thanks to everyone that sent me scions or did trades.
Both of the red fuji grafts have taken on my Dorsett Golden. Recently grafted Kanki to it as well, and my initial Roxbury Russet graft is already pretty well established. Seems like this tree makes a good platform for grafting.
I thought I was pretty much done with grafting but have been casting a vengeful eye at my fruitless Crimson Passion cherries. But I have no scion for it and it is probably too late this year for regular grafting, so I’m wondering about budding later this year.
So how well does bud grafting work for sour cherries? Would t-budding Juliet to them late summer (or earlier?), then cutting above the buds next Spring to force them before growth starts work? Any other suggestions? T-bud late Spring and force growth mid-summer?
