I feel the same way- my massive failures with peaches/nectarines left me a bit gun-shy this spring. I failed with 26 kinds last year, so I was hesitant to ask for many this year. Of course when someone says “I have extra wood of really cool varieties”, I had trouble turning it down, so I ended up grafting 18 kinds. So far, I think I have takes on most of them, so it has worked out well. If I had all failures again, you can bet I wouldn’t ask for many next year, instead focusing on moving my own wood until I could do it successfully. Only successes in prior years (before last years “learning experience”) gave me the confidence to try it again with other peoples wood.
Apples/pears I have no worries about, other than not having enough places to put them. But, that’s become enough of a concern that I dropped down to 9 new varieties, after adding 60 in the previous 2 years. Of course, I still had some others to graft which were just moving things around- a few on mini-dwarf rootstocks that needed a bigger home and some seedlings which I want to speed up.
Here’s some better pics of the graft unions. I’ve observed that my whip/tongue grafts have all busted through the parafilm, but none of the wedges have. Some of that may be because I didn’t align the whips very well.
The graft union won’t bust out like that if wrapped tighter. Try some budding rubbers pulled pretty tight and I think you’ll find that you’ll get a neater union.
@thecityman, sorry to miss responding to your earlier question about grafting Crimson Passion. My trees are a single stem emerging from the soil that quickly branch. One splits to a y and those are pretty dominant for a while before branching more, so I thought I could try to graft to those about 6 inches up and then cut away everything else it they work. The other quickly splits into 5 or 6 main stems, but they could be grafted over as well. I kind of like the idea of adding some chip or t-buds later this year and see how they look in the spring - if they look good and the CP bushes continues to be without flowers fruit … off with their heads! And then hopefully the Juliet buds could take over. Maybe someone can tell me if that’s a viable plan.
This is only their third leaf, but they’re as big as my CJ bushes (4+ feet) and the CJs each have at least a dozen cherries this year and I expect a lot more next year. From what I’m reading here it sounds like CP should be renamed to “Heartbreak” - at least that would keep it in the romance genre, but tell its fruitless tale.
It is too early for me to tell about some later peach grafts, but I did notice something interesting on the 5 Prunus Americana I used for peach bench grafts. I did 1 Loring, 2 Gold Dust and 2 Indian Free. The Gold Dust and Indian Free scions were from the same source and basically looked the same, although the Loring might have been a bit rough. Both Gold Dust took and are doing great. But neither of the Indian Free or the Loring showed the slightest signs of life and took the grafts apart to inspect and they are dead. It is a small sample of course, but I’m curious how much variety there is in how easy different varieties of peaches are to graft.
The Prunus Americana were dormant bare-root seedlings when I got them, but I kept them at room temperature until some of them were showing green tips before grafting to make sure there was some life in them. I used Temeflex rubber tape to bind them and the scions were completely covered in Parafilm, a combination that has worked very well for me with other grafts. I have definitely seen lower takes and less vigor on smallish bare-root stocks, vs. grafting to existing trees and it is just a few trees, but I’m wondering if anyone has any other thoughts. I still have some wood, so I guess I’ll try it again this weekend after the heat subsides.
Hi, I was wondering what the next step on my Superior and Toka plum grafts. Should I eliminate or cut back the scions which aren’t growing? Also should I brace the scion that leafed out. My only concern about bracing the scion is I might damage the graft. I’ve noticed that new growth on plum trees is much more fragile than peach trees.
If there is a resource to show me how to brace the scions please let me know!
There really are alot of variables and potential causes for failures when it comes to grafting peaches. Another I can add to the list is removing the protective foil too early.
About 3 weeks ago, I did 8 bark grafts during ideal weather conditions and 6 of the 8 took and began leafing out. Thinking the leaf’s needed sunlight, I removed the foil on most of those grafts, - the temps were in the 80’s at that time, and came back 2 days later and all the grafts with the foil removed had died but the ones still covered in foil were doing fine. Another lesson learned - to keep the foil on atleast a few more days after the grafts 1st leaf out.
It’s Gage, not Cage. Sir Thomas Gage brought Reine Claude plum from France to England in the early 18th century, hence Reine Claude type plums are traditionally called Gages in English-speaking countries.
Bob,
Impressive. I am particularly interested in those grafted on prunus Americana. Please keep us posted on how they do. I just planted two of prunus americapna rootstocks, (thanks to a kind forum member).
Walked through my orchard yesterday for the first time in over a week. I’m amazed at how well my trees are growing this year. This is the type of growth I was hoping for from the start. Maybe since many are in third leaf the roots are finally established and the trees have established. Lots of nice branching and growth that will give me a lot of options come pruning time.
Anyway, I have 3 failed grafts this year out of probably 50 or so. Rich May, Indian Free, and Tomcot we’re my only failures at this point. I still have some spare scions I might try to replace the failed grafts with but it wouldnt kill me either if I dont. The nice growth and nice percentage of Scion takes sort of make up for the store fruit freeze out this year.
Should be Zard.