2017 Grafting Thread

First-year grafter here. I only did apples. So far, 20 of 22 have definitely taken, with another two just grafted, so I don’t expect to see results for another week or so. I used a variety of techniques, based on the size of the scion wood and the rootstocks–bark, cleft, and whip-and-tongue. All have been fun to do.

Thanks to all for all the advice and pictures here on this forum. They have been instrumental in helping me.

Bean --found Mississippi apple (multiple grafts)
Captain Davis (multiple grafts)
Cauley
Johnson–found Mississippi apple (multiple grafts)
Umfress–found Mississippi apple (multiple grafts)
Hall
Slemp Limbertwig
Swiss Limbertwig
Royal Limbertwig

Awaiting evidence of Kentucky Limbertwig and an additional Bean having taken.

I still have six more M.111 rootstocks in the fridge. I’m going to graft to them using scion wood from the varieties above. If all take, I’ll give away some trees this fall.

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Is it too late in the year (mid-Atlantic, zone 7A) to do some bark grafting to large apple trees? Or can I try T-budding this early? I can’t let my leftover scion wood go to waste.

T-budding will work if the bark is slipping. Are your extra rootstocks planted out? Or still semi-dormant in cold storage?

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I see you mentioned the understock are large apple trees. I would T-bud. Place the T-bud in a position of apical dominance and cut off anything above it. Also pinch back any competing leaders. Wrap tight to keep callous tissue in and the natural elements out. Just leave the bud exposed. Or you could even wrap that in a layer of parafilm if you want.

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Chip-budding would work too. Same principles applying.

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I think you should be fine. I just finished up grafting yesterday with 26 grafts, though only a few were apples. The next 7-10 days aren’t all that hot, so it should be pretty good conditions for some late grafts.

You could be right, but I just figure that when it is bigger, it will push it out of the way. If I start seeing them fail, I’ll cut them. But so far, I like the lower maintenance approach. One other thing to consider is that for the smaller scionwood, I pre-strech the rubber a bit, as it is easier to apply. For tiny cleft grafts, I used to cut it down the middle (a strip 1/2 of the 3/4" width) too. But this year I replaced tiny cleft grafts with bark grafts, so no need to deal with such tiny/fragile connections.

More than girdling, I would think that the black on the bark could be an issue in the winter due to the heat-cold cycles. But, I suppose that most bark is close to black anyway.

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Both. I have two large apple trees, and I have dormant rootstock in the refrigerator. As well, I can graft to the neighbor’s crabapple (let’s make that thing useful!). Thanks for your responses.

This ridiculous Frostbite graft has set a pair of apples.

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So far my Frankenapple project is looking more likely. Takes are 2 Fuji, 2 Red Fuji, 1 Hawkeye - plus 1 Fuji from two years ago and 1 from last summer.

Planning to bud where other grafts failed or broke

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I suspect that Kentucky Limbertwig may be slower than average to show vigorous growth after grafting. Someone else here recently mentioned that their graft was slow, and I’ve observed the same myself this season. Mine only came around within the past week, long after its graft peers.

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I did a little late grafting this afternoon, had some leftover contender and plenty of rootstock so I figured why not. We have cooler than normal temperatures right now so I hope I get a couple of takes.

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This year, I stuck a bunch of random pear scion onto a callery in my woods. I’m still new to grafting, so I recorded what type I used to figure out what works best for me.

All of them took, even the ones I labelled “iffy cleft graft” where the base split all the way down. I’m not sure if there’s even any reason for me to bother with the more difficult whip/tongue at this point.

It’s kind of interesting to see how much insects seem to prefer the good pear varieties’ leaves to the callery, which they don’t eat at all.

I may have start clearing the area around this now, if it’s to be my new repository.

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I can finally say with more confidence that this Chestnut apple cleft graft has taken onto Pixie Crunch/ G.935. If you zoom in to the tip, you can even see it trying to flower.

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I made the switch to mostly all cleft grafts a few years ago and I see no reason to go back to W&T grafts.

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This years graft update video (sweet cherry grafted on sour cherry rootstock).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_t50HqP7yU

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This is my harrow sweet pear scion showing signs of growth after almost 2 months! This is grafted on a Winter banana which is on Fuji Apple. I’m struggling with all my pear trees. It looks like I’m going to have my first pear on my Apple tree.:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
What are the chances of this actually producing fruits? Any guesses? This was an experiment that I didn’t expect to work. But it’s giving me hope now.

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Another question: winter banana scion showed signs of growth about a month ago. It pushed out flowers together w leaves. I picked the flowers off. Left the leaves as is (left of above picture) but for about a month it’s not growing at all. It has the same amount and size of leaves it did when I picked the flowers. What’s up with that??

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Because the competing leader has claimed apical dominance and is sucking most of the tree’s energy. Snip the very end off that other branch to delay its growth and afford the graft more energy.

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This is typical leafing sequence when adding multiple grafts at the same time. The scions attach mostly in the order that they are assembled. Winter Banana creates a lot of fruit buds on limbs that appear to only have leaf buds. Last year I added basically the same thing you did to one of my whips. When they went dormant the pear had put on about 4’ of length. You didn’t ask for these suggestions but I added them. When you get 2-4 pear leafs start removing the Winter Banana limbs and tip all the Fiji limbs below. This should jump start the pear. When the pear is about 2-3" long you can remove all the fuji below. The pear should really take off then. Don’t even think of removing the tape at this time. I would also provide support for the rapidly growing pear. I have been doing these type grafts for over six years now and they can be a lot of fun to show my grands and friends.

Thank you Matt in MD and Auburn for tips.
Auburn: did your pears ever fruit on Apple?

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