2017 Grafting Thread

It seems that flower buds can be useful on graft wood.

My sister (not a grafter) gave me a bag of graft wood she collected while pruning her apple tree in late winter. Unfortunately, it was already near bud break. I made several attempts with different cool places, but grafts would leaf out and die before the graft unions could form. I finally had success with my last piece of graft wood. The two vegetative buds leafed out and died, but there were two flower buds that bloomed. Those buds didn’t leaf out until after the flowers were finished, which was a long enough delay to allow the graft union to form.

4 Likes

I have 40 grafts all in 1 gallon pots and not quite sure what to do with them this winter.

Should I pot them up to 5 gals?

Snice they are not going to fruit next year can I just keep them in the house under HID lighting all winter?

1 Like

Those that I don’t plant in fall, I dig a big trench and plant the whole pot in the ground over winter… In spring pull the pot out of the ground and I either decide to plant some in the orchard or will keep them through spring and summer and plant in fall. I sale some of them as well or give them away. I do separate them out of the big pots either in fall or early spring depending on my needs.

2 Likes

Is 1 qal pot good enough for now and how deep is your trench, just to top of pot?

I live in zone 6 about 35 miles from Ohio border in mi. What is the latest I should plant them if I decide to go that route?

1 Like

My trench is as deep as the pots or maybe a little deeper. I do get some of the backfill soil in the pots but I try to makes sure I stay below the graft joint, if that makes sense…It is very little I get in there but it happens . My trench is already dug as I will just reuse the one from last year … however, I would dig before the ground freezes. I wait till fall when it starts to really cool down and before it freezes. That way I can get them in the trench while the dirt is not frozen. My goal is not to let the grafts in the pots freeze and having them in the ground protects them this way.

I know some people will put bales of straw or hay around them and over winter in pots and some will bring them in garage or basement where it is cool and won’t freeze.

2 Likes

Outside is always best… in a trench (for our climate.) Rabbit fence is a good idea.

Dax

1 Like

Just be careful…I did this and voles found them and ringed a bunch of seedlings one year. Maybe use some hardware cloth around them.

1 Like

What types of fruit are they? I don’t bother burying or protecting apples, pear, peaches, or apricot. They do just fine in zone six on their own. I do protect potted persimmons and some pluots.

2 Likes

I lost the only two I left out last year, both apples that is why I am a little concerned.
I don’t want to lose 40 this winter.

2 Likes

Sink them and give it a shot you know? You aren’t going to lose 40. Everybody should expect casualties from vermin, weather, and simply weakish plants or roots.

You’ll feel better than sitting them on the ground outside… I’ll tell you that much.

You want to try your garage. I’ve done that, too. Nature always does the best job though.

My greenhouse set at 34F does a wonderful job.

Dax

3 Likes

So what size pots should these trees be in at this point? They are all this year’s grafts.

1 Like

Don’t kill yourself and pot them all up unless they are clearly rootbound (drying up too quickly.) Have a look at several of them.

While they’re dormant next-spring you can up-pot them.

Dax

2 Likes

I checked my Sweet Lavender mulberry graft today and it has almost 4-1/2 feet of growth. I know nothing about this variety, but it would be great if they ripen before SWD or escape it because of the light color. My white alpine strawberries seem to escape SWD but Anne yellow raspberries don’t.

1 Like

@fruitnut Is it possible for you to post again pictures of the Konrad graft variant ? Photobucket made the pictures unavailable in this thread and in the GW ones ? Thanks

1 Like

Hmm, I don’t know what that variant is or have forgotten.

It’s @scottfsmith, who did what Konrad has shown us. Scott may still has the pic.

1 Like

Oops sorry

1 Like

Any of those broken photobucket pictures you can still see if you click on the link (and put up with all the ads that then pop up). I manually fixed the one above by sticking in a copy of the picture.

4 Likes

Did Konrad not join this group?

Dax

1 Like

Nope. Konrad was one of the few hold outs that never chose to join. Even with a dead GW forum he chose to remain.

1 Like