No. Any graft can sometimes be weak after a year, but by the second it should be stronger at the graft than below or above it. The callous tissue is strong. Most any injury in the wood of a vigorous trees becomes stronger wood than the original.
When I splice graft to the center of a peach tree so the graft becomes an extension of the trunk, a splice will be very strong after the first season because it grows so vigorously in that position- 3’ is not unusual. It tends to be the weaker growing grafts than are sometimes not completely solid after a season.
I also have better luck with bark than cleft grafts and so I generally don’t do cleft grafts anymore, except on a few things without good slipping bark like grapes.
This year my peaches did well as I had a good temperature window, but one of the stocks I found was heavily borer-infested and several grafts didn’t make it on it and I’m not sure the tree will make it. I had gotten a bit lazy about regular treatments for the borers and they are not a bug you can turn your back on.
I subsequently re-grafted one variety that failed to make it on this bad stock, the weather was relatively cool, mostly 60’s with the occasional pop into the 70s but the scion was healthy and the stock was super-vigorous and it took no problem. Along with the stock being highly vigorous it was not too thick - most of my grafts now are top works on 3-4" trunks, and those are not quite as reliable as a 1-2 year vigorous sprout. I picked a super good spot for this re-graft given the relatively cooler weather it would have.
It didn’t take. But, it was grafted to a newly planted tree, which is a bit more challenging. The reason I did the side graft is that I wanted to add a variety and it was a whip without any good spots to put a cleft graft. Now, I might top it and try a bark graft instead.
In the first 2 weeks of May that year (2015), I was 22/32 (69%) on established peaches/nectarines (much, much better than I got the next year when I grafted a bit later). On the newly planted trees, I was 0/6, including the above graft. Even on apples, newly planted is harder. For peaches/nectarines, that gets compounded.
This spring, I am trying peaches and apricots on some new rootstocks. To increase my take rate, I’ve potted them up and am callousing them under controlled conditions (60’s, outside of direct sun).
Your words in the back of my head stopped me from grafting peaches yet this year. The forecast I wrote you about of several days in the '70’s only led to one day that warm, so I didn’t venture to graft any stonefruit besides E. plums. I will attempt peaches next week if forecasts hold. Maybe I will try some white electric tape as insurance against any real heat spells before they are established enough to withstand it.
I am in the same boat, waiting for temp to hit 70 but it has not happened. We had a few days of 60’ in mid April but I was not around. This current stretch is too cool. Even my other grafts do not push much growth.
I grafted cherry, apple, pear, plum, both Euro and Asian about the same time, they seem to do well. @alan, why do you hold off on grafting E plum? Mine seem to take well graftibg the same time as J plum in cooler temp.
I risked grafting a few apricots a few days ago. Don’t think it would work.
I am waiting to graft peach, nectarine and the rest of apricot. Looks like next Tues will be the day.
Last year, I had 0 in more than 100 grafts (2 looked like they might make it, but died). I tried both white electric tape and in some cases aluminum foil. I waited last year until May 22nd to start and did > 2/3 of them over the next week, with a few into early June.
This year, I thought it was too early, but did a few on 4/10/17, just to experiment and spread out the risk. 3 takes in 3 grafts. I did another 17 in the last week of April and while it is still early on those, 10 of 17 have already broke bud, with a few more looking promising. Given these results, I’ve made another 13 peach/nectarine grafts in the last week, even with the unseasonably cold temps (50’s and low 60’s).
I think that I’ll start grafting next year as soon as peaches are growing (not dormant or freezing weather) , without waiting for warm temps. Maybe you can squeeze a few percent more takes out if the callous temps are just right. But you also may miss (or not get the perfect weather) and get horrible results.
Anyone who is waiting to graft may want to put a few on now, just so all your eggs aren’t in one basket. You can always graft more later, but going back in time is tough.
I also had good luck in cooler temps this year so am probably going to change to 60’s highs for next year. Peaches do callous at 60, its the 50s where they are callousing so slowly so as to be useless. Even sunny in the 50’s might be OK due to the sun heating things up, but black paint is probably in order. Personally I am going to not risk that and will wait til 60’s.
Wow, well misery loves company. I did about 30 with two takes last year, that both died eventually, well one was my fault, it did take. As you know I posted about better luck doing it earlier, glad to see others finding the same results. Still peaches are not easy no doubt. I going to bother you guys for scion next winter. I wanted to wait to ask some until I felt I was doing better. Well I’m there now.
You guys know what I think about it. My two year experience (not really much, I know) of successful grafting showed that it is best to graft when the trees show the signs of wakening up, like flower buds. Wrap the scions in parafilm to prevent desiccation and let the scions to “decide” when they are ready to grow. If they survive several months in refrigerator, then they definitely can survive several weeks in the temperatures of 40s and 60s on a tree. Even occasional freezing temperature should be fine as long as it does not hurt the main tree. The scion tissues gradually adjust to the outside. I can imagine what a contrast it mist be for the scions when they come from 33 F to 70-80s in several ours when you graft them in hot weather.
it took about 4 weeks from grafting to the first bud pushing through parafilm on my early peach grafts. And it took about 3 weeks for the the first signs of life on my late peach grafts. The temperatures were considerably warmer, but the time for the establishing graft unions did not really change much.
I think the biggest misunderstanding is with apricot grafts. Apricot trees wake up very early, so they should be grafted really early too. My early grafts are flourishing and my late apricot grafts just started to wake up and they look so puny comparing with the early ones.
My peach grafts look pretty good. Much better than last year. I have one definite dud which is Rich May. I’ll regraft it. But all of my other grafts are alive and viable at this point.
The problem though is if they sit too long in that cold without callousing at all they can dry out. Been there, done that. They can sit through a cold spell, but they won’t wait forever. I really would not graft peaches or apricots without looking for some at least somewhat warm weather coming up.
I agree that eventually they should dry out. Judging by my experience they do not dry out during 4-5 weeks after grafting and this is usually how much it gets them to have takes. Our weather is actually dryer with less snow and rain then the weather on the east coast and they do fine. This year a couple of my peach scions that did not take had pink mold under parafilm which means that they were not dry.
0/100!!! If i were you, I’d been screaming with that result.
As I said, during the only a couple of 60F stretches we had in April, I was either being away or being busy with family functions.
Who would think that it’s get colder for a very long stretch in May? So far, we have had low in 30/40 and high in 50. To me, not an ideal temp for peach grafting. I took a chance and grafted a few apricots. We’ll see how that will work out…
I think my chance of grafting peaches/nects successfully is getting slimmer as this cold temp drags on and the trees are now spending their energy on producing fruit.
To clarify, I meant dry out or other failure. Sometimes the wood dies at the junction, it browns there even though the rest of the scion is good. Based on my experience few scions will last more than a week or two in continuously too-cold weather before they start getting unviable at the union.
@mamuang, as long as the weather doesn’t heat up too much you should still have viable stocks. I grafted on top of a peach last week with dime-sized fruits on it and the scion is taking off now. The heat is the main enemy of later grafts.
I have always done all my grafting in late Jan or Feb when the rootstock is a month to a month and half from budding out. I have always felt at this time the cambium is active but there is little moisture demand on the scion. This gives a lot of time for a union to form. My success is nearly 100%. I did about 4 tongue and whip grafts on pecans in late winter this year with 0% take. Yesterday I examined the failed unions. Zero callouses, that no doubt was too early combined with tounge and whip being not the correct technique.
Thanks, Scott. Counting the day to Tues. From next Tues on, it’ll be high 60 and 70 for the next 5 days, Yay!!!
All my scions are wrapped in parafilm in a gallon zip lock bag in the fridge. I think wrapping scions all these months gives me comfort that moisture has been sealed all this time. I’d rather do it this way than wrapping them at the last minute before grafting.
I’ve mentioned it before, but hesitated to bring it up again, as I didn’t want to whine about it I checked and the exact count was 0 in 109. It hurts a bit, but I suppose that is how you learn.
It hurt enough that I would encourage you to go out and put a few grafts on tomorrow. That gives them a few days before the heat hits and 3 of the next 4 days are close to 60F (57, 51, 61, 61). I’m not sure if your forecast is the same as mine, but it is probably close given our proximity. Tuesday is OK at 72 (though very sunny, so black electric tape could get pretty hot). Wednesday and Thursday get up to 77 and 83, which is getting close to the territory I was at with my failures last year.
It definitely saves time when you go out to graft. I’ve taken to prepping the night before (including labels, etc), as I have limited daylight hours for the actual grafting. I need to look at what I have left. I’m hoping to finish up everything but persimmons.
Oh no- I let you persuade me against my own previous notion. Oh well, maybe now we will clearly know that it has most to do with stage of development instead of temps- as long as it is in the '60’s
Hope grafts I put on next week take. Planning to put up about 100.
I had great beginner luck with my peach grafts. More than 90% took! 2 in particular doing so well that they have about 2 feet of growth. I grafted almost a month ago. Should I prune these in a way that they grow where I want them to go? Or do I need to keep my hands off and let the graft do its thing this year and then prune next year?
It’s usually good to prune anytime for purposes of shaping the tree. You also need to be concerned about the grafts blowing out. That really hurts. Pruning to shorten the growth helps. Tying on a support helps even more…
I checked and the exact count was 0 in 109. It hurts a bit, but I suppose that is how you learn.