No, I am still behind you in NJ,
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Off topic but did you get that bee house from Costco @lordkiwi ? I saw one exactly like that when I went today. It was really tempting at $23. My plums are a tad behind yours over the river in PA. The buds donāt show any white yet.
I got it on Amazon for $23.49 so your good on that front. I bought it before doing my research. I think it will server me this season but it does not lend it self to cleaning and storage I think the center panel can be unscrewed to remove which is good but the reed tubes on the left and right are glued into place. Assuming I dont catch mites it would be fine but at some point I will have to pry them out to replace or sterilize them.
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What are these red bands? Limb spreaders?
Yes. my attempt to create a wider shape while growing up against a fence.
I released my mason bees and half of my blue orchard bees today. We had a few days of unseasonably normal weather but two of those grafts are reaching full bloom so its time. and I have some in reserve.
I agree on Shiro. They are very good here in coastal CA. I leave them on the tree until the last possible minute, when they are soft-ripe. We never get any rain in summer so no problems with cracking.
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Hi, @scottfsmith Scott and everyone,
Iāve been coming back to this thread because itās really helpful. I read quite a few times and learned a lot too. Also read from here:
I am at the second stage of building a few multi-graft trees. Here is my original question regarding the structure:
I did a few grafting tests this Spring and all scions took on my plum tree, so I feel confident to continue with the plan. I will probably build 4~5 multi-graft trees. Only want to graft 2 or 3 cultivars on each base tree, so each multi-graft tree will have 3~4 cultivars (including the base tree cultivar). The idea is just to increase the diversity, not trying to put 20 varieties on one tree. Another reason is that I want to keep the trees small, 8ft tall, 8ft wide. So itās not practical to add too many varieties on one.
Below are the plan details. All base trees are in ground in Jan 2020 and they are trained in modified central leader forms. Would you please let me know if they look good? Please let me know if you see any problems or have better suggestions. Thanks!
Questions:
Are they good cultivars for the northeast (disease resistance & taste are the main factors)?
Do they have similar vigor (so that one cultivar wonāt take over the entire tree)?
=== The Plan Details ===
[1] Multi-graft Apricot
Base tree: Tomcot
Scions: Ilona, OrangeRed, (Early Blush?)
Apricots have very short harvest period compared with other stone fruits, so I just want to set up one tree with early & mid-season harvest. Maybe a late season cultivar as well, but I could find a good one.
Plums have much longer harvest period, so I plan to set up 2~3 trees, with focuses on early season, mid-season, mid/late season. I donāt like late season cultivars because itās too difficult to protect the fruits.
[2] Multi-graft Plum ā Early Season
Base tree: Shiro
Scions: Spring Satin, Beauty, (Earli Magic?)
I have Beauty and it performs really well in my yard, thatās why I want to keep it. However, it tastes bland and may not be the best tasting one. Are there better options for early season?
Beauty has strong vigor; I think similar to Shiro. But I am not sure about Spring Satin & Earli Magic. If they are too weak, I would rather not include them. I hope the tree is well balanced not lopsided. Of course I will prune it properly. But if a scionās vigor is too weak, there is no way to fix it.
I was thinking Methley too, but I learned itās prone to black knot here.
[3] Multi-graft Plum ā Mid Season
Base tree: Satsuma
Scions: Santa Rosa, Lavinia, (Burgundy?, Laroda?)
Satsuma is mid-late season. I was planning to use Burgundy as the base tree for mid-season and Satsuma for late season. But the Burgundy is not growing very strong right now, so I switched to Satsuma.
Santa Rose & Burgundy are both standard mid-season. Scott commented that Santa Rose was shy on setting fruits. But I wanted to give it a try since itās one of the standard and taste good too.
I couldnāt find out if Lavinia is mid season or late season here.
I read somewhere Laroda is one month behind Satsuma, so I am thinking to keep it on the tree for late season.
[4] Multi-graft Plum ā Late Season & Test Bed
Base tree: Burgundy
Scions: Laroda, Elephant Heart, (Superior / Toka?)
As you can see there was a change of plan. I may just use this tree as a test bed for everything else. I know Laroda & Elephant Heart are late season. Elephant may suffer rot problem. We shall see. Not sure if Superior / Toka are also late season here.
[5] Multi-graft Plum ā Pluot/Hybrid
Base tree: Candy Heart (Leah Cot?)
Scions: Flavor King, Flavor Queen, Dapple Dandy
There are quite a few hybrid available on the market, but it seems growers in the NE havenāt had much luck with them. I just wanted to try them out and see if I will get lucky.
I originally planned to use a Flavor King as the base tree, but it got bacteria cankers. So I have to remove it. Itās just too bad because it developed very beautiful scaffolding structure already.
Then this leaves me with two choices ā Candy Heart (pluerry) or Leah Cot (Aprium). Both are healthy and growing strong here. Leah Cot has stronger limes and very good structure. Candy heart tends to grow secondary branches from the main scaffolding branches. But I want to keep Leah Cot open for other apricot varieties in the future. I think itās a better candidate as a base tree for apricots than Candy Heart, thatās why I am going to use Candy Heart as the base tree this multi-graft. Is it the right decision?
Flavor King, Flavor Queen, Dapple Dandy are all considered late season here. Hope they will be able to ripen properly through the hot and humid summer.
Thank you all for your advice!