@speedster1 ,
That is my thought exactly. I have only grafted on existing trees. I can’t twist and turn the branches to get good angle for W&T. W&T needs some fine motor skills which is not my forte. Even splice graft, holding the graft union on one hand and trying to wrap it with another hand can be challenging.
My go-to grafting technique is cleft. I do bark and splice grafts as needed. W&T is not my cup of tea.
It’s a matter of what kind of grafting you want to do
Some people seem to associate grafting with bench grafting and thus promote the W&T as best - but it depends
Alan,
I did when I was starting out make mistakes like that. That’s how I learned not to. The wind still snaps one now and again if they get to growing to fast and if I’m neglecting them and not paying attention. Most people are doing 1-6 grafts a year so from my perspective w&t is great in that situation. You do at least hundreds a year probably like I do so we think about how we can do them faster.
The majority of grafts I do are in my nursery which is in a very protected little canyon- normally there isn’t much wind.
Whip and Tongue has saved many grafts from braking with strong winds (that i always have where i live in the summer) while other graft techniques break easily (even after several months) unless you use some method for supporting it while growing.
Hold on it’s own while tapping. Lots of extra contact surface between cambium layers.
In my book it’s worth the little extra time it takes to perform.
I never get it to go together right, always seems bulky and hard to match the cambium, I am sure I don’t have the cuts correct yet, maybe next year
I felt the same way while learning to do it properly. Now it’s much easier to get it right but even when it look awkward and bulky the first times i did it it took nicely and in the next year you almost didn’t notice it was grafted.
The link clarkinks has posted has some very good tips on this technique on the “How to do it” section:
http://growingfruit.org/t/2016-graft-thread/4744/530?u=jsacadura
Here’s something I discovered today (April 18, 2017) that I’m really stoked about. Yeah-- I know this is the OLD 2016 grafts thread.
This is a bud graft of Red Fuji 2 that I placed in the spring of 2016. I had always suspected it had taken, but it NEVER grew.
Just today I can finally confirm it has leafed out!
Would love to see an updated photo of these trees!
Good to know, I have a scion of Pink Pearl that has just woken up. It was grafted in early May, and one of Wickson crab that is still green but no growth at all. I am tempted to take it off the tree but maybe I will leave it till next spring.
I have scion from a peach I have to bull doze out, but want to preserve. The parent plant has already bloomed and is starting to leaf out. In my orchard, only one tree is in a similar position, the rest are still dormant.
1st question, should I wait until I have warmer weather, or will the next few days be Ok?
2nd question, would i have better luck pairing it up with a variety that buds leafs out at the same time?
Is there any way you can leave the tree until this years new wood is mature enough to harvest budsticks? I think you’ll have a much better chance with those than you would trying to move growing scions, because they will very possibly sap their energy reserves before callousing.
I was able to take scions right before bud break, and have them in the fridge now. But I didn’t think about waiting for buds. How early does bark slip in the south?
The scions you have in the fridge might do OK- the less they have broken dormancy the better, and if they’re fairly calm it might work.
I don’t know how early bark slips in your area, but up here in Montana it’s slipping late April or thereabouts. But you still need budsticks from the current year’s growth. (As far as I know using last year’s dormant buds isn’t done, but I don’t know why it shouldn’t be.)
Don’t forget about chipping. You don’t need slipping bark to do a chip, and they’re very easy, and can be done any time you have suitable budwood.
Hmmm… may try both! Graft these and try some chip budding too! Thanks for that idea!
Jesse - how has Binet rouge done for you?
It is not very vigorous, , but is growing, and likely produce some fruit in the next year or two.
