2017 Grafting Thread

Sad to say but I grafted randomly. If I was doing it over I would graft first by blooming date and then possibly by ripening date. If they bloom at the same time oil/copper can be sprayed at the optimum time and pollination would be enhanced. Of course my situation most likely is different than yours where I graft several varieties onto one limb.

Scott- did you run into disease introduction with many varieties on one tree?

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I did in a few cases. But the main problem was I already had stocks really close and there was no room to get even one scaffold on some varieties when I put 4-5 on a stock. If you want to do massive varieties I would say the best method overall is to have stocks at about 2’ apart in a hedge and put one variety on each side of the stocks. That gives a clear “zone” for each variety. With only two on a stock there is also less problem with disease issues, and if a stock dies (I lost a lot of G16s in the row in the picture) you can just let the neighbors expand into the space. I have some trees with more than two varieties on them, but they usually had neighbors removed giving the stock more room.

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Thanks Scott. I space my trees about 25 feet apart so don’t have crowding issue at least yet.

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I wish I had the land to do that! I’d have room for about six trees in my whole backyard at that spacing. At one point I had about 300 trees in my backyard.

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Well i did my 40 bench grafts last night.

I keep them in a room in my basment that stays about 64 in the dark until they breakbud then i slowly work them outside and then put in nursery for the year.

Prolly field grafting in 2 more weeks.

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Is there something about B9 rootstocks that make them need staking more than others? If so what? thanks!

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The standard line is that all dwarf stocks should be staked. This is because they don’t put out the long thick roots a tree needs to be stable, they just put out short thin roots by comparison. B9, M9, G16, G11, M26 all fall into this category.

Thanks Scott. Very interesting! I have had a LOT of my trees that end up leaning and had to be staked. But for me the worst ones are peaches/nectarines. Most are on Citation. So I guess they also put out short, thin roots. Never thought much about the cause. Thanks

Spadona di Salerno on Spaulding pear

Xi zhou on Sugarcane jujube (thanks @jujubemulberry)

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you’re welcome, and hoping it performs for you :slight_smile:

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I have to net trees to protect fruit against birds and other critters, so I try to have multigraft trees with varieties that ripen within the same window or reasonably close to it. This helps to reduce the amount of time that the net has to stay on the tree.

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This year I should have some Harcot and Afghanistan apricots, Laroda and Methley plums, and Flavor King pluots from CRFG scions that I grafted last year. Maybe also some apples, they are just starting to bloom, so too early to know.

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Roxbury Russet graft on a Big River Apple…

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I started grafting this past weekend. The overnight frost roller coaster is finally over, and spring is here to stay. I’ve done mulberries, pears, and some apples.

Geraldi mulberry on some wild volunteers in the backyard, and at my mountain orchard:

Two saddles, a chip, and a T-bud walk into a bar… (canned laughter):

Oscar and Kokuso grafted onto an Illinois Everbearing. Thanks @BobVance!

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I finished the first pass of apples today. The sun was HOT at midday, and my pale skin got zapped. I worked relentlessly to get at least one quality graft of each variety done. For some of them, I’m experimenting with placing super-long cleft grafts.

Frostbite chip and tip cleft on Black Limbertwig/ B.9.

Calville Blanc D’hiver cleft on Honeycrisp/ G.41.

Red Fuji #2 tip cleft on Magnum Bonum/ EMLA.111.

Saint Cecelia of Wales cleft on Goldrush/ G.935.

Wickson chip bud on Pixie Crunch/ G.935.

Pomme Gris cleft on Pixie Crunch/ G.935.

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Pristine on Myers’ Royal Limbertwig/ B.9.

Kidd’s Orange Red cleft on Roxbury Russet/ G.16.

Ashmead’s Kernel tip clefted onto Red Gravenstein/ B.9. “Good morning to you, Kernel (Colonel).”

Here is @SkillCult Steven Edholm’s new seedling of Wickson, named “BITE ME!” grafted onto Ginger Gold/ B.9.

Bumble bees were out. My peach blossoms are finally popping. This lady bug kept them company.

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Matt,

Your skin and hands will be sore Tomorrow. Labor of love.

Tony

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I just realized I’ve collected forty (40) different varieties of apples already! That’s an average accumulation of ten (10) per year.

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At that rate, you are going to catching up with ScottSmith real soon.

Tony