Last year rubbed out all sprouts on apple rootstocks…
this year thinned or shortened, but left them.
Not a substantial difference in take rates…and lost almost all the rootstocks that didn’t take last year because of wiping out all the sprouts below the graft. this year, all my failed grafts are alive and can be regrafted next year.
The ‘take’ rate was about 5% less this year…but could be due to any number of variables.
April 1st, I did a whip and tongue apple graft. I used two year old wood onto G890 rootstock. Early on it had a blossom that sort of blossomed and then fell off. I noticed recently that the bark is still soft and green if you scrape it a little. Today I spotted two little green growths appearing from what were dormant buds. You need a magnifying glass to see them, but i think after three months it is waking up.
While kneeling and cheering on the growth of two apple grafts made this season, (done daily this past week - blush, blush) I wondered why one of the plum root stocks had so few leaves.
Lo & behold, a dormant chip bud graft done 2 months ago already had six leaves filled out - & obviously not the same leaves as from the stock. I got two roots of Marianna 2624 from Raintree this year & wanted to try making my own plum tree. Putting chip buds on them, I also tried whip & tongue on top. My thought was if the top failed, I could cut to the bud graft if it had callused well.
Clearly, the first attempt at dormant bud grafts worked better than expected.
I am so stoked about trying Mt. Royal plum, a natural semi-dwarf on semi-dwarf root. Won’t need much pruning. I will be certain to keep the area to the drip line well mulched to reduce any stress from encroaching turf. That is what I learned in losing North Star sour cherry last year.
If the sale tree of Ersinger plum can survive (way older maiden than expected; planted this June & cut back so roots can support green growth) I may have great crops for fresh eating, jam & maybe plum wine in alternate years.
BTW, the successful apple grafts are, in order of appearance: Maiden Blush, Mere Pippin ( a roadside discovery from Wiltshire, UK by none other than Nigel Deacon, 2007, & obtained from Skillcult via his seed, pollen & scion sale last February) & Twenty Ounce.
(Yes, I got so excited about the possibility of growing Twenty Ounce while in denial about Honeycrisp, I got a scion of it. The Honeycrisp is cut down. Its Geneva 11 root got so little advantage from it in three growing seasons - & a half dozen fruits the past two - that the stock has only a tiny tuft of leaves. If they develop a shoot I may graft to it next year. If not, out it goes.)
First Thanks to @ tonyOmahaz5, @ Ahmad, @ Derby42, @ ahacker833, @ scottfsmith, for scions. Most successful are Pears 8 out of 10. Most fails Apricot and Cheery 0 out of 5. Apples Peach Nectarine Plum, Mulberry, Persimmons did ok. Here are some pictures I took today.
Naeem are those summer grafts or did you graft late this year?
All these above grafts were done between April 30th to May 7th.
It looks like some more of my persimmon grafts I did at the beginning of June took. Not sure what I’ll do with all of them. Some varieties completely failed to take while others I have lots of.
More grafts are starting to bud out so I might have many more successes. These trees are weird; some grafts take off in a couple weeks while others sit there looking dead for a month before budding out vigorously.
A big thanks to everyone who traded scions with me or just sent them for free.
Last year my first-time grafts were a dismal failure. This year I tried again using bark grafts, grafting compound, and Buddy tape. It has been like Christmas watching them sprout little leaves! Now I have several Frankenapple trees. I can see where this could become habit-forming. So if your first attempts fail, don’t give up!
Are there nursery’s that fall ship rootstock?
apple Claygate Pearmain
apple Devonshire Crimson Queen
apple Golden Russett
apple Hoople’s Antique Gold
apple Pink Parfait
I-115 graft on native rootstock from June 8th, got to get some support on this one soon.
@Barkslip - thanks for the tutorial from a few years back on mega chip grafting. Started using this last year and it’s become my favorite way to graft.
Final count for this year: apples are one each for Mere Pippin & Maiden Blush (third try in as many years to get MB going); two successful grafts of Twenty Ounce. All on Geneva 30.
One plum: first try at dormant bud grafting; Mt. Royal onto Marianna 2624. The dormant bud graft not only callused quickly, it broke bud along with the other Marianna buds. I had put a whip-&-tongue graft atop the stock of the remainder of the Mt. Royal scion, which failed.
The Mt. Royal growth is solid & little troubled by insects, unlike the tender growth of the Ersinger maiden. I hope & pray Ersinger gains strength this season despite the chewing.
My one successful heartnut out of a dozen, it is going to be a chore to get the ground clear around it, I’m thinking fire this winter and jewelweed in the spring for cover, it is too wet to get the mower in there.
I’m impressed with the progress of my grafts this year…35/40 took on several apple and pear trees.
Some of the grafts did take a while to come out of dormancy. I saw a range of 4 and 8 weeks for the grafts to show any signs of success. However, they are all doing very well thankfully.
Need some goats and a metal cage to protect the tree.
First thing it needs is a stake and ASAP. Wind or birds will take that graft out in a heartbeat.
I’ll snatch some bamboo from the neighbors tomorrow.
I grafted a Silk Hope mulberry to a rootstock alba that had once carried a Shangri La. it took and is growing very well. It was a cleft graft of a hefty scion into a larger 1” + stump. It has really grown and blew off the tape within a few weeks. Just wanted to ask (now that it is long overdue if you should seal the back side of the cleft graft with wax or something other than just the parafilm and tape. It was pretty open at first. Here are recent photos.
Front side of graft
Back side of graft
Wow, that was this year’s graft? That’s some crazy growth. The way it’s going, that opening won’t be open for too long…
That’s what I’m hoping. I was surprised today that it had closed so much
