Reporting Sprite cherry plum take on Prunus Americana.
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I’ve got a couple grafts that sprouted leaf and flower then stalled. Is that a sign of a failed graft or is there a chance it will still spit some growth?
Other grafts are about six inches, some less.
Seems like I’ve had 3 to 5% dehydrate and die after growing an inch or so. Don’t quite
know the answer to your situation.
I had some grafts last year that only put on 3 inches of growth last year. But they sprang back this year and are growing now. I thought they wouldn’t make it , so you still definitely have a chance.
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Grafting has fascinated me ever since I successfully grafted a Macoun onto (unknown) rootstock at a UNH extension workshop a couple of years ago. This past March, my family visited Logee’s Greenhouses in Danielson, CT, for a much-needed soul boost and was blown away by this HUGE citrus tree that spanned half the greenhouse and is comprised of seven grafts on a Washington Navel Orange. You can see the tags on the grafted sections. How fun it would be to walk into your northern clime greenhouse and pick citrus fruit in the middle of winter!
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Last late September when I was looking for wild Beach Plum I took cuttings from one that I liked. The next day I grafted onto a Santa Rosa plum tree. Both cutting where successful. Here they are May 15th.
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My mulberry graft and this evenings strawberry pickings.
I have read here that for some Gerardi can be slow growing… this one is growing quite fast.
That white mulberry stump I grafted to was 3 inch plus thick… it is pushing these Gerardi growths like crazy.
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I grafted 17 varieties of pawpaw yesterday, mostly as “cocktail” grafts onto mature trees.
It’s not exactly pleasant doing that many grafts outdoors. It was supposed to be overcast yesterday, which is why i took a day off work to do it, but it was sunny as all get out. Got really hot and kinda zapped my energy. I had more grafts i could’ve done but i just got tired of it.
Also, weather aside, I tend to get a little stressed about grafting, trying to find just the right matches and so forth.
Going forward I may not do any more grafting or severely curtail it. I have a lot of variety already in my small orchard and i also have a soft spot for seedlings 
@Vid @disc4tw @JustPeachy Thanks for the scions!! 
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My pear grafts from a month ago on the overhanging branches of my neighbor’s mountain ash are starting to push now. Here’s one:
As I noted in this thread, I did the grafts when the neighbor’s house was between owners:
I’ve talked about them with the new owners and they are excited about the idea of me grafting over the rest of it to pears for them next year. I’m looking forward to that project!
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Very good for first try! Are those drill grafts? Or did you cut into bark. I did some drill grafts this spring on my sweet cherry and they are growing now as well. Had my doubts, but it seems to work.
BTW from where did you get your scions? I would like to add this variety if scions can be found.
Dennis
Kent, wa
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Dennis,
I cut a “T” into the bark and inserted the scions. Fruitwoodnursery is where I bought them.
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Very nice! Thanks
Dennis
I grafted my first three seedlings yesterday. It feels a little wrong cutting them but if they take I’m sure I will feel better about it. 
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I know!! Part of my mental issues with grafting - I get out there and then my brain starts telling me I really want to leave this seedling or that branch alone 
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I apparently need to rethink my bird perch protection. I had a bunch of apple grafts take on the tree by my deck and I was over the moon. I unwrapped a few of them a bit and the calloussing looked good. Then they almost all started failing in the last two weeks. I figured I messed something up but didn’t know what. Maybe they’d been growing on reserves after all.
But then last weekend I became sick. I spent most of this week outside on the deck which allowed me a front row seat to the birds bypassing the landing areas I made and instead preferring to bounce up and down on my grafts. One cardinal literally hopped from every graft on the tree while looking at me.
I suppose I prefer the cardinal to the hawk that accidentally came crashing down to land a foot from me. It also glared at me and flew off. Always an adventure.
I’m not sure where I should put the “landing pads” next time after watching the birds. They seemed to want to land on my grafts while coming in both above and under the set up I had.
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This is the first of the Long South Gate grafts that I did in February to push meaningfully, though a few others are swelling slightly (including ones in the ground outside, surprisingly):
Here’s info from @Marta about this avocado variety, which she tracked down in a Los Angeles area back yard, though it is an old tree:
The fact that the outside grafts were among the first of my late winter grafts to begin wake up, despite our cold spring, bodes well for its cold hardiness, in spite of the original tree’s SoCal locale.
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On 4/25 I was trying to topwktk my King Apple tree, planted in 1995. As I cut back the top with my chainsaw I discovered I needed to go lower again to remove some undisclosed rot. Once I got below the rot to solid green wood I ended up with a very irregular grafting base. It became apparent that trying to find a way to apply pressure to my bark grafts would not be so easy. Thought of Trevs idea’@TnHunter, using a Tarp rubber, but the places I would need to apply pressure on each graft union were not in the same level plane! Still i felt like his idea had merit. So for a while I puzzled about how to tie up the grafts. Finally I decided to use nails to guide my nylon cord (150lb breaking strength) around the tree trunk. After placing all my grafts, I drove nails to assure the cord was over each graft union, then i tightened the cord and hooked up the Tarp rubber to provide the desired pressure on each graft union. Seems to be working!
Thanks Trev for sharing your rather brilliant method
Dennis
Kent, wa
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Nice Tarp Strap @DennisD … you might be a redneck too 
Looks like a complicated graft there… hope it does well for you.
Question for you or anyone… on my mulberry graft, I put 4 gerardi scions in place… each had 2 buds…
3 of those have grown like crazy… (both buds)… 18" tall and bushy… growing like weeds.
1 of those gerardi scions, is growing but is much smaller… 5-6 inch long. A little growth from both buds on it, but much smaller.
I expect that may be somwhat common… for some scions to take and grow like crazy and others to just not do as well.
I have wondered if I should leave all 4 in place… or possibly take that one that is somewhat stunted out.
It looks healthy, does not look bad at all, but the others has just out grown it big time.
It is going to have a hard time competing for sunshine soon as the others overgrow it.
It might eventually die on it’s own because of that…
What do you all usually do or recommend in a case like that.
Thanks
TNHunter
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