I guess I should wait another week or so for grafting persimmon (and pawpaw) in zone 7b Philly?
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I guess even with the warm weather… should wait till the rootstock is leafed out? as I just ordered some rootstock past week and its behind the rootstock I got 2 months ago (maybe cause its stored bareroot in cold storage).
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I think you should be ok, especially on the ones that have leafed out already. I moved mine to the office because my forecast went from mostly sunny, warm enough days (which would have made the sun room plenty warm) to slightly cooler, mostly cloudy days. They might have been fine at the mid-low 60’s they were sitting at, but I know they’ll be much happier at 71-72. 80 is even better, but a nice steady temp in the low 70s is pretty darn good.
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Glad to see some green showing on Saijo.
Those are looking good.
Dar Sofiyivky was a tiny scion with 1 bud… so far no real bud swell… no good signs… does not look promising… still hoping something happens.
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I checked apple grafts today. Of 75 total, 48 have opened buds and are growing. Most of the others are still healthy and will probably wind up growing. All grafts were made of B118 purchased dormant and barely starting growth when I made the grafts. I would have preferred they were all in active growth with a few inches of new foliage.
A few of the grafts have shriveled scionwood indicating a problem at the time I made the grafts.
Checked persimmon grafts too, V. Derevyanka has buds green and pushing. I expect persimmons to be slower than apple and pear. Rootstocks are from Missouri and were barely beginning growth when I set the grafts.
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Did you graft persimmon rootstock purchased from MDC this year? If so, what kind of graft did you use? I would assume the persimmon rootstock from MDC is pretty small diameter
It varies. Both times I’ve purchased from them about 15-25% were pencil diameter, 30-60% were 1/8", with the remainder being too skinny to even bother trying. This is out of bundles of 25.
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Most were about 3/16 inch diameter a foot above the ground line. I cut several of them at or near the ground line to get enough size for a whip & tongue graft. It is smaller stock than I like to graft, but some should make it. Also, my scions were mostly in the 3/16 to 1/4 inch range. It is a challenge with small stock to pull tape tight enough to maintain cambium contact.
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Have you tried grafting rubbers? They’re super easy to cinch down, even on skinny stuff.
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I would say more than half of the bundle of MDC seedlings were of an easily graftable size for me this spring, my first time ordering from them. I was mostly using D. texana scions, some of which were a little on the thin side I guess, but also a couple standard diameter persimmon scions from Fruitwood.
I had ordered 10, but it ended up being 12 (a couple were very very thin, so I guess they threw them in as a bonus). I grafted 8 and planted out 4 for grafting next year.
I did a mixture of cleft and W&T soon after they arrived (still dormant), kept them in my greenhouse, and 7 of 8 have budded out so far. Here are a couple of the texanas:
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Btw those plum buds from 3 weeks ago are almost 8 inches of new growth now! How are yours doing? @belowtheterrace
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Sorry I’ll keep it appropriate … the office … that’s what … and full stop. I’ll be chuckling all evening. You’re so right. It’s tough to tape the smaller ones. I have a couple grafts where i thought i got it tight in march. Unwrapped and theyre growing together nicely. But there’s a gap/hole that you can see daylight thru in the middle.
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You were absolutely right! I pinched off those flowers and it shot out some growth. All 3 buds popped but I think I’ll leave them all for insurance. I already had another graft get nibbled on by a deer but luckily I had an extra bud. Thanks again @Tansith
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So happy for you. Those look almost idectical to mine. Remind me again what it was grafted onto? Pluot right?
I grafted onto a vigorous 1 yr old apricot volunteer Italian plum.
This one is grafted onto Marianna 2624. The scion is a plum that was labeled as D-7413. Supposedly a Ukrainian variety. It was an extra thrown in with some other scions I ordered so I have no idea what to expect. 
Italian plum on apricot sounds interesting. You’re in CA right? You can probably grow pretty much any stone fruit I assume? I would love to have pluots but haven’t found any so far that like my climate. Always on the lookout though.
So you’re in Iowa. I know when people see so cal they think beaches and city. I’m in the mtns at 6000ft elevation and in some ways an close in climate to you than “LA” We had our last freezing < 30º temps last weekend. Often it’s risky to plant before mother’s day. I think there would be several pluot options for you.
The trees are beautiful for stone fruit here but often late frosts kill any fruit. Even the ever reliable green gage is maybe 1 year out of the with good set. Apricot is 1 in 5 or worse. And lost the peaches this year. A couple years ago killed one of my peach trees completely. Santa rose plum also. So yeah its am adventure. But when i get a vigorous volunteer of whatever … cherry peach apricot almond - i graft onto it. Hope you’re plum is a good one. Never heard of it but I’m not that knowledgeable honestly.
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Oh wow sounds you have a challenging climate too! Can’t wait to hear how your apricot graft does.
What happens when you make pear grafts under almost perfect weather conditions? 6 days later they have an inch of new growth. I grafted Seckel, Highland, and Bartlett Nye Russet after a forum member sent me scions. Our weather has been very hot, very humid, and near daily rain for 6 days. Seckel has an inch of growth and the other two are 1/2 inch. I’ll fertilize them with chicken manure this weekend. Have you ever seen a pear tree grow that has been given a couple of shovels full of chicken manure? I’ll have to throw the manure on the ground and run, otherwise the tree might catch me and turn me into fertilizer. 
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Can anyone point me toward say a grafting apron or vest that would carry folding saw, knives, parafilm, elec. tape, scions, grafting putty, rubber bands, etc? I’ve never found a good solution.
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@hambone
I have one something like this.
My ! It has pockets !
Some inside too.
And compartments on the back you could put a rabbit or two in .
The problem I had is…,it has too many pockets.
Just never got mine organized , i never knew where to reach for a certain item.spent a lot of time looking through pockets.
But it’s certainly possible to get organized.
A great concept for field work,nothing to carry, ( wear it )
Hang up when done, everything is ready for next time.
However, I work better with a tool caddy,like this were I can SEE everything , instead of looking through all those pockets.
Maybe if I was better organized, a vest would be good .
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