The first of the peach grafts from 6 days ago are breaking bud. I’ll know in the next week or so, how many took. I dont know why I didnt start grafting decades ago, I find it rewarding and fun.
One thing I learned about peaches is to keep the roots extra moist until the grafts take, then water as usually.
Today I went out to look at the backyard. To me surprise, I saw some flower buds from the pear graft coming out. There are 4 big bud(flower bud) on the grafting branch. It’s was grafted to a crab apple tree. This was grafted in Fall 2022. I took some pics to share and one of the mother tree. There are 3 varieties of pear, a Gala apple, and a few apple seedling branches grafted onto it.
Graft using a grafting tool in Fall 2022. There are flower buds!
Double side graft of pear done in Fall 2023
Double side graft of pear and apple done in Fall 2023
Cleft graft of pear done in Fall 2023
The mother tree is flowering and now growing new leaves
This is my first year trying grafting. I just received scions in the mail. Do scions callus over in storage , is that what I’m seeing? Or is this trying to grow roots?
This is new to me.
@marknmt what’s your general advice on all these different trees? Basically wait until the trees are pushing buds and/or leaves then graft? Or do we need to follow a more complicated approach per type (peaches, figs, apricots, plums, nectarines and pomegranates and apples are my main ones I want to try this year)
It is callousing. Sometimes they try to root from that primodial mass, but usually run out of gas before able to (depends on species and conditions; for example, figs and pomegranates can root fairly well in dark humid media… most other species peeter out).
Yeah, it’s rewarding and fun. In addition, relaxing and therapeutic. When you are grafting there is no rush. It’s you shaving and cutting the day away. When it’s a success, it’s a miracle and it’s all you. You enjoy the fruit of your labor.
This is my 3rd season of grafting. 1st year was a learning experience. I use regular tape, string, ultra thick green plastic, rubber band, newspaper, socks, foil, and what ever I can find in the house.
The 2nd year, I purchased a grafting tool and it came with the cheap parafilm. The grafting tool is best use for apple and pear. Everything else is very limited success. I try it on the Pom. Of the over 15th graft, zero success on the Pom. Then, I found my favorite pair of knives. Purchased 2 type of cheap parafilms. Learn how to wrap again in YouTube. Learn many type of grafts and practice on the real stuff.
The 3rd year, I’m down with cleft, W&T, side graft, and bark graft. I’m not going back to using the grafting tool. My goal this year is to turn my Crepe myrtles into Pom. I have 2 trees in the front and they are done. I have 5 trees in the back.
Will these be fine if put in the fridge now like this and used when the time is right then?
Yes. Keep in a lightly humid (not damp) plastic zip bag in the fridge crisper. When ready to graft, clip off the bottoms until you see green under the skin. Soak clipped bottoms in water overnight (not necessary but might help). Then graft. Depends on species, but I generally have most success using electricians tape and a dull no-frills swiss-army pocketknife to execute simple cleft grafts. Apples and pears are the easiest to graft. The higher on the tree you place the graft, the better chance of success, even after pruning; this is called apical dominance and is described in the other grafting threads on this site. AppleNut (Kevin Hauser’s) videos on grafting are also a good guide (Kuffell Creek Nursery on YouTube). Good luck. You’ll probably succeed at something.
You are a year ahead of me, I grafted my firsts last year. I did study a lot first though, mainly from books.
This is the vid I mentioned.
Been about a week on this peach:
Orange dream loquat and in background strawberry loquat
I can’t help you on anything except apples, plums and maybe apricots as I’ve never tried any of the others you mention. But on those I’d just wait until the trees were actively growing and then graft -but I do field grafting, almost never bench grafting.
The idea is to get the new wood on your tree early so that it has the maximum growing period before dormancy sets in months later. And, if the graft fails you have time to regraft. In southern California you probably don’t have to worry about that too much.
Check out the discussions on callousing temperatures for each specie.
On apricot I like to do chip buds later in the season when it’s warmer, although once in a while I get lucky and have a whip take. Basically I suck at grafting 'cots but I’m improving. 
Apples are very forgiving, and plums aren’t much harder. Just make sure to get some cambium contact, wrap things up snugly, and in your area maybe protect from too much direct sun until the graft takes and is well established.
Thanks! Will do!
I grafted some loquat last year and none of them took. Is it safe to say that as long as the tree is flushing out new growth then it is a good time to graft?
I think daytime temps are recommended to be in the 60s+ but these trees push growth much of the year for me. I took a chance grafting early, this is my first time grafting them but without barring some unfortunate unforeseen conditions 2/3 are pushing through parafilm and the third hasn’t failed but if it does it’s fine as it’s a duplicate that I got two scions sent of that one. I had the grafts wrapped in tin foil until the foil was messing with the new growth pushing out I think the foil helps loquat grafts a lot
I usually dab my scion ends with Doc Farwell’s Heal and Seal, which I use for all my grafting needs.
I was lucky to get the last Hudson’s Golden Gem Scionwood from Maple Valley Orchards. I got about 6-8 chip bud grafts from that one stick.
Results below:
Somehow I feel more clumsy in my second year of grafting than I did in my first.
Added White Ume apricot to my Katy apricot.
Added Shaa Kar Pareh (natural plum - apricot hybrid) to my Cot-n-Candy aprium.
Added Splash Pluot to my Flavor Grenade pluot.
All 3 of the parent trees are either in full bloom or past, each with vegetative growth.
Mini order of rootstock/scion should arrive tomorrow. Apricot/almond to go onto peach(nemaguard). I’ve been planning on grafting & callusing indoors- can someone remind me about best practice? Rootstock is coming bare root- should I bench graft and then pot them up or pot up rootstocks and graft once they start to wake up and are actively growing? If so how long should I wait? Thanks!
I’ll likely post again soon but I should probably buy decent pots if so. At the required callusing temps not sure If it could keep them heeled in and not growing the way folks stick apple/pear bench grafts in moist medium.
