When it blooms, take a picture & then gently pinch off the flowers. It then will probably push two new branches. I fear messing with new growth, until it is big enough to be trimmed without damaging parts good for the proposed tree.
One graft early in my career was of Lord Lambourne. I cut the scion in two, grafted both to separate stocks & found the one with apical bud survived. Yep, it bloomed. I was still so new to this I hadn’t recognized the apical bud as a round/bloom bud. I took pictures (long before getting this phone, so I lack a copy) & pinched off the flowers as they began fading. It sent out two new branches, from which I could select one the following year, since I wanted a central leader.
@MF25, Thank you for that detailed answer about how and when to move the jujube sucker and grafting to it. That was very helpful to me and sounds like a good plan!
Also, I appreciate the reassurance about timing of my grafting for this area. I have been a bit of a worrywart about it all, but feel better now and am looking forward to getting started soon.
Sandra
Performed my first ever grafts this week! I visited the great @zendog and learned the basics (thanks again!). Hopefully I did a decent job. I performed two separate grafts - bark and cleft of true Gerardi mulberry onto my Edible Landscaping “Gerardi” mulberry (did two types just in case I screwed one up). Looking forward to all the possibilities grafting opens up in the future!
Ha! Fortunately I’m an Eagle Scout so I already had some knife skills to work with! @zendog also showed me an awesome trick using a CD to protect your hands in case the knife goes awry.
I did my first grafts today - benching grafting 3 apples and 2 plums. 2 weeks late since I substantially overestimated what I could take on for March…it was much harder than I expected, and I was too irritated by the end to take pictures. I’m thinking the knife I got off of Amazon is a piece. Any knife recs for beginners? Also, it came with plastic roll that that was brutally hard to try to get to wrap flat. I assume there’s better parafilm/buddy tape out there? I’m expecting all of these to fail. Not sure I want to try again, but theoretically, could I leave the rootstocks potted (G.214 and myro) and graft them next year?
Also, I see a few people asked, but didn’t see an answer- is rain bad for grafts? We have thoroughly entered DMV monsoon spring and it’s wet, wet and more wet everyday.
All the cherry and plum/pluot and Asian pear (17 total) grafts from 19 days ago leafed out for me. The remaining 9 persimmon grafts from that day are still dormant.
The 2 Santa Rosa plum scions grafted 4 weeks ago onto the Nanking cherry also leafed out so i decided to add Flavor Grenade, Flavor Supreme and Dapple Dandy onto it today.
I don’t do a lot with apples, but I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t be able to. Also apples accepts grafts quite readily so you may surprise yourself and those sloppy grafts may very well take. Good luck!
Rain isn’t bad for grafts but you don’t want the rain getting into the joints. If they’re taped up they should be fine. I like using parafilm to wrap the joint and scion to protect it from the elements.
@Gkight is correct. Apples are very forgiving. Apples and pears were the first trees I started out grafting. I used a razor knife, electrical tape, and had no clue of what I was doing. Still probably had 50-75% success rate
If the knife is giving you issues, it probably isn’t sharp enough. Grafting knifes need to be real sharp. Usually new knives are sent sharp but not sharp enough. And sometimes the angle on the blade needs to be changed slightly
@Eme … AM Lenord has several grafting knives to choose from.
I decided to initially try this cheap one a few years back and I am still using it. It sharpens up very well and I know how to put a fine edge on them.
A very high percentage of my grafts are successful even though I am using a very cheap knife.
. Finally started grafting and using my pallet of 5 gallon buckets, lol. This was Saturday afternoon. I need a new knife. I dug around and found 4 grafting knives, but they are all Fedco or Naye brand and none of them take a good edge. I couldn’t make any whip and tongue grafts with dull knives. I finally ended up using a chicken butchering knife and cleft grafting except for 2 saddle grafts when the scion was bigger than the rootstock. My fingers are all cut up.
You can prune it to make it thicker if you want, especially if you’re worried about it breaking so it doesn’t catch to much wind. It won’t make the new growth that will grow thicker, but it will constantly girth up as long as new growth keeps coming even if it keeps getting pruned.
I have used Opinel folding knives & box knives, even a kitchen paring knife sharpened carefully one time. Box knives are easy if a bit weak due to the scores for breaking to a new point & edge, but if you respect the edge while considering the tensile strength of the blade, it can be useful.
I also have a grafting knife, but it is like a jack knife: you must be careful not to put the wrong kind of strain on it or you may cut a finger to the bone. For that reason I like Opinel, for they have a locking ring. The carbon steel is easy to sharpen, but needs a light touch of oil to keep it from rusting.
Hudson’s Golden Gem is finally showing signs of life after over a month. I was getting worried because my peach grafts already leafed out and flowered much earlier. Still waiting to see if Ashmead’s Kernel will take.
My Peaches, Pluots, and pears all leafed out and are growing but still nothing on my Arkansas Black and Red Delicious apples! I had 2 extra rootstock that I was going to use for a stooling, but I grafted what extra scions I had for my apples on there in case the first ones didn’t take.
