Kassandra grafts are first out of the gate, with some nice bud break on both the field and bench grafts. These were both done last week.
H63A on Prok is still getting there, but is definitely swelling:
Kassandra grafts are first out of the gate, with some nice bud break on both the field and bench grafts. These were both done last week.
H63A on Prok is still getting there, but is definitely swelling:
I grafted a total of 21 varieties of persimmon with some grafted twice. My persimmon total this year is 27 grafts made all on 60 chromosome persimmon root sprouts.
2 out of 6 my persimmon grafts onto DV stock from 3/6 may have failed. The two on the left are Kasandra and JT02, the next four (Zezi Maru, Fuyu, Chocolate and Chuchupaka) already leafed out for weeks now. I’m still hoping the two stragglers will leaf out at some point.
I’m curious – what temperature did these grafts enjoy? March 6 is early. Did you have artificial warming?
They were left outdoor to their own devices, I think night time temp were in the 30-40s and daytime temps were in the 50-60s. It actually dipped into mid 20s at some point at night.
I mixed up the labels on my persimmon scions when I sanitized them Pretty sure #1 is 100-46 and #2 is Honan Red but it could be the other way around. We’ll see!
I did not have good luck with my chip buds - the callusing rootstock always lifted one side more than the other, but this one managed to knit on one side regardless:
My presumed Honan Red bark graft is off to the races though:
@zfw … nothing fancy…
I have a good whetrock… and a Lansky sharpener with medium grit rods and fine ceramic rods.
Past that to get them shaving sharp… a leather belt I bought from Amish that I wear every day… my only belt… had it close to 20 years… creek and river fish in it and it is still going strong. A few straps on that and man the edge is there.
TNHunter
HIGH KEY just BARELY
/me looks at fingers, no cuts at all, made about 150 grafts this year…
I must be doing something WRONG!!!
In reality, I have one cut on my index finger that is nearly healed, but it was caused by a piece of glass, not a grafting knife.
Well, I chopped the top out of a big old Russian alba mulberry that I planted many years ago, maybe 15-17 years ago or so. It only made tiny pinkish red fruit that tasted like sorta sweet water. That was a somewhat difficult job with my small battery-powered pruning saw, but I am just too old to safely manage that big ole Stihl chainsaw beast. I was a little worried that those big tree branches were going to get away from me.
I think I scared the painter who was doing some repairs and staining on the chicken coop, which is right by the orchard. He kindly kept offering his help. But I got it done and only managed to get my saw pinched in the cut one time. Whew!
That tree is a bleeder and we have had huge amounts of rain over the past few weeks. Right after cutting she began to weep like a jilted lover!
I probably should have waited, but I went ahead and bark grafted Varaha to a couple of big scaffold limbs and Illinois Everbearing to another big scaffold limb. I found the old mulberry bark much harder to cut and shape than the apples, pears, plums or goumi I had previously grafted.
Finally got those grafts done, but it was difficult what with the sap pouring out, slippery fingers, hard bark, being tired from getting those big limbs down, and the painter who was apparently fascinated by what I was doing and wanted to know every detail about what grafting was and how it worked. I told him all I knew (which was very little since this is my first spring grafting) and hoped that perhaps he would someday catch the grafting bug, too.
Here are a couple of photos of the grafts and one of the stump weeping pitifully. Made me feel bad for the old girl. If you enlarge the photos and look closely you can see drops of sap still dripping today (Friday, 5/9/25) and I did the grafts last Tuesday.
I really hope I haven’t killed the old girl. I guess with all that sap and my poor grafting skills it will be a miracle if any grafts take. We shall see.
Sandra
I did about 20 grafts this year and managed only 1 small cut on the end of my thumb. For a first timer, I call that a win!
I planted out my pear grafts.
Warren on Callery Rs
Bartlett on Callery RS
Moonglow on Callery RS
Call me a coward but I put adhesive tape over the tips of my left thumb and index finger, then put on a glove. After ~40 bench grafts and ~15 field grafts, I’m unscathed. I won’t necessarily say the same for the glove.
Two carmine goumi to A.O. Made it, buried the graft union considerably.
Still have some top working to do for a client, and jujube, persimmon, pawpaw in the following weeks
Clueless “now what” question about bench grafts: grafts are good. 3 apple, 1 pluot, 1 Asian plum. So…do I let them grow however they want until fall or winter and then pick the new leader and prune off the rest? Pull off all growths other than obvious new leader now? I assume I need to direct them up?
this is a demo of my first few attempts of @KYnuttrees modified bark graft on some pawpaws today. thanks for sharing this with the grafting community
find a section of stock that matches the diameter of your scion and chop. make a bark cut on both sides of the tip of the stock:
peel one side of the bark down:
make sure your bark flap cut is long enough so you have enough room for your knife to make the angled(whip?) cut:
make the matching angled cut on your scion and then a smaller back cut to just expose the cambium there too:
pull the bark flap up and match your cambium as best you can:
then just strap a rubber on it. it makes it easier to start the wrap if pinch the rubber behind your thumb while youre lining it up:
add whatever extracurriculars you like. no idea if the foil is needed here but its going to be full sun and mid/upper 80s here for the next few days and figured it cant hurt
my technique needs some work for sure but i already like it more than a whip n tongue. ive got more to do and will report back on how they take and if it works just as easy when grafting small branches.
Not bad
It get easier the more you do it