My first ever grafts seem to be showing signs of life! I grafted cox’s orange pippin and cherry cox onto my semi dwarf honey crisp
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Trev I have had 100% success this year on about 20 different mulberry grafts using parafilm and zip ties. I think this way let’s the graft breath more since the parafilm cracks after 2 or 3 days and excess sap has a way out.
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it’s also not the best graft, I’m very glad it took, I think it was only the second year of me grafting. it is putting on growth more this year
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After couple of years of trying without success. Dormant on dormant grape grafting on April 22, The grafting joint was bleeding for a week, I thought it had failed as it did before.
However, it leafs out now, what a pleasant surprise.
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@SoMtHomestead … I had good luck last year with my usual graft … whip/tounge… 3 of 4 success. I covered those as usual with parafilm and black rubber tape. 2 kip parkers 2 lawson dawson.
The one that did not make it the rootstock was very slow to leaf out.
But this year… it is looking like 4 of 4 failure.
2 gerardi, 1 red, 1 shelli.
The buds pushed just thru parafilm on 2 of those… but did not do much more than that and eventually browned… and dead looking.
2 others … 1 red and 1 gerardi… the buds never broke thru parafilm.
We did have a long sort of cool and wet… late blackberry winter here.
I think the grafts were good on all of those… something else just was not quite right… rootstock, scion, temps, wrap.
I will have to try the zip ties next spring.
TNHunter
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Big chill coming starting Tuesday. Highs in the 50s. Still waiting for optimal callous temps before grafting walnut. No reliable temps in the right range. May temps are too up and down here.
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I have a bunch of successfully field and bench grafts that I made March-April using parafilm and electrical tape around the actual graft union. The parafilm is coming off on its own, but when is best to remove the electrical tape? My instinct is at the end of the Summer or even Fall, but I wanted to double check.
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I want to report the success of the interstem trees here. I’ve grafted 24, all but one seems to be growing in ways that indicate healing. The one that didn’t heal is because I bumped it.
The one I bumped, i took the top portion and stick it in the ground, looks like it may have rooted and grown a bit. Pretty cool. Can see a little bit of green on the buds. It’s been very warm, and all the other grafts that have died so far have either grown and failed or not grown at all and dessicated.
This last one is for the perfectionists in all of us. It was grafted and the next day intended to plant. I accidentally left it laying on the ground for a very sunny and windy day, I think it was in the 80’s too. The next day I found it, said “oh no!” And stuck it in the ground to see what would happen. Looks like it’s healing/growing. There’s no way any of those roots survived before planting. So my tendency to overcomplicate everything in terms of root protection of clonal rootstock is probably not necessary. I know this deep down, but like to think that I am peraonally in control of things I guess.
Most of the other grafts have grown, a handful have failed. Seems like either all of a certain variety have taken, or none of a certain variety have. Not sure why. The interstem trees have a higher percentage sucesss rate than the other though, which is unexpected.
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I take my electrical tape off early August. Maybe it doesn’t matter but in my mind I want it to get a little exposure to the elements before winter comes.
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A graft of trailman crab… added to my novamac b9 espellar this spring… bloomed and set fruit.
TNHunter
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my trailman is loaded this year. I had several last year from a friend’s tree and they’re really good, you’ll like them.
it’s in third leaf in that spot. I am going to graft onto it next year with any more small apples I can find that are different color/flavor profile. it tried to be loaded last year too and I wouldn’t let it be. I think they’re really precocious
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@resonanteye … I have two novamac trees… one on b9 trained espellar… and one on m7 out in my orchard.
I have trailman and pristine added by gradt to both novamacs.
Novamac is in flowering group 4… and so is pristine… trailman per what I could find online is in flowering group D… which …
1 2 3 4
A B C D
Hopefully 4 and D are about the same.
My early mcintosh tree on m7 out in my orchard is a early bloomer FG2… and I have added Chestnut to it… which is also FG2.
I have a 20+ year old crab apple in my back yard… that produces tiny fruit… and it has become my franken tree. All the high sunny side limb tips have been grafted over to… red royal limbertwig, myers royal limbertwig, black limbertwig, pristine, chestnut, trailman.
I am hoping some of these will produce decent fruit (no spray). I do have coddling moth traps in place.
TNHunter
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I set aside today for a task I dislike, pruning to all but one of the best growing graft branches. It has to be done, so growth energy is focused on the single remaing branch. I just don’t like doing it.
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I have only been grafting a couple years so take with that in mind: For apple and pear when temps were mostly highs <70 (I think low 60s is supposed to be best for apple/pear callusing) then I did nothing.
But when temps were anything more and direct sun was possible, I saw that @scottfsmith did some measuring and direct sun made the temps much hotter - so I covered with aluminum foil.
I’ve been using cheap black electrical tape from harbor freight, so I’d definitely be more worried about that than the white tape @Fusion_power used. Could also just cover the cheap black tape with some white paint (I have plenty left over from housework).
Interesting- do you mean “poke through” parafilm/outside of scion or “poke through” the foil?
I’ve been taking the foil off pretty early because I’m worried about trapped moisture and bugs. I know things haven’t fully callused but when I peeked and saw grafts pushing growth I took the foil off. Haven’t had a good way to test if leaving it longer would be helpful.
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Poke through the film, but I check under the foil; not daily but occasionally when I expect them to start pushing growth.
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