I have five Krymsk 1 rootstocks I got last year from Raintree. I intended to bud on to them last fall, but lost track of time. The rootstocks are awake now, so it’s too late for dormant grafting. I’m in North Texas/8a - when is the next good time to bud? And should I T-bud or chip bud? (I’m a bit nervous about getting the size of the chip right, but as I understand it there’s a wider window for chip budding?) FYI, I won’t be able to spend any money on a decent knife or parafilm until the end of the month, so I won’t be able to do anything before April.
I’d like to get my hands on some budwood as well. I’m a newbie so I don’t have anything to trade, but I can reimburse for postage (again, not till the end of the month–things are single digit tight right now!). Things I already have: Emerald Beaut plum, Flavor King pluot, Harcot apricot, Tomcot apricot. Things I would like to have: Pretty much any decent J. plum, pluot, or apricot that’s going to grow in my area, and bonus points for not ripening at the same time as the ones I already have. I’m in the 800-hr chill zone.
Brittany, you needn’t worry about the size of the chip- it’ll happen almost automatically! Your budstick should be in the neighborhood of pencil diameter, and you’ll simply slice under the bud some convenient amount, and as long as you get the bud itself plus a little wood on each end it’ll work fine. Cut a corresponding piece from your rootstock and slip it in and wrap it. Easier than trimming your nails.
And while I like parafilm you don’t have to have it, especially for chipping. It’s common practice to cut strips of bread bag and wrap with those. Make the strip about a foot long and roughly 1/2" wide. As for knives, a decently sharp paring knife will work great, and a grocery store box cutter would serve also for chipping and budding.
But you should know that it is not too late for dormant grafting. The rootstocks can be active -most of us wait until our trees start budding out before doing clefts/whips(splices)/whip-and-tongue anyway. The budwood or other scion material is best as dormant as possible though.
Sorry to say I don’t have any stone fruit to share from, but you can be sure somebody will.
Mark,
Do you let the root stock fully leaf out and grow, before you dormant
graft, or is there some definite cut off point? I’ll be doing root stock grafting
for the first time( nectarines, plums), and want to do it right. Thanks
Ray
You can T bud as soon as the stock has slipping bark. But for that you need current season scions that have at least 2ft growth. Take the buds from the most mature wood.
For chip budding using dormant scions the stock just needs to be awake. Wrap those with large rubber bands. Parafilm isn’t strong enough and isn’t needed. All you need is a good fitting bud and large rubber band. Wrap it up tight, real tight. Cover all but the bud. Remove rubber band in two weeks. By then it’s taken or a reject.
Thanks for the advice, everyone! I have plenty of rubber bands lying around, and I just remembered my father has a knife sharpener I can use, so I’m all set equipment-wise.
Is there a minimum/maximum width that the rootstock should be for either kind of budding? Currently, the rootstocks are about 1/3" in diameter.
I’d say the minimum is whatever you can work with. Smaller is better if one has the dexterity. You’ll need smaller thinner rubber bands. And I may have over done tightness. Get it tight enough that there is some tension on the bud. But don’t break anything in the process. Small is easy to break with a large thick rubber band. I use budding rubbers which are rather thin.
Not to dissuade you from bud grafting but I have had good luck grafting dormant plum and apricot scion onto growing K1 much later than now, as Mark mentions. Feel free to go shopping on my scion exchange list for stone fruit and PM me if there something that you’d like.