Since the temperature in Chicago winter is way colder than freezers temperature, can I store scions in the freezer so they will not wake up soon? I can use them when weather is warmer and the graft taken rates can be higher
No,
Store them in as close cold as you can without going below 32F. That’s the short answer. I am not able to offer a scientific explanation of why that is the case.
Ok. did any one try before? The temperature in freezer should not be very lower, why scions will not be able to survival there?I am curious.
I got some peaches and mume scions. Mume is flowering
But no leaf buds yet. I must wait for another 3 or 4 months before I can graft them onto peach, or apricot tree, etc. Out of desperate, I stored some scion in the freezer
USDA ARS apple collection takes cuttings and places them in a grape tote with sawdust, hoses them down to saturation, then freezes them at about 28 degrees, keeping them 6 months or longer.
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This was touched on in another thread, it was mentioned that the freezer may dry it out more than the fridge. I had scions shipped to me last year when temps were well below freezing but they were subject to those temps for an extended amount of time
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I amalso thinking of submerged them in water, then put scions with ice all in the freezer
I turned my freezer in highest temperature settings, and refrigerator in the lowest temperature settings. i divided scions into two, one in the freezer one in the refrigerator,
My mailbox is like a freezer accept colder right now. The temperature the other day was 10 ° f and scions showed up while i was working a 16 hour day. The scions are usually fine if they are not at that temp a long time. Same as in nature it happens. People do intentionally freeze theirs sometimes but i would not because ive never done it and am not confident in that method. I suppose i could take some kieffer scions and try it since i have plenty of them.
Why do they do this applenut? They ship them so early as it is. I think last year I got mine around Christmas from Geneva. They surely couldn’t have cut them much sooner…could they have?
That may work, but I wouldn’t try it. I would be worried that the vascular / woody tissue would take on water while not yet frozen. Later, after they froze, couldn’t that maybe cause expansion injury to them? Sounds risky, but maybe a worthwhile experiment. I have seen orchards use water sprays for freeze protection in spring and those trees were totally encapsulated in ice. They apparently fared ok.
I don’t know why they freeze some in sawdust, when they usually use liquid nitrogen. I asked the original question because I have some clients in tropic countries that have to wait for the onset of the rainy season to plant, and storing Anna and Dorset that long is problematic because they sprout in the refrigerator. I should add that I tried both the wet sawdust method, solid block of ice method, and vacuum freezer bag method, with limited success. It may be because Anna and Dorset Golden never enter hard dormancy and have too much water.
Here’s the whole thread of our conversation.
"We layer our scions and sawdust in a grape lug that has holes in it and
then put it in the greenhouse where we water it down until it runs out. We
then let it drain for several hours.
It is certainly wet, not on the dry side when we put it in the freezer.
At 08:45 AM 4/29/2010 -0600, you wrote:
Thanks Bill; how moist should the sawdust be? I’ve heard before it should
be a bit on the dry side.
Kevin
On Thu, 29 Apr 2010 08:43:45 -0400, “William N. Srmack” wns1@cornell.edu
wrote:
Good morning
We have found the best way to keep DORMANT scions for an extended length
of time is to pack them in moist sawdust, A layer of sawdust, a layer of
scions, layer of sawdust, layer by layer until your container is full. Then
we put them in a freezer where the temp is between 26’ and 28’ F. We have
kept them in the freeze for well over 6 months. When we are ready to use
them we pull the block of frozen sawdust out of the freezer and let it thaw
out.
Good luck
Bill
At 08:12 AM 4/29/2010 -0400, you wrote:
Hello Kevin,
My experience with freezing dormant apple buds is very limited. It’s
been 15 years since I have worked in this area. I remember that desiccation
of the bud to ~28-30% is necessary to remove water from tender bud tissue, a
precursor to freezing the tissue in LN. For regular refrigeration
freezing I would think something similar may be needed but it would
require slowly drying the buds and calculating the percent moisture. As
you may know initial moisture content can vary with the cultivar. I have
forwarded your email to Bill , Operations Farm Manager for the
USDA/ARS Plant Genetic Resources Unit. He has extensive experience with cryo
preservation, and apple propagation. He may be better able to assist you
with freezing or longer-term storage of dormant apple material. Good
luck with your program. It’s good to know there are apples for Africa and the
tropics!
Best,
Susan "
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well，actually ,my scion woods all covered with flower, mume flowers in winter or early spring, way earlier than apricot. But good new is no leaf buds swollen yet. Maybe I should have asked for summer scions
interesting. I actually had to look up mume to see what it was. Never heard of it before you mentioned it. Very attractive blossom on those!