Apple hell

[Asturias_in_Ohio]

The good looking photos are from about a week ago. The sad looking ones are what they’ve deteriorated to up to today. After battling a litany of problems this season, my newly grafted apples are in pretty rough shape. The initial pot soil held too much water so I repotted with better soil. I’ve seen powdery mildew on a couple. I’ve pulled a few out to check the roots and they’re not pretty. The leaves are wilting to paper-thin limpness. I’m assuming it’s a combination of having the roots too wet for a while and transplant shock. Does anyone see any glaring symptoms that point to something I’m not aware off? Some of the bud bases are still green, should I perhaps T bud them onto an established tree to try to save the varieties or do they look too far gone?

[ltilton]

Poor things

[Asturias_in_Ohio]

I feel worse than they look. I’m gutted!

[Reg]

Awwww damn

[39thparallel]

I lose a percentage every year just like that. when it gets hot, the heard thins a bit. Good scion with nice big vegitative bud, Good grafts with maximum cambium contact and starting them early helps.

[BlueBerry]

Could possibly be waterlogged soil, though.

[Chills]

I feel for you.

I grafted 3 plums, 1 peach and 1 pawpaw (multiple grafts of each, at least 2 each).

2 plums quickly pushed growth. 2 of one variety and 1 of the other.

Then our weather got weird…

1 pawpaw graft pushed its terminal bud this week. All the plum graft’s growth has died.

Its nice seeing the graft push growth, its a real kick to the gut when it dies…

Scott

[Poncho65]

That is what happened to several of mine as well. They were looking so good and then all of a sudden they wilted and died! I feel for you and hope that the rest of them survive. The ones of mine that made it past that point seem to all be flourishing

[BlueBerry]

I think I had 90 out of 100 apple grafts this spring grow. But, about 3 have done what yours have after having an inch or more of growth. And a couple others don’t look happy.
Agree it’s a bit of mystery why the failure after they seemed to be doing fine.

[JohnnyRoger]

I am no expert, but I’d bet on the soil being too wet. I had 19 of 20 grafts take last year, but watched 12 of those wither and die in their pots. When transplanting the remaining 7 this year into the garden, last week, most showed signs of rot–which I assume was because I used a “moisture controlling” type of potting soil. This year, all my rootstocks are planted in the garden bed.

[hambone]

Sorry to see that. It’s an endless learning curve. After decades of grafting experience this year I had the bright idea to do one-bud bench grafts of a very rare scion to make it go farther. I’d heard of others doing this. Problem- very skinny scion, skinniest I’ve ever seen. Not enough energy stored in a one-bud graft of super skinny scion. All one bud grafts failed even though on inspection after 10 weeks they had knitted fine to rootstock. Thankfully I did a couple two- bud bark grafts on top of established leaders as insurance and they’re doing well. My lesson- if scion is rare but iffy, bark graft two buds in a dominant position.

[Ciderlady]

You might try using smaller scions. I graft with only 2 buds per scion and usually have very good success. It requires too much of the plant’s energy to try and push out more than 2 buds per stick.

[LTCider]

Some time ago, I grafted 80ish trees. 40 got planted and the other 40 made it to pots. The graft success rate was higher in the pots, but I started to see the same damage you have. I transplanted them to the garden where a few recovered, but most died. I don’t remember what happened to the rootstock. At the end of the day, I decided to always plant in the ground from then on.

[Asturias_in_Ohio]

It was my first time grafting and in hindsight made a lot of mistakes. I’ll defintely be heeding this advice next time as it seems to be a common (and therefore valuable) recommendation. Thanks!

[johngonole]

As a last ditch effort you might try a foliar spray. In a gallon use 2 tableapoon of alsaka kelp and alaska fish and spray evening or early mormings. Also southern ag sells a garden friendly fungicide that should fix any fungus attacks on the roots.