What kind of sealer do you use on top of the parafilm?
I bought a tub of " Tanglefoot Tree Wound Pruning Sealer & Grafting Compound" in 2020. It was about $9 then, looks like it’s about $13 now. Still a good deal, it will last me many more years most likely.
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I dab a little on the cut tip of the scion and over the Parafilm on both graft unions. Because the bottom union was > 1/4" wood I tightly wrapped some additional plastic over the Parafilm. Hard to close the gap on a W&T without some fairly serious pressure, more than Parafilm alone can manage… I usually dab a bit on each bud I cut off on the middle (interstem) piece too.
Unlike previous years I have these in a tub in the basement with the roots kept moist, in hopes the unions will “heel in” before I pot 'em up.
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The apple grafts are on rootstock, vary in size, so using whip graft to save selecting/wasting expensive scion wood.
I have mentioned using grafting wax heated to liquid in a candle warmer, $5 at walmart. Got a pack of $4 art brushes.
Slather the liquid wax onto the graft and wrap with several tapes of choice, then dab on a bit more at the top seam to hold. It solidifies in a few seconds and is extremely structural stiff.
I dropped a small radio by mistake into the finished box and figured the grafts were ruined…nope, they are firm and well held.
I did my second ever grafts today! I had a large (about 10 feet tall) aronia bush in my back yard that I grafted over. I did Harrow sweet, Harrow delight, and harvest queen pears. I also did a bunch of sorbopyrus that I got from GRIN: Shipova, Smokvarka, Bulbiformis, Washington Park Arboretum 569-60, and a pollwiller seedling called CIGC 42.
Here are some pictures!
I chopped the aronia bush down at around hip height, because I read in another thread that it’s important to leave nurse branches when grafting pears to aronia.
I tried to do cleft grafts, based on @clarkinks advice from another thread, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it! I couldn’t keep the clefts open wide enough to slot the scions in nicely, and the scions kept on getting jammed up and mangled when I tried to insert them into the clefts. So I ended up doing mostly bark grafts instead. I only cleft grafted on the thinnest rootstocks, the rest were bark grafts. The aronia bark was pretty thin, though, so I hope it worked out? I wrapped tightly with grafting tape (like thin Saran wrap) followed by a tight wrapping of electrical tape, and I dabbed glue-all on the scion tips.
Now that I’ve done the deed, could I ask some basic grafting questions?
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The weather today is high of 48, low of 35, which isn’t ideal. It’s supposed to be highs in the 50s-60s for the next two days, then highs in the 70s on Wednesday and Thursday, then back down to the 60s for a few days after that. Will the temperature swings mess with my grafts, or are the temperature ranges ok?
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How do you get scions into cleft grafts without jamming then in and mangling them?
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Does it matter that the aronia bark was super thin when I did my bark grafts? The only other thing I ever grafted was into a callery volunteer, and that had much thicker bark.
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How long will it take to see if the grafts were successful? When will the buds start to grow?
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This thread should help you out. I haven’t grafted to Aronia before.
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@disc4tw That thread was the inspiration for this experiment! Before that, I didn’t even know I could try to graft pears/sorbopyrus into aronia.
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@dpps
So glad to see you doing more grafting !
The weather should be about ideal for your grafting.
Opening the cleft to insert scions has traditionally been done with a tool like this
No , you don’t need to get one , just insert a flat screwdriver in the center to pry it open enough to insert scion
Thin bark ? You have to work with what you have .
They should show signs of life in a few ~2 more or less weeks .
I usually just use scions with One to three buds .wrapping them in few layers of parafilm before inserting. Longer is not always better.
You could cover scions with some melted wax as insurance to prevent drying . What you have there should work well !
Looks like a good start on your grafting adventure !
A word of caution, grafting can be addicting.
I see rootstocks on your shopping list next year
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The buds may swell and even show some green. The scion itself has some energy stored enough to break bud but this does not always mean the graft has taken. Vigorous growth is a great sign and even slow steady growth is good. It’s very exciting to watch. I checked my grafts today that I did last Saturday and have obvious swelling buds on two of them. Now I cross my fingers that it grows and keeps growing. Good luck on yours!
YEP!!!
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BTW, I’m jealous of your labels!!!
Thanks!
Re: long vs short scions: I think I tried to have 4 buds on most of the scions. Is that too many? Should I nip them shorter? It’s there a disadvantage to having them too long?
Haha, I think I’m catching the bug… I have some paw paw scions in my fridge waiting for the warm weather to graft into my established trees. If things go well this year, who knows what I’ll try next year?!?
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I think what you have there is fine.
I just use one or two because that’s all that’s needed.
Shorter = less leverage for the wind / birds ,to knock them loose, easier for me to wrap , etc.
Yours should be fine
I wonder if anyone is going to read the over 200 posts on this thread?
Here’s a tip for anyone that doesn’t have a good grafting knife. A box cutter works. Get Milwaukee blades that are extremely sharp. They are sharper then others and cheap. For those trying to do whip and tongue cuts the Milwaukee blades make that second cut easy.
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I have to say that I am doing well with whip and tongue this year only because of a new sharp box cutter. I agree with Dennis. I just could not get the tongue to cooperate using my grafting knife.
I did want to add that after using the zenport grafting shears recently, I am using them for my whip and cleft cuts and making tongue cuts with the box cutter. I just can’t beat the wonderful straight cuts of the zenport. I think the zenport tongue cut is a bit more wonky and I can do better on my own.
I know I said previously that I preferred the grafting knife for all cuts, but I’m going back on that now. Old dog, new tricks.
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Amen…box cutter is all I use. Over 100 grafts each of 3 years running.
Here are some grafts that took from last grafting season. Very minimal growth but I guess a good sign to see greenery growing above the graft union. Should I hope for good growth this season from them? Any suggestions on putting fert on them? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
I am now an IronBuddy Tape FAN, FAN, FAN! Drop of liquid grafting wax and good to go. This is my third tape trial. I use tree grafting wax heated to 160 degrees and wiped on with hobby paint brush.
Two weeks post-op update:
All the scions at my parent’s’ house have swelling green buds!!! Does this mean they’ll probably take? Is there anything I need to look out for over the next few weeks or months? Anything that will increase their likelihood of success?
Here are some close up shots:
Potomac scions:
Harrow sweet scions:
Harrow delight scions:
I’m so so excited!!!
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That’s too early to call, but a great sign. Those are almost certainly going to grow.
This proves the scions were viable and remained so. Unless you did something crazy in the cutting and placing, which would be hard to mess up on pear when the bark is slipping, you are good to go.
CAN BE???
There should be warnings on all the supplies and phone numbers for Grafting Addiction hotlines!
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