Scott,
I am not sure which one but there was a tracking number included.
Tony
If this needs to be a different post just let me know. While we are on the topic of mailing scion wood, how do you prepare the wood for sending. It is my first time to mail so any help is appreciated. Thanks. Bill
Do you just cut into lengths and mail?
Do you rinse the wood with vinegar/water before mailing?
Do you wrap the scions in a moist paper towel?
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My personal view is to not do any soaking etc and let the receiver decide what they want to do to it. I include a small ball of moist something to act as a humidifier and seal completely in a baggie.
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I cut the scions so they fit in the zip lock bag. No rinsing and wrapped them up with a moist paper towel and removed all the air then zip the bag tight shut. You can rinse with 1:10 bleach:water solution if you would like. No vinegar.
Tony
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I send fig cuttings freshly cut but dry in a sealed plastic envelope. They can hold their own this way and seem more prone to molding over if not occassionally allowed to breathe.
For all other kinds of cuttings I include a small slightly damp (NOT soaking wet) paper towel in the sealed ZipLock baggy. I keep the paper towel away from the cuttings and fold the baggy in half (scions on one side; the towel on the other). You want the inside to be slightly moist, not sopping wet.
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Pretty much the same here: cut to fit 7x9 padded envelope, 1st class letter, a wrung-out, barely damp paper towel just around the bottom couple of inches, ziplock or heavy polyethelene bag.
I think Nick Botner used legal size envelopes. I got stuff from him wrapped in fairly/barely damp paper towel and in a recycled bread bag.
That’s for apple and pear. A friend stores his apple cuttings for months in quart mason jars with a couple of inches of water in them, in the refrigerator .
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Any scion looking a bit wrinkled can benefit from that treatment. I never kept them long-term that way, mainly because I was worried I would not notice the water all drying up.
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I wrap stuff in plastic wrap, works well for me. A bubble envelope (walmart has them cheapest) usually goes first class for $2-3.
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It all depends on how much it weighs.
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I like to seal may scion wood as soon as I cut it. This helps it from drying out. I do a lot with persimmons, so it may not matter for some kinds of trees depending on how soon you are grafting. I also like to store them in a Ziploc bag with damp long-fiber sphagnum to hold moisture. I find damp paper towels tend to mold quicker in cold storage.
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I use long fibered sphagnum moss to store, and I seal ends with paint or grafting tape.
The moss is acidic and prevents mold. Mold can still form, although less likely with this method. I soak moss and then ring it out as much as possible.
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A ziploc sealed in the ordinary way is sufficient. That wad of wet stuff that everyone seems to feel is necessary is overkill and asking for mold. Think about it: You can put a piece of meat or cheese in a ziploc with no additional plastic wrap, seal it, and put it in the fridge for two weeks, and it won’t have lost any moisture at all. For longer storage, the scion can be immersed in 10% bleach for a few minutes, allowed to air dry so a film of hypochlorite remains, then into the ziploc.
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Allen- I too have had more problems with the wad of wet newspaper/paper towel than without it. I prefer to store them dry or perhaps with a tiny shred of barely wet paper towel. I usually double or triple bag scions and put them in the crisper.
Last summer i found persimmon-budwood in the crisper and to my surprise they were still in good shape.There were about a dozen sticks in a ziplock bag.
No wad or peat,I did not use them.
I have had scions received early on dry out before I could graft them, so while too much moisture is bad, so is too little. I usually just flick some water off my fingers into the bag with the scions, a big flick for a packed bag and a little bit for a few scions.
Scott, good idea. That adds moisture without having a wad of paper to worry about.
You could also seal ends to help maintain moisture. With paint, wax or tape.
saved some styrofoam padding(those with cavities) from the boxes of flat panel tv’s which proved quite handy.
being thin enough to fit in flat boxes, yet thick enough to resist crushing, and i hope…
I received some wood nicely sealed at each end with wax. They looked a bit dried out to me and I had 100% failure with the grafts. Sealing the ends is useful but storing with high humidity is also helpful.
Yeah storing right is more useful. It may even hurt them by blocking moisture uptake.