I just got some significant (1/2-2/3 of the way around, about a foot high) deer rub damage on a ~1.5" diameter top worked callery pear tree that I would really like to keep alive, since it’s my oldest tree right now. I am considering bridge grafting it. Pears and apples here still have their leaves on them now, but I doubt the bark is still slipping. Do I need to wait until spring and hope that it survives until then, or might it be possible to do the bridge graft this time of year?
I’ve had more such rescue grafts than I like to recall. My attitude has always been that there is little to loose. Much as I’ve read about grafting, there is still a lot that plants know better.
I’d give it a try. You have the material you need at hand, and the temperatures will be on your side a bit longer. You can always return to it in spring if the fall ones don’t take. The tree will be ahead if something works now.
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