@Seattlefigs Fire blight isn’t an issue in our area. After having it here a couple years I haven’t seen any powdery mildew issues on it (or on any apples ever for that matter). I’m set to get fruit from it this year, so I should know soon enough if apple scab will be an issue under local conditions.
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thank you for replying please keep us posted.
My Clark’s is doing well. After getting nailed by deer twice last year (it seemed to be the target for both deer that managed to thwart my protection), it came back nicely and I see a few tight cluster buds on it. If they develop fruitlets this year I’ll try to leave at least one because I’m so curious about the taste. I had bought the specimen from 39th Parallel and it was a beautiful graft with great roots.
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I noticed today my Clark’s P.2 is greentipping the buds hard.
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Here’s Clark’s Carb on M111 in the deer pruned orchard. I’m doing a better job of logging bloom times this year and noted it as 3 Med bloom. 1 being very early and 5 being very Late.
Should get the DNA test results soon and we have collected some pollen for breeding experiments. Going to make @clarkinks pay child support on its offspring.
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About time that deadbeat was held to account. I have it on good authority he has dozens of others scattered around Kansas. You would think he would know when to stop, but no, he keeps on planting trees and collecting seed!
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If I may ask, how did you kill the grass under the trees? Thanks
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yes, pre and post emergent applied
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looks like that Kansas wind put a lean to some of them. 
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I’m thinking that CC just isn’t meant for me to graft. I’ve got those scions in the coldest part of my fridge along with dozens of others. CC is the only one that has awakened and is budding out. I had planned to topwork it to some wild trees in early May when the trees have started pushing new growth. I’ve never had any luck grafting with scions that have broken dormancy. Oh well
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I sure hope it works for you. I grafted non dormant scions only one year and had great luck but the best think to do is wrap the sticks right now in parafilm. Then wrap them all tight with parafilm when you graft them.
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Good to hear somebody has had success with non dormant scions. Think I should topwork them now, or wait for the trees to wake up?
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I bet the sap is flowing by now. I would graft them now and wrap everything up tight in parafilm. The colder weather will slow them down pushing growth. I always choose the dominant looking part of the apple tree to graft the scion on. I try not to butcher the apple to much or it will kill the scion and tree. Pears dont care you can cut them back to the stump. Apples have taught me the hard way go to the very tip of the aggresssive part of the tree and graft that scion on. Then i dont prune until later and very little at a time. Apples just dont have the vigor of pears which makes them harder to graft. You will get 100% take rate if you keep then scions sealed with the parafilm
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Plenty of frosts coming yet I’m sure. I haven’t seen any bud swelling on trees yet, but it should happen in a week or two.
The intended topworks for CC are the literal tops of the trees. I leave a few branches around 4’-5’, then cut the top off and bark graft a couple sections of scion. I doubt I get 100%, but if at least one takes I’ll at least have the variety in my collection for the future.
edited to add…I topworked two crabs with bark grafts and tried a couple limbs on other trees with clefts. Bark is definitely not slipping easily like it does in a few weeks. Clefts were much harder than usual too, not enough sap flowing. I expect zero takes, but I guess we’ll find out.
Only took a couple pics of one tree.
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That sounds really good. I know you have done this a million times, which we have all had happen. I have tried 20x to graft turnbull giant. Sometimes it was the scions, other times the rootstock, heat, storms, birds etc. I truly get having that one i want that seems to elude me. I will have it God willing this year. It is an easy pear, but it is like i was the only one not supposed to have it.
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Clark
What If we could cross your CC with something like Cosmic crisp apple then the offspring fruit will be huge and abundance ?
Tony
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I plan to convert a Bradford Pear to Turnbull Giant on Friday unless you think it’s unusually hard to get a graft take. Not sure I’ve ever had a pear graft fail.
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Turnbull is no harder to graft than any other pear I have.
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Lets do it!
He is right its not hard to graft i just had some bad luck and made some bad choices. If i dont add a roost for a bird im gambling lol but i usually get away with it. You know i’m a numbers guy if i graft 200 times and all grafts take but i lose 30 to fireblight , birds, storms etc. Why add bird roosts? Next year i will have 30 losses out of 400 due to things that would take to much time to control. Im not lazy but i am stingy with my time. I prefer planting tiny rootstocks because the holes are smaller but i lose 20% and im ok with that. It takes 10% of the time it takes to plant huge trees. A beaver nawed off 100 trees. Thats life as i know it. Most were rootstocks but he got some 30 footers also. They will grow back. @Fusion_power will have his own problems but they will be different. Trees are easy to grow in general. Getting fruit is the harder part. In general you just have to say a few years and many steps ahead of nature. I out plant nature and i always have a strategy. Ok all that said if its a pear i pay $60 for scion for i will add a roost. A turnbull i got scions for.
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