That’s actually not what I was referring to. Cuts don’t dry out in the heat when the scion and cut is wrapped with parafilm, or doused in wax.
I was actually thinking of peaches (even though I mentioned stone fruit). Plums are pretty easy to graft, especially A. plums/hybrid plums.
I would completely disagree with that. wax and parfilm slow drying but do not stop it. Why I’m using buddy tape as the rate of water loss is less than parafilm. I only talked to two people who tried buddy tape, but both will not go back to parafilm, so water loss as I see it is a major issue.
So was I with Antmary.
Plums are easier, but I still got zero the year before, so for me it made all the difference in the world. a 100% difference I feel is significant.
I also had horrible luck with peach grafts in colder weather, but I will also be aiming for “as early as possible” this year as an experiment. Its a trade-off, earlier is much better due to the better sap flow, but earlier is much worse due to the colder temps on average. You need to find a good balance. Also being a sunny day can mean a lot since the sun can add 10-20 degrees to the wood temps. I’m going to graft if its sunny with highs in the 60’s this year, also I will be painting any such early grafts black and making sure they have good sun exposure on the grafted area.
Every barrier has a permeability rate. If the goal was to try to get the rate as close to zero as possible, we would be wrapping our grafts in saran wrap.
Again, plums don’t mean anything in this discussion. 100% failure on A. plums means there was some other major issue going on, not the minor temperature issues being discussed in this thread.
Yes, a technique often used, I prefer Press and Seal as it is white and reflects heat. It seals better too. Often used with figs.
Your opinion not mine, 2 years in a row too, not one. the only difference was outside temps. When cooler it was 95%. I was rather upset last year (even though i had great success, i wasted 2 years listening to experts)as I thought it was me, and it actually was the so called experts very poor advice as to when to graft in my area.
My understanding is that figs (which I have no experience with) are somewhat like A. plums (which I have experience with) and graft themselves. Any methods of improvement in graft takes are meaningless when you can more or less secure the unions with a twist tie, spit on the union, walk away, and get a new tree (a bit of hyperbole of course).
I wasn’t seriously suggesting saran wrap for grafts. I’ve tried it before, doesn’t work well for grafting trees which are actually a little tricky to graft.
I actually like grafting when it is cloudy- that way I don’t feel bad about brining bags of scion around with me. If it is sunny, I’d be too afraid of them cooking in the sun while I’m busy grafting. But I get your point- having sun in the forecast should help, especially when the graft is black, like with Temflex tape I use or black paint as you suggest.
I actually had so much grafting to finish last year that some of it was done in the rain (mostly plums, which worked fine, about 80%).
That would concern me- the more you touch it, the more likely you’ll destroy it. At least with my clumsy fingers. It’s also a lot of care and feeding for a graft- I don’t even remember to remove the tape. Which is one of the reasons I’m happy with the Temflex- that it stretches and eventually rips.
In the past, I think my scion fridge may have been a bit warmer than optimal- maybe high 30’s sometime. It was just a junky old fridge in the garage.
This year, I have a newer old fridge. It actually ruined some of my apples and pears by getting too cold. After I saw the damage, I used a probe and found it was getting to 18F. I’ve corrected it by using an external controller. The same type that people sometimes use to make a chest freezer into a fridge. I’m keeping the fridge at 34F, plus or minus 2 degrees. I have the probe in a spot which should get cold pretty quick, so I don’t think I’ll ever get most of the fridge below 32F.
https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Itc-308-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat/dp/B01MDSWXY4/
I haven’t been that precise. I keep a couple thermometers in the fridge (one dial and one glass thermometer). They are both cheap, but read about the same thing. When the wood freezes very slowly, or perhaps part of it freezes in bag and part doesn’t. I know I have the temp set where I want it.
Good point. OK, I’m just going to let it go and not check it. I will only do a few like that as an experiment. See which grafts take more. Buddy tape only or BT with P&S wrap.
LOL! Yes, I noticed some on my trees today.
" I was rather upset last year (even though i had great success, i wasted 2 years listening to experts)as I thought it was me, and it actually was the so called experts very poor advice as to when to graft in my area."
Hi Drew,
I probably have read as many posts as you have on this forum. I can’t recall anyone claiming to be “experts” in grafting and that we have to follow their advice. I think people here share the experience about what works for them. We choose to pick and try those advice/tips. Some may work, some may not for us. It’s me who chooses to use their methods. No one forces me to do it. No blame, no foul.
By the way, I share @Olpea olpea/Mark’s view on grafting plums. It is easy for me and my success rate is as high as apples/pears.
I have only had good success with grafting peaches these past two years. I’ll follow my same method this year and see if I could be successful three years in a row.
Yeah nobody here is an expert…Well we might have a few experts here, it was what some university experts, and horticulture articles were saying that messed me up.
As do I. But with the advice I got I might as well been doing them in the middle of winter.
I think you could throw plum scion at a tree and if it sticks it will take.