How much exposure do new graphs need? Is it enough that they are at the end of a branch, and the only thing growing on that branch?
I have a few newly grafted plums coming out of interior branches on the tree. Now it’s Thursday, four days since I last looked at them, and they don’t look much different from how they looked on Sunday. I’m wondering if they are just slow to take off, have a bad graft, or just have bad exposure?
Interestingly, I have another plum tree with a graft very close to the trunk, and similarly shaded, and that one has a noticeable growth spurt from Sunday.
These three photos are zooming out from the middle of the tree. These branches point west.
too impatient: I would say yes. I probably see more grafts that are clearly bud-swelling and showing signs of take AFTER 2 weeks post-graft than in the first 2 weeks; it is human nature to want to see things pop but it’s also unreasonable, and tbh, relatively worthless:
I can only comment on my own experience, but in mine at least anything that takes after a couple weeks is almost entirely mine (or birds, rabbits, etc) to ruin, it is a solid post-callus take. On the other hand, I HAVE had several bud out relatively quickly and die, and I think the biggest issue is those scions were itching to grow, and they pissed away all their energy in pushing buds into leaves before they knit up a vascular system to actually feed and water them. That isn’t to say any early growth is bad, but I am considerably more leery of a super-fast “take” than one that shows in the 2-3 week to month-and-a-half timeframe
btw as for sun exposure you may do well with some shade for a month or so, personally if you expect a lot of hot I would actually cut the surrounding branches later, either when dormant if need be or after you’ve seen a month of scion growth. Kinda like tinfoiling persimmon grafts.
