Does anybody have experience grafting 2nd year growth scion wood from European plums?
I was generously giving scions of a few varieties. A couple of the varieties look to be all 2nd year growth. Normally I’d use straight wood of last year’s growth, but some of these don’t appear have any of that. I suspect they can still work. If it were apple or pear, I’d expect it to, even though I haven’t tried it before.
You should flap graft of bark graft them, Murky. Not only is it easier and less dangerous, the odds go up significantly due to amount of cambial/cortex contact (given the sweeping and long cuts that are made).
Thanks for the suggestions. The majority of my grafts are whip and tongue, or bark grafts. I’ve done very few cleft, and sometimes modified whip and tongue if using a smaller scion and the bark isn’t slipping, or is fragile or something.
I’ve also done arbitrary things that seem like they may work for the conditions, with some success. Plus a little T-budding and chip budding.
I don’t think I’ve done a flap graft. And there is some variation in what folks consider to be a bark graft. Can you point me to a post, link, thread that shows the type of graft you have in mind?
I don’t feel particular risk of danger with any of the grafts I do with my grafting knife, and would hesitate to attempt something that violated my common sense about how to use a sharp knife. At the risk of jinxing myself, I don’t think I’ve cut myself while performing a grafting cut, in admittedly only hundreds of graft attempts.
edit: I admit to not doing a search. I tend to find threads here through a general Google search, rather than the search tools here. That said, I think I’ll take Scott’s advice from the end of this other thread: How do I graft these scions? - #9 by galinas
If it were apple or pear, I probably wouldn’t have asked. These are Euro plum, and probably onto rootstock that aren’t yet established to grow gangbusters. I’ll probably treat them as I normally do grafts for which I usually have good success.
Seems like a straight-forward graft type, but haven’t needed to try it yet. Mostly called for in nuts, though I assume it would work for almost anything. Dax’ demo is here - How to: Demonstrating 3-Flap / 4-Flap Grafting aka Banana Graft
I was looking at something the other day on this subject. They were saying the only reason people use one year growth is because there is a wider more receptive cambium layer. On second year wood the cambium layer begins to shrink and gives slightly less chance of a take.
I’ve heard of people grafting 4 yr old wood with success. Maybe it depends of species.
We’ll see, when it comes grafting time, hopefully I’ll have the time and inclination to take some pictures and follow up. I’ll probably follow my normal processes deciding based on timing, condition of the rootstock, and relative diameter of the materials.