I found a few more of his videos. In the english subtiles you see he gives pretty detailed explanations of what/why he is doing.
His utube ID is Земляк if you want to find more of him.
By the way, in the subtitles “grafting” is translated into “vaccination”
In the first:
On June 5, 2019 he grafts a fully leafed 1/2 inch thick scion which is obviously a 2nd or 3rd year growth into the trunk bark of an old gnarly apple tree. By July 26, 2019 (51 days) he has 45 centimeters (17 inches) of growth.
In the second:
On June 15, 2020 he grafts a fully leafed apricot scion and by June 30 ( 2 weeks!!) he has established very good growth.
In the third: Its a plum in August
in the fourth
It is a Appricot and peach multigraft.
I am NOT putting this up to throw any shade on anyone else or on other methods and practices of doing this. I am doing this is because these turned my grafting knowledge universe" topsy turvy and now maybe I, and others, can be less nervous about grafting:
NOTE:
- All of these are done with actively growing current year’s scion wood.
- His methods are definitely not as “surgical” as our practices. He does not have a super sharp, single bevel, Swiss/German/Japanese surgical steel blade.(see the video). I think he borrowed one of his knives from Conan the Barbarian.
- He grafts onto any area of the tree where he can find cambium to cambium contact.
Notice the huge amount of new growth he gets in 2-6 weeks? I always thought that bud or “T” grafts were ‘forget it til next year and hope you did it right’.
Some of the subtitle translations go by pretty quickly but at the end of the video I posted in my original post, he points to a piece of plywood and says he put it on the “north, to keep the graft warm”.
MY TAKEAWAY: If apples form fruiting buds on 2 year old wood, you just got one year old wood in one month and if peaches, plums and apricots do it on last years wood, you graft today and have fruit next year; neat! Oh, and the mysterious is a little less mysterious.
Hope this helps in stress reduction
Mike