I learned a valuable lesson today at the expense of another person. For years (and years) I’ve been preaching the benefits of warm weather when grafting of persimmon. It is a fact that warm weather helps, & probably immensely.
What you need to know is larger trees in the field are typically grafted via pulling the bark down or inserting buds into it. These larger trees have an incredible healing ability simply due to their roots. They have more roots.
I live in NW IL and am extremely lucky I found out that come into grafting season, my temps are 75 during the day and warmer and 55 at night (Fahrenheit). It’s the beginning of my grafting season which is typically the 3rd week in May. This is where I ran into trouble with somebody today on the telephone. This person is in the same zone as me (5b) and temperatures there are finally high 70’s and around 80 during the day and nighttime temps there have still been as low as 45… but are crawling to 60 now. This person waited to graft persimmons in the field and found the bark not to slipping really well and the color is off (kind of a dulling green to sometimes yellowish-green). This means that the zone 5b grafting season in New York and waiting for warm temperatures doesn’t jive.
This person next year it was concluded will need to begin grafting at “Optimal Time” vs. temperature.
I hope this helps someone, if only the # of fingers still remaining on my grafting hands…
The moral of the story is not all zones are the same…
There’s going to be bits & pieces that everyone will experience and learn from whether positive or negative the first time around. A grafting journal may go a long, long, ways in order to help you construct the best times to graft.
Field grafting onto larger established trees doesn’t require the the heat generally. You got enough healing power to the graft from the roots. As soon as the buds are swollen or leaves are unfurling, THAT IS EVERYONE’S INDICATOR - TO BEGIN GRAFTING.
If you’re having success prior to swollen bud and leaf unfurl, well, keep doing what you’re doing and don’t change a thing.
I will recommend still to grow your rootstocks in-ground and graft to them when they have the healing power of their roots.