A work friend has a lone cherry tree that she has had a long time and I think it is a sweet cherry because she has never gotten fruit.
She said her husband got it and an apple tree from a big box store (Lowes or Home Depot?) a long time ago and she is and has been getting apples for a while now but not ever a single cherry.
I have a black tartarian that has two upright twigs that I need to cut off later (heard around spring when bud swells?) and then attach to her tree, so she has a pollinator. She does not have room for a second tree.
Her husband does not remember what kind of apple or cherry he planted. I think if it were tart cherry, she would have gotten cherries by now.
I like the look of Italian style grafting and my husband got an Italian style grafter off of Temu which happens to be the same one they are selling at Garrett Wade for much more.
Any advice on when and how to go about grafting? Do you need to do it right after cutting the branch or do you have a few days to do so?
We have rooted cuttings but have not grafted…yet…
I am thinking I am bound to have trees that don’t do well for me, and so I may dig those up to relocate/sell or frankentree them later.
I do have grafting compound which I have been using for tree wounds only, so far.
I think our Blenheim apricot cuttings rooted. We will see if they survive Winter.
A picture of the tree in foliage might help, perhaps it’s simply a flowering cherry? Even so if you know it’s a cherry it probably could be grafted with fruit bearing wood
Well, he intended to buy fruit trees, so unless it was mislabel, it should be a fruit bearing tree. They don’t know what kind of apples they got either, but they’re small and they were really good. She gave us a big bag of them and we ate them all.
Cuttings can be taken in late Winter/early Spring,before things start warming up and start growing.When mine are cut,they go into about a gallon size ziplock baggie,with a sprinkle of water.Then into the refrigerator crisper drawer.No freezer.They can be kept there,probably for several months.
If possible,get some parafilm,to wrap around the graft union and even better,the whole scion.
I have a question.What is Italian style grafting?
Here is a video from Dave Wilson Nursery,with Tom Spellman doing different grafts.If it won’t play here,hit the YouTube button and it should go to that site.
Oh I see that’s a great idea. I will ask her to take a picture of it after it flowers out. She lives down the street from me so I doubt she has many leaves of any on it right now.
@DragonflyLane … so you are collecting scionwood from your black tartarin… to graft onto this unidentified possibly sweet cherry.
If so… collect the scionwood when your black tartartin is deep in dormancy… i collect scionwood late Jan early Feb here in TN.
And prep it and store the dormant scionwood in the refrigerator crisper drawer. By prep… i seal the ends (wrap with parafilm) to keep the scions from losing moisture. I then wrap then in plastic wrap and then in a ziplock bag with most air pressed out… just a little moisture in the bag. They will keep for months like that and remain dormant…
Then in the spring… when the sweet cherry starts breaking dormancy… buds swelling, leaves and shoots starting… and you have a 10 day forecast of some nice warmer spring weather…
That is ideal time to graft your dormant scionwood onto the sweet cherry.
I have a lapins that has not fruited in 5 years… last spring i grafted 5 scions of montmorency onto it and all 5 took and grew well.
I used whip/toung, whip, and modified cleft grafts and all took quickly and grew.
Mislabels happen all the time, and big box store purchases are notorious for not being the variety on the label…or, in some cases, even the species intended.
I know an accomplished home orchardist who bought a ‘Santa Rosa’ plum on sale once, only to discover that it was actually a Fuyu-type Asian persimmon.
Are you/we even sure that this non-fruiting tree is even a cherry?
