Sorry if little scions are causing grief. But, of my grafts that have definitely ‘taken’ so far, most of them are the little sticks not much thicker than the little ink cartridge inside an ink pen…and pencil sized ones I’m still waiting to see bud break. (Two little pieces in a cleft … matched with cambium on just one side.) Also a few bark and a few saddle grafts with the little guys.
And a ‘side graft’ – a whip & tongue – on the side of a rootstock.if the scionwood is not tiny but also not as big as the rootstock.
I wish I’d done more in the cold…so many other chores getting in way of the rest of additional grafting now.
This is a great idea. My biggest complaint about that Zen grafter was the frayed edge that kept the cut from having a nice clean edge. Sometimes the bark would tear raggedly and peel off . . . especially on scions that I had a very hard time releasing from the Zen grafter’s grip. The rubber band sounds like a good idea too. - I need to look at Barkslip’s modification again.
I ended up doing a few saddle grafts, because it took a few to get the hang of ‘which direction’ to put ‘which piece’!
not trying to brag or anything (mainly because im an idiot)…but I think I had 100% takes this year. Grafted pluots, apricots, apples, cherries and pears. Around 30 grafts, now im debating how long to keep the tape on. Im going to try a few nectarines and peaches this week.
-all grafts were mainly W/T and cleft
-all grafts were covered with buddy tape, then electrical tape.
Ill let you know if it actually pans out to 100%, some are slightly slow…so we will see!
Just look at each of my pear graftings made in March, scions from tooth picker to pencil size. It looks like all take. In a week or two I will know how my plum graftings are doing
Just put some chips of Chinebuli on the first of four extra Prok persimmons. Cinched tight with parafilm “ropes” and now hanging out with the seedlings on the heat mat. If they take, I’ll chop the Prok off above. If not, I’ve still got Prok on there!
Well, this year, season seems started early. When I saw a window of right temperatures, I just did it so I don’t have to graft pears, plums, peaches all together which at end of day there is no joy left but aches and pains.
Roughly speaking, my plum seems all take too, so did peaches. So far the take rate is high. Although peaches I did only a week ago. Will see in a week or two.
Very impressive @JCW! Could you please share your experience with bench grafting persimmon? Did you graft on dormant rootstock or waited until it started pushing buds?
I’m not @JCW, but I had a lot of success with persimmon bench grafts last year. I let my rootstocks just start to wake up, then grafted and did my best to hold them between 75 and 85 F per @Hillbillyhort . If I recall correctly, I got 19 takes out of 21 grafts.
That’s what I do is wait on the warmth. I’m just now getting to 70+ days and the rootstocks are waking good. I still have some nights in the 40’s coming up so I’m going to wait another week or so before I think about it. I’ve found that it really doesn’t matter how leafed out the rootstocks are but it does matter on how warm it is.
toned down and 50, these two doesn’t describe each other well. I was planning on just grafting few，few means a handful. but it looks like over 40 grafted already:scream:. Oh well can’t plan well enough in terms of grafting:blush:
I bench grafted 5 root stocks with Gingergold scions in order to make Belgian fence espalier. Looks like one is not going to make it. Here are two photos. Both trees started with the same progress, pushed three buds, but then one continued to grow and the other just stuck. It opened flower bud on top, but separate flower buds were undeveloped. I cut them anyway. Does it mean it is not going to make it? I need to figure out what to do with my original plan of five trees… Is it still possible to do anything with the root stock? I do not have the dormant scions any more… Is there some other type of grafting I can try this time of the year without dormant scions? I do have a Gingegold tree to get grafting materials from…
@odin.9 I did wrap the scions with parafilm, It’s a running total on grafts been doing some every weekend since 3-14.Too much reading on this sight couldn’t stand it anymore waiting on the wild ones to wake up (buds swelling as of today)! Varieties so far JT-02, Nakita’s gift, Sestronka, Kasandra, Zima Khurma, Prok, Roseyanka, Ichi Ki Kei Jiro, DEC Thor/NG, DEC Pumpkin, DEC lg Morris Burton and the mother tree of the seedlings. Shout out to @RUenvsci for sharing.
Here is a pic at 21 days.
@SteadyStan Seedlings and scions both dormant. Had a box built out of golf cart windshields for starting seeds, put it by a window. Not warm enough so I threw in a boot dryer when the buds started breaking added a shop light. Here is a pic of the seedlings I grew in an air bed and my next experiment. What to do when you run out of tiny scions.
The rubber band sounds like a good idea too. - I need to look at Barkslip’s modification again.
. Oh well can’t plan well enough in terms of grafting:blush:
