Just completed some bench grafts and thinking of putting a few directly into an outdoor bed.
We will still likely get some nighttime temperatures into the mid 20s in the coming weeks.
Is this likely to kill them? Found lots of info on temperatures for first and second year trees but not much on freshly grafted.
Those temps should not be a problem.
Might reduce the success rate by a very small percent,
but that’s a guess.
I’ve had no problems even into the teens
after bench grafting and putting
them into nursery pots in the outside in the elements.
Grafting at 40 degrees and seeing night temps go to 18 or something
and still got 77 to 90% success. Indoor callousing might up the
success to 90-something percent. But I’ve not noticed a major difference.
I have had failures at 80 degrees in sunshine…but most of the time I
get 'em in the shade for much of the day.
i dont think too cold is a problem but too warm definitely is.
Chilly conditions may make them tardy in starting to take off…but that should have negligible effect in the long run.
Timely thread, this year I grafted Potomac pear onto an OHxF87 stock that I let grow in place after the bud graft failed to grow last season. I’d read elsewhere that callous tissue is vulnerable to cold and was worried. Glad to hear others have seen success with colder temps than the 31F that my graft has seen so far.
Thanks all. I ended up planting 20 of 100 apple grafts out in a garden bed and the same night it went down to 25f.
I’ve left the remaining grafts to callous at 55f for a couple of weeks. I’ll report back if there is any noticeable difference in takes
