i think my success has to do with my heavy clay. it holds moisture really well so the cuttings never completely dry out esp. with mulch on top. i literally poke a hole in the soil, scrape the bottom down to the cambium, push in until only 1 bud sticks out , then mulch / water well. that’s it. unbury around the cutting come spring. maybe amending you planting spot with some compost or heavy bagged, unfertilized soil would help retain more moisture. i usually stick them in late oct. just before we get a killing frost but ive done them in late sept. and they stil took. as long as it stays cool enough so they dont try to break dormancy. by the way, the Quebec border is 15 min. north of here. both sides of my family immigrated from there in the 1920-30’s. Bosse / Gagnon’s.
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@murky - on your successful grafting attempts, what stage were the rootstocks in? Just starting to leaf out?
Probably fully leafed out.
edit: yeah, April 27, 2025
Then May 11 the buds were breaking through the Buddy Tape
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From my experience, goumi are easy to graft. Goumi was the first thing I grafted, with no experience, 3/4 took, last year I cut 15-20 scions from the previous years growth. 4/6 grafted to wild AO in a field with no care at all still took, all the others grafted to other goumi were successful. Actually I killed two trying to air layer the rootstock just below the graft after they took.
Dormant scions W/T to leafed out rootstock. Late March-early April southeast Missouri zone 7a.
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