That looks like a great plan!
I’ve certainly read and seen that many plants droop during the heat of the day, but since the two cherries right next to Lee don’t I’ve become an overly concerned parent.
I need to find some oil free clay around here.
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That’s what I did with my plums. However, I’ve got a very long growing season and very vigorous rootstocks and scions. When I pruned the Robusto to get the scions, I pruned off sections of new growth that were easily four feet long. So, both the rootstocks and scions weren’t as delicate as you might think.
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I went to see the potential cherry graft recipient tree and it’s got good growth as well. Cherry, like pear, seems to put out quite a thick new growth branch.
Plum is delicately tiny by comparison.
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Please keep those 100+ degree temperatures out of Georgia. Our predicted high this week is 91. So far, we’ve had mild summer temperatures but incredible humidity, with very frequent though not necessarily hard rains. My success might have something to do with those favorable conditions.
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So @clarkinks
I just ordered a 5 lb block of the plastilina. I also found that I actually have the same parafilm you linked to earlier in the post. 1". Apparently all the grafts I did this spring were using a different kind that was almost clear in color with a much lower wax content. The buds didn’t break through the film so I would go around and slice the film to free them. I wonder how much that played into some of my failures.
OK so if I want to graft a few of my cherries next week here are my options.
Wood and scion:
Green growth on green growth
Green growth on last year’s wood
Graft type:
Tongue and groove
Vee
Covering:
Parafilm only
Parafilm and plastilina
Tin foil hat for either
Concerns:
Weight of the plastilina if doing green on green.
When taking the scion, since it’s green with leaves, remove all the leaves and cut to 2 or 3 petioles?
Support - use a twig and tie to each side of the graft for rigidity.
It will be hard to wrap the parafilm around the more tender green growth since you need to apply some pressure to stretch it. I’d assume you wrap the green scion first the accomplish the graft and wrap the graft itself, then add the clay to the graft area to a bit above and below?
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A few short videos to show the condition of the cherry limbs.
This years growth has actually hardened off well.
The Minnie Royal is the recipient tree in the first two videos.
The third video is the Royal Crimson I want to take the scion from. Unfortunately I only have three new growth short branches. They will obviously be a smaller caliper so if I want to graft near the trunk of the recipient tree there will be a small mismatch on caliper.
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I watched the videos. That growth doesn’t look green to me. It’s hardened up quite a bit. I’d go green on green or both if you can. Wrap the scion fully before starting the graft. Cut off all the leaves and petioles leaving just a stub that can be covered. Wrap up the graft union tightly. Then I’d cover the whole thing with aluminum foil for two weeks.
The alternative would be a chip bud covered with parafilm and wrapped tight. You could do both the graft and the bud lower on the same limb.
Cherries are much harder to graft than other stone fruit in my experience. So good luck.
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I have been using the term ‘green wood’ to refer to this year’s growth as opposed to last years.
Obviously the new growth hardens over time so yes it is rather firm.
My thoughts are to add a branch or two from RC to MR so I’m only thinking of a lateral branch graft. A chip but would have to be done on the trunk and I don’t have the confidence for that I don’t think. I’ve read somewhere that chip budding is a bit difficult on cherries?
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Everything I’ve tried on cherry has been difficult. Don’t try chip or T buds on anything with thick bark or last years wood. Even on the easy stone fruits, thick bark and old wood isn’t compatible with budding. Some kind of grafting is better.
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My lychee tree graft died on me, just as well, I’m now definitely will move these 3 lychees off my property. But my sister did volunteer to take them.
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I was hoping you would chime in with any thoughts before my try. By looking at the state of my donor tree it’s fading fast and dropping more and more.
I feel the urge to graft it now. Clay won’t get here until Thursday. I can just cover it all with foil for now after the tongue and groove or vee graft and parafilm.
Let me know if you have any recommendations. It seems I’ve seen quite a few vee grafts instead of tongue and groove. It certainly easier to make that cut than the T&G.
???
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If your grafting same diameter wood i would use plastic tape on the union and then parafilm the entire graft asap. If your cleft grafting smaller wood onto a larger stump then i would use clay over parafilm at the base. The clay on the scions does not work
Thanks.
One last question @clarkinks
Can I cut my scion now and refrigerate it a few days before grafting? Should be fine right?
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Roger that.
BTW this parafilm, the right one, is amazing. Now I get why all the grafting videos and photos look so easy.
The ‘tape’ I’ve been using I had to stretch double or more it’s original length to get it to sort of stay on the wood, but even then it never self - adhered. There doesn’t seem to be any wax in it at all and it never broke down… Even after 3.5 months… And at the end of the scion? Forget it.
If these grafts don’t take at least I should be able to get some scions for either Royal Lee or Royal Crimson in spring since neither seems to be under patent, or never were.
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