There really is no end to grafting season. We just need to modify and perfect our techniques.
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I agree that the end of grafting season is undefined. A friend asked me to graft a few of my apple varieties to his trees in June when temps were in the 80s and his trees were well leafed out. Had 100% take with whip/tongue grafts. I used only parafilm to compress the grafts, then covered the whole scion with parafilm loosely.
I think scion quality is a major determinate of success. When I order scions through the mail, my graft success is about 50%, whereas when I use my own material that went straight to the fridge, it’s closer to 100%.
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@TobyFlenderson did you use fresh cut scions for this or some dormant ones that you collected earlier?
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I used dormant scions that I harvested in late February from my zone 5 orchard. I usually harvest a small collection from my apples in case family or friends have an interest. Or in case I need to bridge graft a tree that was attacked by voles.
I have tried a couple times to graft with wood that is just breaking bud, and that was an obvious failure both times. Both these times I discovered in mid April that an apple tree had been bark stripped by voles underground, so tried to graft them to other trees. The scions seemed to shrivel and look sick within a few days. So I think complete dormancy is necessary in my very limited experience.
Off the subject, but I have learned to wrap all of my new trees in hardware mesh, the kind that comes in a roll about 2 feet wide. I form it into a tube that I put underground down to the roots, and up to the origin of the first branches. That has solved most of my rodent problems.
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I’m so glad that non-Russian speakers are also appreciating Zemlyak’s videos.
I started watching him as a dual purpose, learning grafting and improving my Russian. Zemlyak had incredible experimental grafting techniques and can do a succesful graft with just a pair of rusty clippers and a shopping bag, but my favorites are all his grafts that he does with a drill, summer grating, and grafts in the middle of the trunk or an uncut branch of a tree.
https://youtu.be/TAfvEBTXVL8?si=kB-SvAKfZZ6ZpQMe
https://youtu.be/rNViQ-9U_qg?si=sEsVi9VxJ5Nn2OIE
Sacadura is also amazing. He only does more typical grafting methods but he has a deep scientific understanding and explains everything in detail.
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I get away with some grafts that really should be more problematic.
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I’m amazed that works with so much green leaf and stem on there, I’ve tried similar bagging techniques as well with other types of grafts and found that the leaves usually rot if they touch Plastic, so I usually wrap them with Parafilm and then newspaper.
In very hot weather tinfoil (polished side on the inside) works well, but the new leaves often come out white and if you don’t slowly expose them to light they will die, so you can wrap them with a newspaper or rip your aluminum foil a little, but secure it with tape so that the wind doesn’t open it, and then the hot sun kills your graft, or put some kind of flag on it, or if you happen to have 2 days of rain you’re in luck, and you can just open it up.