We only had half an inch of slush on Friday. It’s already gone in most places and the ground doesn’t seem frozen, just muddy.
Last week I did some planting on the warm days and the ground seemed ok.
Here’s a Bok Jo jujube tree that I grafted back in 2020 on a rootstock planted the year before. I’ve managed to size it up to over 7’ and well over an inch caliper, which is pretty fast for a jujube. I moved it to replace a peach, which suddenly died late last summer around Sept 1st.
I’ve been gradually increasing my planting spaces over the years and this spring I’m working to transplant some of my 4-5’ spaced trees to 10-12’ spacing. I’m moving enough of them that I didn’t need to order any more trees this winter- a first for me.
Hopefully the ground stays un-frozen over the next few weeks- high 40’s would be enough, without speeding bloom too much. I’m planning to transplant about 10 trees (plus a few more which have been languishing in pots) to a new rental property. And given how long it took me to transplant the Bok Jo, I don’t think I can do more than one or two per day, at least without dedicating a longer window of time than I have.
I know those in other regions have already questioned if it is too late for dormant oil spraying, but has anyone in this region started? I’m hoping to start on Wednesday.
For apples and pears, dormant oil sprays are no longer used by most. Insects are more vulnerable to smothering after they have hatched and that doesn’t happen before first growth. For apples and pears I spray sometime from half-inch green to tight cluster.
What is done during very late dormancy is peaches for PLC- not oil but copper or chlorothalonil. Chlor is said not to be compatible with oil.
Good Afternoon,
I will be doing my apple grafting hopefully this weekend. Just got my shipment in the mail. Anybody else on here do their grafting yet? this is year 3 for me so learning as I go. From grafts last year that took but had minimal growth, should I hope to see good growth this season? This time of year do most people graft and then plant them out? or Graft and keep them indoors until warms up? Thats been a question for me?
Cornell guidelines have been suggesting waiting at least until green tip for oil sprays for decades now. Once they’d manufactured a fine enough oil to safely spray on green tissue.
Still have snow on the ground here so I haven’t thought of spraying yet. If I’m spraying the copper I may has well include the dormant oil, and I include a sticker to stretch the copper.
I’m near Albany and probably won’t do any grafting for about another month. As a general rule I like to see buds swelling on the rootstocks before I start. I’ll wait a little longer than that for treesI can’t bring inside to avoid a freeze. That way the stock is active and can start healing right away, giving the scion less time to dry out.
I actually get really good results if I graft on apple and pear trees outside about a week before first signs of growth- the problem is I’m usually too busy finishing up pruning jobs at this time.
If you don’t graft for a month, where would you store your rootstock/scion wood until them? Just got them delivered yesterday. Can I store in fridge? (No other fruits stored in there)
Scion should be sealed and put in the fridge and though I haven’t bench grafted I would guess your root stocks would be kept in some damp saw dust/chips and kept in a cool dark place like a garage or basement.
I shouldn’t have replied to this because I haven’t done it but I think LOL if your bench grafting you should be grafting now and then putting your grafted root stocks in damp wood chips or sawdust in a cool dark place🙂
My rootstocks were delivered this week. I am going to graft this week, and place the rootstock/scions combos into moist sawdust and put in a cool room in my house. I want the graft union to start healing up before I put them outside. Ill give them about 2-3 weeks, and then move them outside into a nursery bed. I’ve done this before and it has worked well for me. I want them outside in 3-4 weeks, an awake, when the rest of our vegetation starts to wake up.
I should mention this is for apples only. Everything else will wait til it warms up outside.
Just curious what apple and peach rootstocks everyone prefers, I’m pretty much center of long island with mostly high organic soil but have a few veins of seriously sticky clay. I order 5 Antonovka, 5 m26 and 10 b9 this year, hope I’m not too far off.
I like the Geneva series. I have trees on m26, m7, and bud 9, but most of my trees are on g41, g890, and g969. I am grafting another 50 trees onto g969 this year.
I have lots of clay, and all rootstocks seem to do ok so far.
M26 has been best here, for a semi-dwarf tree, but I’ve not bought a grafted tree or rootstock in 25 years… newer ones that have come on the market since then may be much better.
