When would be the best time to do some whip and tongue grafting of persimmons in zone 6?
Thanks
I haven’t done it (yet), but my understanding is to wait until the rootstock is fully leafed out. You’ll need to be on top of removing sprouts below the graft, too.
Right, I would wait for around 1" of leaf growth. You also don’t want it to be too hot or too cold, so look at the 7-day forecast before grafting. Too hot is 90’s highs, too cold is 50’s highs.
Scott
I have had good success bench grafting persimmons in April in zone 5. I stored the bench grafts in the basement until I was ready to plant out. Temperature in the basement was 40-50 f.
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I’d like to know a little more about bench grafting, any good links or videos or anything? Thanks. And thanks for the advice.
Yes, I think it was Joe Real who said to graft when one whole leaf is leafed out. That works for me.
John S
PDX OR
PS I saw murky today and reminded him about this site.
This is one subject that has always seemed cloudy to me. I assume bench grafting is attaching a piece of scion wood to a rootstock via whip and tongue grafting when both are dormant. Videos I’ve watched show commercial operations doin this without immediate planting.
I’m expecting some bud9 rootstock and I’m undecided if I’ll immediately graft and stick in pots or if I’ll plant the rootstocks first and wait for them to sprout before grafting
Speedster1, that’s the same cloudiness I have – is it just dormant whip and tongue grafting, and if so is there anything else that needs to happen prior to planting.
Bench grafting means when you have a small rootstock that is not growing in the ground. You can remove it from the sawdust or handle it in the pot. YOu can control the environment and the angle of the plant better. It’s usually what happens in nurseries for production.
It is opposed to grafting onto a plant that is in the ground outside, in which you have to climb on the ground, topworking, get stabbed in the face by a thorn bush, get rained on and generally are not in control of access to or getting the angle you want on the plant.
Bench grafting is generally considered easier , but you have to remember to water it.
John S
PDX OR
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Tell us about the options we have after bench grafting? how soon should they be planted? Potted vs ground? If potted what type of potting medium is used?
Bench grafting in a greenhouse also provides humidity that vastly improves takes on difficult to graft trees like paw paws.
I bench graft persimmons in my house using dormant rootstocks and dormant scion wood. I pack the trees in sawdust and store in the basement until I’m not worried about hard frosts. Originally, I was waiting to graft persimmons until they began to leaf out, but that became impractical for me when I starting grafting hundreds of them. It’s very awkward to use a whip and tongue graft on a tree that is planted, it’s also a very busy time of year when they are leafing out.
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Chestnut, what’s your success rate with this approach? I’m going to give it a try in the coming weeks.
Last year was the first year I did it. I had about 65 out of 100 take.
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SMC,
How’s your persimmon grafting been? It looks like two of my three grafts take. I am waiting to see if Prok would take. It’s in a shadier branch than the Kam Tam and 118 (?).
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I’ve only done one persimmon graft so far this year – well, plus four approach grafts with persimmons. I don’t know if any of those have taken or failed so far. Maybe I’ll have something to report this weekend.
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My second round of persimmon grafts worked. It was too cold in the first one even though I had plenty of growth and slipping bark. They are still taking time to get fully going, but as long as I keep rubbing off the growth they should be OK.
Unfortunately my Rojo Brilliante from last year got munched by deer heavily, and never got going this spring because of that. Grafts can take one munch by deer but when they get several in a row they often don’t make it.
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I’m still holding out hope for that first one I did a few weeks back. It looks okay, just sort of stuck in limbo at the moment, which is something I’ve seen with successful persimmon grafts in the past. But who knows. Kind of a strange grafting year all-in-all. There was plenty of good apple grafting weather, but persimmon and peach weather has been harder to come by.
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Congratulations. It looks like it is really starting to grow.
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