I find that the sap flow will be heavy if it’s rained a lot or if you’re watering a lot. I usually still get pretty good takes even if the graft is “flooded” if I wrap tight enough.
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One thing to consider when grafting are the stages of the moon and doing the grafts when the sap is down in the root system. Just a thought!!!
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I think that depends on the size of your property and how many trees would you like to have or to compress on that space.
I used 12 feet between trees and same for rows. Kaki seems to be on the smaller side compared to D. Virginia or some hybrids like Rosseyanka. I can always prune for size.
I’ll bite. What is the correlation with moon stages?
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Mostly pseudoscience stuff.
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There’s actually a lot people still using the moon stages for many of things that has to do with plants, planting, pruning, grafting and such. You can find plenty info online about this matter.
Like ramv, I’m prejudiced to consider it nonsense, but willing to listen to or read and consider a forum member’s explanation since it was suggested in the thread. I’m not curious enough to explore generally…
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the only reason I can think of for it to be valid at all is that a full moon is really just reflected sunlight; if the plant is getting extra sun from that, it might change the way it is behaving those days
the way deer will be out in the open more often on a full moon- they can see predators a bit better and get brave in that light.
so the plants are all getting a little extra kick of light part of the night during that phase. then a new moon, they get nothing.
so there could be something to it, but I think it would mostly be related to light in a way. I won’t discount it totally, but scientifically that could be the reason there’s any difference in things by the moon phases
also think about the old days before lighting. if you’re gonna plant in dark places you would want the illumination of the full moon. if you’re where you can use a lantern or it’s easy to sow or do the jobs in the dark it doesn’t matter so much.
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Having more time with visibility is an interesting angle.
I can’t imagine that the moonlight is significant for photosynthesis.
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LOL, I thought it was the opposite. I’ve read that deer are less active on moonlit nights because predators can see them. Which means that deer must be more active feeding during the day.
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My JT02… behind the compost pile… starting year 3.
This is the one that grew a shoot 10 ft long from the bud on scion the first season.
Trying to get it to spread out and not go so high now.
Looks good to me.
TNHunter
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Looks good!
Mine is 2 years older. FWIW, I headed the central leader, just like I would an apple. I also routinely remove any vertical shoots. That works. It’s roughly 8-9’ tall and wide.
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At least according to wikipedia the difference in illumination ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux ) would be, even in the best case scenario, something along the lines of 1000 times weaker for moonlight than daylight - though realistically probably more around 10000 times.
A quick search for a source stating how much light is necessary for photosynthesis to take place at all didn´t turn up anything. Though suggested values for plant requirements to survive long term were larger than 1000 lumen.
Also, the light spectrum of moonlight is shifted towards the blue side - so there probably is even less light in the red spectrum of photosynthesis available.
TLDR; Extremely unlikely that Moonlight would trigger any meaningful kind of photosynthesis at all.
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I expected the claims to be related to light, but found they are actually about water. Apparently this is something we got from ancient Rome, where they believed the ground was wetter near a full moon and drier near a new moon. (I think farming by the moon is older, but the justification in circulation today seems to come from the Romans).
I can’t think of a reason that the moon would cause such a phenomenon. Even if the Roman logic was making a leap from their understanding of the tides, that’s a cycle on the order of a day not a month, and is dependent on the position of the moon, not the phase. And it’s not like the mass of the moon changes by phase, so a gravitational effect would not change based on phase.
Maybe, maybe, maybe there is some effect because of light, but the Romans misattributed it to water because they associated the moon with water already. (I’m thinking something like the plant stretches more towards the light of a full moon than a dark sky, and that keeps it slightly more off the dirt, which gives it a slightly healthier start). Ultimately I think it’s a religious belief that would be very very difficult to prove or disprove and I can’t think of a reason why it would hurt the plants, so I can’t knock it too hard. There are worse Roman religious beliefs we could be holding on to 
.
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The number you are looking for is 25%. Full sunlight is sufficient for most plants to grow normal and for many plants is too much. Shade loving plants saturate out and have problems growing in full sunlight. 25% of full sunlight is the level at which most plants can grow with few difficulties. If light intensity does not reach 25% of full sunlight, expect failure of that plant in one way or another. Many plants can live and survive on 25% but may be incapable of fruiting. Using a real world example, mulberry can survive and thrive in near full shade. I saw an example of a tree yesterday on my land that is in full shade from taller trees but still has enough light to produce a good crop of mulberries. Don’t ask a pecan tree to live in shade. As a juvenile tree, pecan is relatively tolerant of shade, but as a mature tree, it will never produce a full crop of pecans except in full open sunlight.
Duration of light is another factor. If a plant is exposed to full sunlight for 3 hours and partial sunlight for another 6, it may be able to grow and fruit. If it is in partial shade but gets close to 12 hours of light during the summer, it may be fine. The key is that photosynthesis can take place even at low light levels so long as an adapted plant has enough hours of sunlight.
When growing plants indoors, pay careful attention to light levels. Only when the amount of light is 25% or more of full direct sunlight and when the light is on for enough hours will plants such as tomato and pepper grow normally. This is why I have 6 fluorescent or LED bulbs above each shelf of my light stand. They stay on 12 hours a day when I am growing plants.
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before that, before calendars- the moon made the months. I think it’s just a really old thing in us that wants the moon to be the months again.
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Saijo making progress
Dar Sofiyivky out in my orchard… looking a little iffy.
2 grafts of Dar Sofiyivky on a wild dv in the edge of my woods… looking good.
TNHunter
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Good to see the saijo took for you. All of the ones you sent me have taken also. Wouldn’t mind getting a scion of that journey next year.
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