Picking a multi-grafted pluot tree for East coast 7b

This is what he meant if you look at his original post.

Yes, I got it backwards. You want Supreme on the north side.
Good catch! I will correct that to avoid confusion in the future.

On my tree after 6 years now, FK is the slowest grower. All the others seem around the same. I stuck a pluot scion on FS and that thing grew 3 feet. I never had a first year scion, ever do that. And it is north facing!

Cherry wood also seems to grow scion like crazy. Grafts to Nadia grew monster size too.
I only have so much room here, so the trees have to share cultivars!

1 Like

Took everyoneā€™s advice and planted FK facing south. DD is about 5/8ā€ thick, twice as thick as all the other 3 grafts.

1 Like

Tree took very well this year and at this point has lost most of its leaves due to the few cold nights last couple weeks. From what I have seen posted it might be best to wait until Feb or right before it breaks dormancy to prune the treeā€¦ Is that what everyone typically does or any time during dormancy is fine. Seems that everyone has their own technique and time to do so.

On a second note, in order to tame the vigor this tree has is there a suggested pruning length/node spacing above the graft? aside from addressing crossing branches and allowing an open canopy.

1 Like

The best way to knock vigor down is summer pruning. You increase vigor with winter pruning. In the summer, you injure the tree, and itā€™s growth is set back. In winter pruning when it starts growing and responds to the release of hormones caused by the cutting and grows like crazy. No time needed to heal wound as with summer pruning. The wound heals while it is not actively growing. Sure it keeps healing once it starts growing but it is not as much of a shock compared to when you prune while growing.

Pruning also temporary lowers hardiness so it is best done when no super cold temps 2-3 weeks after pruning will occur. After that it regains hardiness if somewhat cold out. So waiting to late winter is best. If you prune a tree right before a polar vortex hits you, the tree will die.

2 Likes

Thanks for the detailed reply Drew. I slightly pruned the tree for height this summer and the tree responded well. I know we will not see too cold temps for at least a month so I may just top prune a bit and then revisit in the spring.
I will look at winter pruning a nectarine I have that could use a nice boost of vigor.
Robert

1 Like

Yes, you can do that. I donā€™t like to, but you can. I pruned out dead wood last week as I had a tree die on me, and also part of a 2nd tree. It survived, but lost a scaffold. It was wet feet in the spring that damaged roots. I needed to plant the trees on mounds. I do that now, but the first trees I planted I did not, and with the amount of water we got this spring it was too much. Iā€™m going to replace the tree in the spring. Iā€™m putting in a raised bed for it.
You know those steel circles used for fires and such I plan to use as a permanent raised bed. I removed the tree last week, and will prep the spot now.

1 Like

I see those steel panels used a lot for a bunch of things, that would keep the roots out of damp soilā€¦ maybe go big enough to keep the soil temp higher so roots donā€™t get too cold in winter.
I donā€™t plan on going to aggressive with the trees but experimenting couldnā€™t hurt.

1 Like

I built raised beds, 6 years ago and now they need replacing. Hoping the steel lasts a lot longer!
I have a multigrafted pluot tree pictured early in this thread three years ago. It is still producing great and I love it!
Here from 2017 harvest is FK and DD FK in the center.

DD is good, large and produces well here. Love it!

5 Likes

I wonder if a multi-grafted tree with staggered harvest times also allows the tree to size more fruit since the energy the tree is expending is spread out compared to a single variety.

the resources the tree is expending, which Prinus produces and stores in the roots during the dormant period.

1 Like

I think youā€™ve busted me on this word choice before @Richard

:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Point taken and an all-encompassing one at thatā€¦

Iā€™m still going through my handful of choices, assuming I can find the scionwood, for my next yearā€™s pluot graftingā€¦

1 Like

A worthy endeavor! :slightly_smiling_face:
I recall fruitnut recently posted his picks for pluots, with some caveats about his environment. Iā€™d give them serious consideration.

2 Likes

Iā€™ll look again. Itā€™s easy to miss the post you need when you are looking for it.

Thanks

Had another crazy idea. Grafting midway on all the branches of a tree and letting the parent tree only fruit on the bottom below the grafts.

Depending on the species and variety, I imagine you only have so many years where those fruiting buds will be viable, then youā€™d have to grow out from below the graft if you want to keep the parent tree for fruiting.

Iā€™m not concerned about having a tree last for 10 years and more. In my residential setting I will probably need to replace the tree before 5 years anyway. This would let me evaluate perhaps more fruit and then graft new trees with my smaller selection.

Iā€™m sure the idea is not orthodox, but Iā€™m not in the box of thinking since Iā€™ve just begun playing with grafting and stone fruit.

Feel free anyone to add negatives and positives.

1 Like

The comments Iā€™m remembering are from the last couple weeks in another thread, starting after this post.

Thanks @Richard

Itā€™s obvious peopleā€™s taste varies as is expected.

Iā€™ll start looking in ernest for scion availability in a few monthsā€¦

1 Like