Yes,that shouldn’t hurt and will put more energy in the other branches, which help the fruit.
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I grafted both some apples and pears last year, and used the perforated parafilm type tape to wrap the graft. I didn’t pull off the tape previously. Should I just let it be and stretch and fall off over time, or should I remove it at this point? I wasn’t sure if it would cause problems to remove (sun) or leave (moisture).
I noticed one of my J plum has a higher percentage of double fruitlets, I am wondering if anyone knows what might cause this?
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What type of fertilizer should be used to increase trunk caliper?
Drought stress during time of bud formation?
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could you be more specific?
The true parafilm (m) parafilm is a brand name. You can just leave on and forget about it. Even if you wrap it 4-5 times around.
However without knowing what exactly you mean with “perforatd parafilm type” and how you used it, it’s hard to give an accurate anwser.
So for now, “it depends, but most likely you’ll do less hard leaving it vs removing it”
as far as I’m aware there is no fertilizer that directly affects trunk diameter. Trunk diameter increases faster with more top growth. So i guess enough Nitrogen is important. However to much N causes more disease susceptibility.
Thanks. Does too much nitrogen cause more disease susceptibility because new growth is more prone to disease, or is there a different reason?
you just leave that on. It will slowly degrade and fall off. You can remove it, however you can do some damage trying to remove it. If removing id just cut it with a knife, you’ll cut a little in the bark. but that’s much better than dislodging or braking a graft.
However i think the best thing to do, is just leaving it on and letting it fall off naturally.
Too much N will cause thin weak wood and typically lots of blind wood (lacking bud development). Too much N will also delay dormancy in the fall and can lead to winter damage. If you are getting 12" or more of tip growth on branches every year there is no reason to give the tree more N.
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i remember reading to much N increases disease susceptibility from multiple sources. (reliable)
I think i remember an informal source explaining it and saying more N caused larger cells instead of more. And that the more “blown up” cells where easier to penetrate for fungus etc. I don’t know if that’s correct though. And have not seen a university article explain the mechanism behind the increased susceptibility due to excessive N.
Personally just guessing i think it also might be harder for plants fertilized excessively with N to take up enough Kalium, and we know that plays a role in plant disease resistance.
Interesting. Thanks!
I hope i haven’t given them too much already.
if you want a thicker trunk/framework. Thinning all fruits might also help. I remember readying about this in a article about rootstocks and free standing. The point at which you allow the tree to start bearing full crops has a large effect.
If you thin almost all fruits the first years, you get a lot more vegetative growth and thicker branches. you do however sacrifice some fruit for it. And if you have something to tie the branches/tree against i would just let it fruit and slowly thicken the branches.
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Thanks,
The trees Id like to thicken-up haven’t yet produced fruit. They’ve been in the ground for 2-3 years and are 4-5 years old. One, an apple, is still less than 3/4" trunk diameter. The other is 1 1/4"-1 1/2" diameter, but I was hoping for growth to expand clean healthy bark area where there was been damage/disease pruned.
Is there a way to encourage wounds to callous over?
-Make sure there is enough sap flow around the wound.
Thus pruning just after a bud, instead of pruning just before.
Putting multiple grafts spread out on the edge of a large pruning cut etc.
-Make sure the wound is “clean cut” some saw’s leave a ruffeled edge, they hack up the bark/cambium. You usually clean that up with a (grafting) knife.
And i have no proof for it. But i think you also get more callous when it is dark and protected (the callous under painted grafting tape seems way more than where there was an wound “open” to the air/light)
And something still on my “experiments to do list” grafting just bark on a large wound. (ie when cutting off a thick branch, peeling bark of the thick branch (with a bud even) and grafting that over the cut.
Thanks
The wounds are mainly excisions of bark / cambium, where I was removing small, newly forming cankerous areas. Some of the areas must be in the process of healing as their edges have lots of clear sap. Others, however, have no sap yet.
just wondering, are those tree’s with clear sap coming from the wounds from the prunus family? (plum apricot peach cherry etc)
Yes, plums.
the clear sap might be gummiosis.
I have limited experience. But from that limited experience id say, heavy clear sap flow is usually a sign you did not prune far enough and the tree is still actively fighting the fungus.
Less gumming is usually better. Although pruning wounds can also gum. (for me less than disease wounds)
I’m on a different continent though, with different disease pressure. So maybe start a topic with a picture of the pruning wounds etc. And hope someone from around your location gives some advise how best to continue.