OK…so I left one or two per tree. Most of these units have to be at least 4 years old by now…second leaf for me but, dang, they were over three feet tall when I got’em. And I don’t really want them to be all that big anyway, ha ha. And it would be cruel to me to not get at least one!
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Seedy, unlike the really good growers here, I sorta follow my instincts about these things, rather than some rigid set of rules. There are simply far too many variables in play for rigid rules to be of much consequence imo. My instincts are still developing (and changing) and have proven wrong more than once, or maybe a hundred times.
I look at a young tree and by far the biggest criteria for me for it’s ability to carry fruit is it’s trunk diameter and meatiness of it’s primary scaffolds. That’s not very scientific, but it does ensure that, at the very least, the necessary delivery system is in place. That is to say, for me, a whole lot of vigorous upright growth doesn’t mean so much (actually to me, it means nothing) as a heavy base.
I let a young tree fruit in it’s first year and posted photos of it here. Everyone said it was too young, too small, lacked adequate foliage etc. I let it fruit anyway…I think it carried maybe 15 apples that year. It was on a dwarfing stock. It has never since missed a beat, fruits heavily every year and is getting bigger and this year has tons more foliage. That’s not to say they were wrong…they most definitely were not. Everything they said was right and I knew it…I let it go anyway. So, I cheated a bit and clearly won…it didn’t even come close to meeting my own criteria, much less the commonly ascribed to rules.
I never suffered a bit from it…but that’s apples. Peaches are no doubt an entirely different story.
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My very first experience here (forum) just a few weeks ago led me to ‘just go for it’ when I was nervous about my first time grafting. I still ended up grafting one scion upside down…it’s still growing…along with the 5 right-side-up (outta 6); not too bad. Every so often I need to be reminded of my tendency to ‘over-analyze’ the situation. Thanks.
Keep us (or me, at least) posted about the outcome of the upside down graft. Is it apple? I’ve always thought about doing this on purpose just to see what would happen. I’m curious to know if it will reorient itself and if new growth will push buds in the correct direction.
I know of no reason that it shouldn’t continue to live, but I must admit, I’m dubious of a positive outcome. Will be cool to hear what it does.
I do know that Forsythia cuttings rooted upside down will (or at least, can) grow out normally. I’ve done it by accident and without intention of it’s growing using them (cuttings) as row markers in my garden. I have a nice bush in my yard from that cutting.
Yes, apple…
The vigor of the upside down unit is weak compared to the other scions, which are growing very well. I put a sun guard up to block the most intense sun/heat of the day because the scion appeared to be wilting a bit. It did help to do that. The leaves came out pointing down and are curving up toward the light. That sums it up, but I’ll definitely be posting more about it…'cuz, why not?
This is from over three weeks ago (25th), but they haven’t change a lot since.
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oh…ok, I thought this was a scion you grafted to an established tree? Looks like a scion you put on a dedicated rootstock? Nice and neat paint work…you must be like me and care little for your time.
I always held the opinion that I didn’t care how long something took, as long as I’m happy with it when I’m finished (when working for myself at home).
Everything I do at work is timed for performance, so I get enough of that. I often like to purposely “diddle around” when gardening, solely because I can and I’m allowed to.
I’m really curious as to what that scion is going to do.
I got four Geneva 222 rootstocks with varying amounts of roots, I think this one had way more than the others. I think this was my first graft attempt, and I somehow managed to do it upside down. There are too many factors to say what exactly is contributing to the weak growth, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to be trying it again, on purpose, largely because of this writing which describes it as being a method to control (dwarf) growth:
http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1950-10--dwarf-trees.pdf
There is information that says USD grafting is on the list of why a graft might fail. Once a person has enough material produced in the orchard to experiment with, ya might as well do it.
Yeah…I’ve seen that exact write-up. 63chevyimpala’s youtube channel documents the rework of a pear orchard where Old Home pear was used as an interstem (upside down) to reduce tree size and control vigor. That must have been a seemingly wacky idea once thought to hold promise. In that case it had slowed growth to the point of requiring removal. I don’t think it’s used much if at all anymore.
BTW…the YT channel I mentioned is in your neck of the woods…well sort of I guess.
Here’s the video…he starts talking about it around 3:30 min in I think.
Great stuff! Well, if this graft continues to live I might designate the tree as Experimental and try all sorts of stuff on it. I was fortunate in that 5 out of my other 6 first grafts are really healthy, and the old tree whose genome I’m trying to save is responding well to the TLC that it’s receiving…so far, so good! I think I know why the one graft failed but I want to look into and see what I can discover.