I have 4 scions that have sentimental value for me, two of each kind. They woke up in refrigerator. I already see green in the buds. The trees they should be grafted on actually made less progress than the scions. What to do with them now? I really don’t want to loose them.
Graft them anyways as is.
Dax
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Thanks! Should I do it now or wait until trees are more progressed? I see the green tips on the trees, but no even small leaves yet.
Graft them now. I should ask first, what are they, also?
And when buds split their scales in the fridge but don’t have leaves or flowers it’s identical to dormant scionwood. Even if there is some good swelling and leaves unfurling you still have a shot at success. So, really, you are more than okay.
Dax
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I would like to add that the closer they are to breaking the more care you need to exercise with them, because they are more prone to sprouting fully and using up their reserves before they have a chance to tap into the tree to which they are grafted. At least, that’s the way I I look at it. I’d take care to shield the grafts from sun by wrapping with foil, things like that. But it can be done, no doubt. Good luck!
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They are apples. I really not sure what kind. They are from the orchard of my late mentor, who died several years ago and his orchard was sold in pieces. This winter I asked permission to walk one property there before they do who knows what with his trees and cut scions from couple trees. The trees already were pretty neglected. He was a great man, and helped me a lot 20 years ago when I just came to US.
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What a neat legacy to preserve, Galinas.
If the trees are still there you can collect bud sticks this summer and do some budding to keep the variety going. You can bud (or chip, see this very fine video if you haven’t already: http://www.growingfruit.org/t/video-all-you-need-to-know-about-chip-budding-fig-trees/16212/5) to smaller diameter branches on your existing trees, parking your varieties as you need to. Then when you need new scions for a permanent tree you’ll have them. (My apologies for telling you more than you need to know- I can’t keep track anymore!)
Your mentor sounds like a fine person. I’m glad you and he connected, and I think this is a great way to honor him.
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I have to tell our story now. 
When I came to US, I just accompanied my husband of that time who came to work here. I had no right to work, nothing to do and nowhere to go - we had one car, and I was just linked to home and my young son. One weekend we went to do some apple picking near by. The owner there was a professor of electronics in Lowell University. And I asked permission to come to his orchard just to help for free. We walked there about 1.5 miles one way with my 4 years old that time. I almost didn’t speak English at that time, so conversations were just minimal. Once, when I was picking rocks out of pumpkin field he came by and asked - you are engineer, why don’t you work? I never told him I am an engineer. I was very surprised, and asked him how did he know… He said, I am acting like one. 
So I explained him visa issue, and all the difficulties… And he said - that’s nothing. Let’s make a microprocessor engineer from you. It never happened - company he had in mind closed before I had a chance. But he just made me able to believe it is possible. In couple months I got my first job as software engineer. And that was the best gift he gave me.
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We need more than just a “like” for stories like that!!
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If you have enough scionwood, it is possible that there are some buds that have not sprouted yet.
So graft them anyway. And do multiples of them. Also wrap them really well with parafilm to avoid dessication. If some of the already sprouted buds break through the parafilm anyway, wrap them again with stretched parafilm to avoid loss of moisture when they dry out.
Apples are quite easy, so you will likely be succcessful.
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Thank you for that beautiful story, it is the best I’ve ever read on this forum, but now I really, really want those scions to take. I use “Buddy” tape from AMLEO.COM because it is very thin parafilm that buds push easily through but provides extra protection from dehydration. You wrap the entire scion that isn’t already wrapped during the joining of tissues (I use electric tape for that). If you use electric tape for splice grafts you should use white tape for a few of the grafts to see if that helps.
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Another problem I have is the trees I am grafting to literally have 3-4 single branches. so in order not to loose original tree I can only do one graft per tree. But I have crab apple on my neighbor yard, she was kind enough to let me use it as training tree, so I hope to graft some there, and if grafts on my trees wouldn’t take may be grafts on the crab apple will and I will be able to regraft couple years later. By the way, is there any compatibility issues between diploid and triploid? I am not sure what scions I have, so can’t choose “proper” tree, but I have both, diploid and triploid .
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There are no graft compatibility problems between bi’s and tri’s, that is only a pollination issue. Also the crab should take them as well as any type of apple if the tree is healthy. Grafts take best on vigorous trees.
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In my experience, no. I grafted Gravenstein on my Honey Crisp. The graft took and has produced an apple. That darn squirrel!!! I also has other tripoid grafted on that tree.
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Thanks!
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If you have extra wood, I and I’m sure others here would happily try to graft some of your wood to save it for you.
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what a inspirational story!
I would graft it right away. I was in similar situation early this year. One pluot scion I received from west coast started blooming during mailing. I took off the flower buds and grafted it right away. This was back in Feb/Mar. when everything was all still in slumber. Now I see the graft pushing .
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What I do when that happens is look for a couple of buds that are most dormant. Often there will be a couple that are still completely closed. You only need a couple. of buds, one really, but two is better. I either cut the stick off or leave it long and just remove the sprouting buds. Then I coat the entire scion with grafting paint, or use parafilm as others said. It’s also best to shield it from the sun and wind until it starts to take.
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2 things. 1) I have grafted a LOT of apples onto a crab apple I have and without question it accepts grafts better than any apple tree! Really. You can almost just lay the scion beside the graft spot and it will reach out and take it. haha. It really is the easiest grafts I’ve ever done.
2) I have SEVERAL TIMES grafted both apples and pears that the scion was quite far along- not only showing green but in some cases actual leaf tips starting to come out. If I’d ask someone they probably would have told me it was a waste of time to try. And I’d have thought too much of the scion’s energy reserves and moisture had already been used by the sprouting of the scions, but I’ve had it work several times. So by all means, graft yours and you may be pleasantly surprised.
Great story, BTW. Always nice to read about someone coming here and making it against the odds!
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