Okay on this topic I’m trying a Double Delight on an Elberta and see if i can get a bud to heal and then sprout. It’s just an experiment, and maybe i ahould have picked something different like a plum or something to see what would happen “chimera” wise or soemthing.
The grafted tree is an apricot. Both the root stock and the apricot died. Then new shoot appeared. The root stock is a peach.When I tasted the peach for the first time, it does not taste great. Small, bitter with slight sweet, and mushy. Then, I started learning about grafting. One of the graft was poorly executed. The scion is a nectarine. It took the tree more than a year to heal the grafting union. When it finally flower, it was of a peach. The fruit forming is a peach. Somehow, the host tree hijack the scion and change the DNA or genes? I don’t know how it will taste as it’s forming the fruit. I guessing it will taste like a bad peach.
Sounds like you got mislabeled scion.
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Yes, and no, before pollen hybridization started being used, grafting was being used to create new varieties, yet it’s almost a lost art, grafting hybridization is still being used successfully in Florida yet most people have no idea how it used to be done, first of all two living entire plants need to be grafted together for it to work, that is why just merely grafting one variety on to another does not work, the original roots of both plants still needs to be there, I also believe that not all grafting methods could work for the purpose either, it does not actually change either of the plants, yet it can actually create hybrid seeds, they can then be germinated to create new plants, that is why it’s called hybridization, it does not actually change the plants themselves.
Some day I’d like to try experimenting with grafting hybridization, yet I am no good with a knife, that is why I use a grafting tool.
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I’m not either. But I get some takes. Two things that really helped. Grafting at the right time for my area. And a single edge knife. That made cuts a lot more straight.
Sticking to simple grafts too. I still get a lot of failures. I also did a fall regular graft that took! It’s well grown out now, it’s not going to fail. So timing is not everything.
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The tools work great for me, the low priced budget one, is the one that works the best for me, the more expensive one, every graft made with that one failed.
I just ordered the Italian grafting tool that is starting to get famous, because it can do a ‘bud graft’ (bench graft) and can do a ‘WHIP & TONGUE’ graft (Z graft), between this new tool, and the budget tool, I will be able to do 5 different graft types without a knife, just the same, as you probably know, none of them will be able to join actual plants together. I have only tried a single edged knife for grafting.
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Hey I get it. I have lost some feeling in my fingers and some things I used to do I can’t anymore. Just buttoning my shirt is difficult. Glad you found a nice work around.
I usually cut my finger about once a grafting season. Good news it doesn’t hurt.
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I highly doubt that it’s a mislabeled scion. The scion is from my own nectarine tree. It’s only 25 feet away. Only this scion have the worst connection. All the other grafts are nectarine. It was grafted the same day the scion was cut.
Well you can’t cancel DNA so something is amiss here. I guess it’s possible, but I remain unconvinced.
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I didn’t think that graft would work, since it was so bad. However, mother nature proves me otherwise. You may not be convince, but I don’t see a nectarine. So, my eyes are not that bad yet. In addition, it’s grafted at the tip of the branch. i can clearly see the end of the scion was cut flat just like the rest of the scions. Again, less than 50 percent of the graft makes contact. It was grafted in early Fall of 2022. It did not produce flower in 2023 because it was still healing. The rest of the scions did flower and produce fruit in 2023. Then early 2024, I can still see the tree is healing the graft. Then It flowered and the color is light pink. The nectarine flower color is dark pink. My guess is that the tree use its own tissue to heal the union. It look rather decent now vs the first day of the graft. So when it fused, something happened.
Even seeing the fruit myself in person would not convince me. This never happens to grafted trees. I also doubt a lot of the studies as rootstock DNA enters the scion via the cambium layer, so testing fruit or wood from the graft is going to have some rootstock DNA in it.
I see study from the University that you can’t graft a pear onto an apple tree. Well, I did it and so far so good. My apple tree accepts pear. The scions of the pear are thriving. Something can happen, even if it’s highly unlikely.
Well they are incorrect. Seems to be a very common question can I graft pear to apple. They can even pollenate one another they are so closely related.
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I don’t use any inter-stem. One of the scion actually flowered. Again they are thriving and not dying. My apple tree accept the pear better than the pear tree. So, as you can see someone proved that you can graft a pear to an apple tree. Yeah, there were many studies mention it will not work. Again it prove my point. Something can happen, even if it’s highly unlikely.
No need to use an interstem, not mentioned at all in the article. And that would be very important to mention. Now even more unconvinced considering your responses. Hey I understand you may be right but I’m just skeptical. Who cares what I think? Thanks for the discussion, I have to go graft some dragon fruit to my tomato plants…
Thank God she is nature enthusiast and not from the University. It was a simple article. She mention if can be done, but does not goes into much of the detail. I saw the same YouTube video of the man showing his apple and pear tree without inter-stem. He was showing it to convince others that it can be done. All the other videos on YouTube shown a failed graft as the scion was not thriving.
Sounds like the scion died and a bud that grew was from just below the scionwood. Probably right - its the rootstock peach.
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Can you post some sources on this? I’m not familiar with the process. I would love to look into it more. Thanks.
The fact is some apples are easier to graft to than others. Winter Banana being a great example. Other people on here have found the Clara Frijs (sp??) Pear to be easy to graft. Both are used as interstems. I have an apple tree my brother grew from seed. Fantastic apple - most likely Fuji x Granny Smith cross. Love them.
Anyway - did a root cutting for my Mom of Sam’s tree and have now grafted several apple types onto it. All doing well. It also has a couple of pear scions - they are alive but not doing well.
Many things can affect “compatibility” and as I’m researching I’m getting more questions than answers. Are compatibility issues because of sap flow? Different bud break times? Different chill hours? What can we do to mitigate these? One fruit nursery owner in Canada has started summer pruning scions first couple of years and suddenly had success where others fail because of sap flow. If you put a rootstock in a greenhouse and force it to bud sooner can you then save scions that would be starved? On the opposite end of the spectrum figs and mulberrys can be drowned by too much sap when grafted too.
I guess what I’m saying is everyone is right on here - we don’t know what we don’t know and some of the incompatibility issues are just things we haven’t asked the right question to figure out. The one off impossible grafts prove to me that there is far more to learn still in this field.
The scion did not died. It took a long time for the union to heal. I don’t think anyone want to repeat this experiment, where you grafted something so bad that there’s a 99 percent of the graft dying. Then, what chance of the host plant taking over after a long healing period. If you talking about math If more than 50 percent is replace or added, then can you still call it the same tree?
As far an my apple tree. The secret is the healing power. This apple tree heal fast. I noticed any imperfect graft, the tree will fall the space with its sap. I use the same pear scions on the same branch. The apple heal twice as fast as the other pear tree. I notice it more than once.