There are folks who mention grafting plums and folks who mention budding plums and some who use the terms interchangeably when speaking of plums. Some websites say it’s a waste of time grafting (use budding); with others it’s vague. I’d like to hear from forum people. Flowers are out on my two plum trees and leaves are out on my one pluot…I think it’s time for ‘grafting’…but not for budding. Suggestions?
Toka one year ago (got my pix mixed up)
My experience is that grafting is just fine for plums, but we are talking a handful of grafts. My bark grafts for plums have done much better than cleft grafts. But in general, bark grafts do better for me anyways. More cambial contact that way probably results in a faster growing take.
OTOH, my experience with budding plums is dismal. But that stems mostly from the inability to receive viable budwood in the midst of summer - it always gets fried in the mailbox.
Another issue for plums is that the hybrids and japanese are so early blooming and have lower chill requirements, that even a bit of time in the mail or too long in the fridge will set them on their way to growing.
I was thinking I could try to keep a little of the bud wood/scion wood that I have until bud time and try both, but that would be a looong stretch in the fridge (6 wks already) to keep stuff fresh. I guess I could start with grafting now…many do. Thanks.
For what its worth, I’ve had outstanding success grafting plums. I actually get as many takes on them as I do on Apples and pears. I can’t get a peach to take to save my life, so I’m not a good grafter at all. But for me plums have been easy. I know the experts here will sort of look down on me for “cheating”, but just have remarkable success using those little $15 grafting tools that cut some type of concave shape (Omega, V, etc) into bud wood and a matching convex shape into the rootstock (or vice versa).
I’ve had terrible luck “budding” plums, and I can’t blame it on the wood being dry because when I’ve tried it I’ve taken the bud off an on-site tree and grafted it to rootsock 5 minutes later. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. I also dislike budding because while you can SORT of tell if the bud is still alive, you really don’t know for sure if it worked until spring-several months later. With grafting you know within a few weeks (not withstanding occasional delayed rejections).
Let us know how you do this year, Steve.
Grafting plums is very easy for me, cleft usually, they all take and show growth very fast.
Budding can be done in different seasons, there are spring budding, June budding and fall (actually, late summer) budding. Dormant wood collected in the winter is mostly used for spring budding, which you can do now.
Alrighty then…I came in to rest my feet and now I’m going back out, armed with Opal and Flavor King scions. I have several Opal scions from a generous forum member so I’ll try one on my Toka, too. I may end up with a Prunus americana, too, so one can go on that.
Interesting…maybe I’ll try one now, or soon.
I graft dormant plum scions when buds on the understock are beginning to swell. Primarily use “Z” graft, cleft, V graft or saddle graft with the Zenport type tool, bark graft, and an occasional whip and tongue. Success rate is high for all methods however vigorous bark grafts on stumps break off in the wind if not carefully braced.
I have never tried to bud graft a plum although I have late summer grafted with actively growing scions. I simply stripped all the leaves off and grafted as if it was dormant. Some of the scions healed over but did not grow until the following spring, similar to a chip bud. Not as successful as dormant grafting.
It might be still too early in your area for bark slipping, in that case do chip budding.
It will be a cool week but it’s a warm day, and we’re definitely into Spring here…apples, pears, and plums have at least flowers and some have leaves. All my trees are tiny, like 2nd and 3rd leaf; so, little scions, little skill, with little trees…what could go wrong?
:-)M!!!
I just grafted the plums I’m taking with me on my move tonight onto Marianna GF8-1 rootstock.
I’m going to need to find a place on some wild plums to park a Superior scion, or a wild plum sucker to graft it on to because I’m not real happy with my work on it. I ran out of roostock in widdling it down. I’d hate to lose Superior, as it is one of the best hybrids.
I hope it works out.
I’ve only budded plums, peaches, cherries and other stone fruits on young seedling rootstocks and they’re all great! Budding on mature trees, their growth have been lethargic compared to other whole stem grafting. The only time they do great on mature trees is when I bud them to a young interstem snd graft the interstem.
In this process you described, are you waiting for the bud grafts to take on what will become the “interstem,” doing the bud grafts and interstem graft nearly simultaneously, or the interstem well ahead of the bud grafts?
Real example. I chip budded sweet cherry to a 5” long Adara plum interstem and then graft the Adara to a plum branch right away. All done in a couple of minutes.
There isn’t much reason to bud in the spring as grafts take as well or better. As Joe points out, buds are not reliable on larger wood. I tried many of those before I gave up.
Graft now, bud in summer. They will both work fine.
