I’m going to gather a couple of apricot budsticks today for chip grafting to plum and nanking cherry in the middle of August. I assume that I just bag them and keep them in the fridge until I need them. Any special tips beyond that I should know about?
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I usually gather them only 1-2 days before, why not wait Mark? Your axil buds will be stronger if you wait!
I like to use them while fresh and get much better results if not more than 3 days old since cutting.
Dennis
Kent, wa
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Thanks, Dennis. I was wondering the same thing -why gather the budsticks so early when you’re not using them for several weeks? But it is the practice around here, so I assumed there was a reason.
For that matter, if the budsticks are mature enough to gather now why not go ahead and chip?
And since I’m grafting so close to the source (from one part of the tree to another part of the same tree, or from one tree to another within yards) maybe I’ll just leave the stick on the tree and cut a few buds as needed!
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Just curious Mark,
Are apricot scions compatible with plum and Nanking cherry. Usually to graft plum onto cherry I must use an interstem to bridge compatibility.
Dennis
In my very limited experience plum and apricot get along, but I don’t know for how long. As for Nanking cherry it’s not really a cherry - much closer to being a plum, and plum grafts to Nanking cherry (prunus tomentosa) very well. It dwarfs the plum a lot, also almost completely stops the root suckering this prune plum of mine is famous for.
I chipped an apricot bud to my prune plum (on its own roots) last year and it took off; how long it survives I can’t tell yet, but I’m optimistic. Apparently, apricots are furry plums? And I think I have enough growth on one Nanking cherry seedling to accept a bud, we’ll see how that works.
i got brookcot and Manchurian apricot grafted on my black ice plum and Canadian plum grafted on carmine jewel cherry. all are putting out good growth so far.
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Decided to freshen up my knowledge on chipping/budding. Here’s a fine video by J. Sacadura on the subject:
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Great video.