Grafts done March 1st took. Temps have been to 9 degrees under freezing point about April first.
133 total grafts completed. And maybe a dozen more?
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I use potting soil because I need it for deck pots for the season anyway. After I plant out my grafts the potting soil goes into the deck pots for the season. I finished my grafts about 5 days ago, about 230 this year. Theyâre in tubs in the garage, and I anticipate Iâll plant them out in the nursery bed next week, looks like the worst of the weather will have passed by then, although temps at this point donât worry me much. Iâll group the varieties by the rootstock theyâre grafted to and then theyâll be planted alphabetically in each rootstock group. Each graft already has a tag with variety name, year grafted and rootstock listed on it, I have the tags written up and ready to go before I start grafting. That also helps me in knowing how many of each variety on a specific rootstock I have planned on grafting. MAKE SURE your tubs have adequate drainage holes in the bottom, rootstocks wonât appreciate sitting in soggy tubs of soil (or sawdust, et.al) and be sure some drainage is acceptable where-ever you place the tubs. If I want to control the drainage I place the tubs in plastic concrete mixing trays.
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How many per tub would you say? Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to do 230? I have a ton of sawdust, would cutting the potting soil with that be a bad idea? What about just regular dirt?
Any medium that keeps the roots moist is fine. The tubs I use arenât huge, I can fit two of them sideways in a concrete mixing tub. How many bench grafts in each tub varies a lot, I have this years 230 in 3 tubs and they donât look very packed. Older rootstocks, carry-overs from a prior year will have a much larger root system. I set a tub on itâs narrow end side and lay completed grafts across and then add a layer of potting soil to cover their roots, then start another row. I generally graft 3 of any variety and I tie those 3 grafts together with a short section of boundary/forestry tape. If you can keep different rootstocks in their own tubs itâs helpful for sorting and planting out. For sealing cut tips I use a mixture of 50% interior paint and wood glue. Look for deals @ your local box store, the paint dept usually has returns from people who chose hideous colors and returned them. A little goes a long ways. For some reason our local Lowes has been accepting returns on those tiny paint samples they sell. I can get those for $3-4, and we usually have TiteBond on hand.
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I spent 4 days grafting this year, and Iâll spend one more day field grafting. I did over 600 one year, I wonât do that again and I shouldnât have too. Iâm @ around 150 varieties of apple and 22 pear.
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