The Overthinking It Grafting Blues

I share the worry about narrow crotch angle on side grafts but have no experience with it. @Skillcult apparently does not have that problem with it.

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@mroot
Yup, Yup, Yup…

For me it started with four trees but, I had room for 90, so… 90 + it is…

Why just do it when you can overdo it?

Mike

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I plan it out all year then when it’s all done I look at what I just did and realize I didn’t actually do what I had planned at all. “I’ll only do two and trash the other scions” becomes me grafting every single scion. I’d stop all the overplanning if I could. I can’t.

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I think for me it was feeling indebted to the person who sent them that I should use every single one. That can result in having the same fruit grafted 5 times. Mostly it was lack of confidence in my grafting ability. Add to that all the space I’m taking up in the frig. This year i learned a lot and my grafting is significantly better so I might not feel compelled to repeat the same scion over and over in the future.

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I don’t like wasting them either. But at this point, since I only have the one 3 1/2 foot tall tree with 15 varieties grafted to it, I’m lucky to be able to find even a few suitable grafting sites left on it–no room for duplication. So last year I taught my friend to graft. She also has only one apple tree, but it’s about 6 inches taller than mine. We graft my leftover scions on her tree. We grafted 5 varieties onto it last year (4 took) and 5 this year. So with only 9 varieties on it, there’s room for plenty more, haha. It’s such a luxury to work on a tree where you don’t have to worry if you ruin your one suitable grafting site, there aren’t any others. :grin:

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Great idea!

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Anyone else doing this? I ordered scions to graft for the first time this year and it turns out that I have about 8 extra buds per scion I need to find homes for :sweat_smile: I’m pretty sure I’ll be making visits to everyone I know with a crabapple… Bench grafts do seem like the better option, especially where I have espalier multi grafts planned anyway…

i grafted 2 varieties on oposite sides but at the same height, like show on the pictures i posted here.

And a 3e one immediatly above it. (2 on oposite sides to form “horizontal” esapaliers. And the 3e, to continue the stem.

I did the grafts on rootstocks that where braking dormancy. and rubbed off the buds of the rootstock. This might have halped in making 2/3 buds grow a shoot.
Also the close proximity helps i think.

I would not graft them far apart. im pretty sure only 1 would sprout than. And surpres the others from growing a shoot.

Also put the smallest bud in the 3e position (slightly higher then others) in the hopes it would sprout a little later.

im still experimenting with it though. So not sure i can recomend it. It’s definitly not a garanteed and reliable way. But might be worth a try if your out of space/rootstocks.

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This year I got many apple and pear scions along with the dozen of persimmon scions. My fridge (particularly got it for scions) was full. Now it’s only half full. The second pic is a pear tree that got nearly all it’s branches grafted to preserve the varieties.

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Thats some collection in the fridge :slight_smile:

It’s hard to see on the picture. But those branches seem really close together. It’s not visible on the picture. But is the crotch angle not to steep? It would be a waste if the branch broke due to bark inclusion after a few years. Especially considering how many varieties you have on it.

No need to immediatly worry though :slight_smile: if it has a bad crotch angle/bark inclusion you got a few years to fix it or graft over your varieties to save em.

The crotch angle is pretty straight, the picture doesn’t make justice that is for sure. 2 years ago the branches were even closer, now they are making a gap, this pear was planted by my father, don’t know the variety, it was my only option to save the new varieties.

Talk about hard decisions on where to graft. Here is one of my fig trees, with well over 100 grafts and nearly that many varieties on it. Any new graft requires grafting over an older one.

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That seems like one of the better problems to have.

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I didn’t know you could graft figs. Good information to have for the future.

Oh yes, figs are one of the easiest of all to graft. And with more than 1000 named cultivars (probably) and new seedling varieties being discovered all the time, that is a good thing!

Whitewashing trunk after topworking to prevent sun damage on bark: am removing almost entire canopy on several 7 year old apple trees.

I know I need to whitewash the newly exposed trunk (learned the hard way) but how about all the small limbs/twigs on the one nurse branch? @Hillbillyhort I bet you (or others) know the answer to this?

Is small wood as vulnerable to sun damage as older turnk, scaffolds?

I have not noticed sunburn on three year and younger Wood.
I have noticed it on five year and older wood with gray bark that is suddenly exposed to , too much Sun .
Mostly I notice it on the upper surface of a horizontal scaffolds say as big as your arms, that suddenly find their selves in full sun.
So you may might wanna make sure those areas are covered good
May want to get other opinions on this, I don’t generally top work trees anymore.

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That sounds right, thanks a lot. I whitewashed most of the smaller stuff too, hoping it won’t hurt.

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I think I’m gonna white wash the tops of the scaffolds on my step over figs this year . I noticed some sunburn on those last year .

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Well, it was just about 2 1/2 months ago that I was wishing my apple Frankentree had as many apples on it as it had tags. I guess the moral here is be careful what you wish for. I’ll be thinning them soon, but there are at least 3 different varieties of apples producing.

And all 5 varieties that I grafted on earlier this year took and are growing well. :slightly_smiling_face:

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