I am going to attempt to graft my pear tree this spring. I cut a branch off today. It has some green starting to show. I plan on cutting it off about 4 feet high and bark grafting 8 different pears onto it. The bark seams to be slipping. I will attach some photos. Is it time to graft here , zone 6 sw missouri? Also when I bark graft should I be pealing the bark back down to the hard blond wood?
Derby, I’m also in Z6, but it appears you are a bit further along than we are. That said, I think it would be advantageous to wait a while longer…just a bit. If you were in a pinch I don’t think you would have any real issues though.
As far as bark grafting I’ve never done any…yet. I won’t give you advice, but I will point you to what I think is the best bark grafting video online. This guy is a real expert a high volume professional grafter that’s been at it for I think 30 years or so. This vid was previously posted here. If you have the time be sure to check out this guys other grafting videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ReeuSPGh4
Thanks apple seed. That pear is one that I believe is root stock that grew back after the original tree was damaged. It always is the first to leaf out. My nanking cherries have not even bloomed yet. One of my bigest concerns would be to get frost on tender graft shoots.
Yes Derby. Peel it down to the wood like your photo.
Tony
Thanks tony, I just want to make sure I am on the right track. How soon will u be grafting in Nebraska ?
Derby,
I will probably be grafting in a couple of weeks. I will start out with pears and apples first. My Lanti Jujuli Asian pear (scion from the USDA Corvallis) I grafted on the Cleveland flowering pear rootstock about four years ago is about to produce some fruits for the first time. I want to see if it is the same variety that I bought from the Asian market imported from China. I will make a few more grafts of this variety and some more Yali to give to relatives. I like the super Crunchy Asian pear like Fragrance pear (AKA Lanti Jululi) and Yali. The description of the leaves are the same as the article from New York Time as a small round and apricot like. My honey berries all leafed out now. Carmine Jewel and Crimson Passion cherries showed green tips. The Bing and Rainier cherries buds swell. Chinese sweet pit, Robada, Sugar Pearls, Hesse and Orangered cots are about to open. Red Baron, Zin Dai Jiu Bao, Foster, Tangos, O’Henry, Flat Wonderful, and the rest of the peaches are full of flowering buds. All the Jujubes, American persimmons, and Asian persimmons will be the last ones to leafed out. The 2 Seedless Che from EL are looking good. I can’t wait until the temp in the 70’s for a few weeks so I can start on my two multi bark graft projects (Cherries: Van, Selah, Sandra Rose, Big Star, Kristin, Vandalay, Black gold, Black Tartarian, and Crimson Passion on a large Bing cherry understock. The 8 yrs old Snow Queen Necterine will be bark graft to - Honey Royale, Honey Blaze, Artic Star, and Yum yum nectarines). I will make several more grafts of the super large Halvin paw paw. The original tree died in Iowa due to harsh winter 2 years ago. I told Halvin (who found this wild paw paw in Iowa which is tastier and as large or larger than the Petersons paw paws) I will keep this tree legacy going. I will also be grafting some of Cliff England hybrid persimmon to test out how hardy this two varieties can handle the zone 5 (Kasandra and JT-02). So far this two had no damage with the -11F in Kentucky this past winter. Lots of fun work in place for me in the next few weeks.
Tony
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Wow, that is a big list. Looks like u will be busy. Thank you for the detailed info
When are all the grafting techniques performed?
Grafting scions: scions harvested in winter when dormant. Stored in refrigerator for several months until the tree to accept the scions is leafed out
Chip budding: anytime the tree is active…??
T budding: late summer when bark is slipping?
T budding works very well as soon as scion wood matures in spring. That’s after about 2ft of new growth and wood changes color from green to brown or red. I’ve had poor results T budding in fall and good results chip budding. But that’s limited experience with both.
Tony, I would love to hear how your lantai jululi turns out. After researching the different verities of scion wood I recieved this winter, this is by far the one I am most interested in. It seams to be quite rare and the description I read sounds like it was the best of an Asian pear combined with the best qualities of the European pear.
Derby
No problem. I will keep you posted. Good luck on your multi bark graft pear project with 8 varieties. The Fragrance pear ( Lanti Jululi ) sale in the Asian Market for a buck a piece. My favorite of all Asian pear.
Tony
Kind of out in the " sticks " here, no Asian market. That will just make the first pear that much better.
Just an FYI, most people graft too early. Pomes are fairly forgiving, but here in Z6 KS I’m not even thinking about grafting anything yet.
I’ve chomped at the bit before and grafted early, generally to my remorse. I don’t necessarily graft much in June, but I’ll point out there is a phrase called “June budding”.
For the most part, if you can keep the wood dormant, later is better. Pomes don’t grow as well if grafted later, but they do take better.
Olpea, if u were to graft a pear in zone six would you say mid April? Or would you be looking for a week of warm weather rather than a specific time? My pear tree that I want to graft onto has leaves the size of my finger nail. But it always leafs out way before anything else here. I am guessing that a frost on new green growth of the scion would be bad
Derby,
Frost on the the green growth of the scion isn’t bad. I have several peach trees I budded last fall. I moved them to the orchard and they are pushing green out of the buds. It has to get pretty cold to freeze that new growth off, so the growth itself is OK.
The problem is that cooler temps inhibit callusing, which is essential for grafts to take. Pomes callus at lower temps than stone fruits, but even pomes callus faster at higher temps.
I have young apple rootstock pushing some leaf growth now (older trees are still dormant). Nevertheless I’ll wait till I’m a bit more comfortable with the temps before I start grafting them. I wait till temps are in the 80s before I start grafting peaches.
Probably mid April for pomes. I’ll wait till well into May before I start grafting peaches.
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Thanks for the info. Very helpful
I can imagine that most professional grafters can’t wait for the perfect conditions because they have too many jobs. From what I’ve seen, most will use black materials attract solar heat during cooler weather and reflective materials if they anticipate high temperatures.
What temp range do you suppose u would use black in and what temp would u switch to reflective?
Here is what Lanti Jululi fruit Looks like from the Asian Market.
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Testing to see if I can upload the photo From my Galaxy phone.
Tony
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