Ya, but I’m still in Canada. Just doesn’t seem right.
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Yes most people, including myself, think of Canada as the land of ice and snow.
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I agree, My zone is 8a but our winter last year had me worried so I start observing my cherry plum in January for bud swell. It’s usually the first so whenever it swells buds that’s when I cut plum scions. I hope for mid Feb, but start watching in January!
I don’t enjoy dealing with scions with opening buds, no fun!
Dennis
Kent, Wa
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Pecan scions are best cut when fully dormant but not when temps have been below freezing for the previous 48 hours. Usually, I can find these conditions in early to mid February in this area.
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I normally cut scions for storage in January (zone 8a). At this time all my trees appear to be fully dormant. My reasoning is that plums and pears tend to start growing early in some years.
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I’m waiting for a period of it not raining every day before i cut anything but…
It’s been unusually warm as everyone else has stated 
Was going to cut Tuesday but it looks like rain has been forecasted yet again.
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It’s freezing up nice this weekend, 10’s in Michigan, but warming back up after Christmas. I like it where I can work and ground is insulated by snow and not yet frozen.
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We’ve had so much rain, the ground is mush. I wont take farm truck out in the orchard until the ground freezes. Their’s no sense in rutting up the rows.
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A few of my varieties of my plumcots and pluots have already started swelling. I should have taken the scion wood sooner as it will be doubtful if the scion wood from these early wakers will graft well.
Some of my plumcots and pluots barely dropped their leaves and then they’re waking up again. I swear some of my varieties only have like a 2 week window for harvesting scion wood.
I prefer to graft 3 bud scion wood as it starts growing shortly after its grafted, so it’s like getting a seasons jump compared to chip grafting in the summer. Guess I’ll be chip grafting again if I want to propagate more of these insomniac type varieties.
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I have a couple nights with teens for lows in the 10 day forecast now.
So far we have had only mid 20s for lows.
Think I will start collecting scion/pruning after those two cold nights.
Feb can be too late here for things like plums.
TNHunter
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Hi Trev,
Perhaps be aware of the polar vortex headed your way which is projecting to affect about 2/3 of the country as far south as Memphis, expecting sub zero temps for several weeks. Meteorologists are expecting three waves before it’s over!
Dennis
Kent, Wa
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If you have a college close by there are many mainly mini fridges when the students pack up for summer break. That’s how I got mine, over 10 years ago and still running strong. Just park by the dumpsters on move out day and ask one of the students to put it in the back of your truck instead of the dumpster. Free is free, but I gave the student $20.00 because it was a good one. Actually I got 5 for $100 because they all were good ones and I gave 4 away to friends.
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@DennisD … the norm is for them to way over estimate how cold it will actually get here in the earliest forecasts… and as it gets closer to that time they adjust it some … not as cold as they originally stated… and then what we actually get is 5-7 degrees warmer than their final forecast.
If it gets below zero here for weeks… there goes my logans and lKKJiro.
I bet it is the normal weather hype pattern.
Time will tell.
TNHunter
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These last few days are why I always wait until at least mid to late February for pruning and scion cutting.
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Normally that time until this year has worked well for me as well, but two weeks ago as I studied how the polar vortex would keep our winters mild and balmy, I went out to check my early blooming plums to find that I could not wait, so I cut those that were threatening to swell before it’s too late!
Fortunately this variety is still about the same as two weeks ago, but it’s my plum scion canary.
Dennis
Kent, Wa
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Found a decent vid from the dude at BRN on scion wood on youtube this morning.
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I met Michael Dolan back in 2012 while visiting Olympia Washington. He is an interesting character with a huge interest in nut growing.
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Warmer February coming here in Michigan. After -2 degrees this week, I think its a good time to prune and cut scions in my location.
My scion from Burntridge has just shipped. I hope it is not one of those situations where they shipped it earlier than usual because it was budding out.
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