Which graft should I keep?

General Fruit Growing
1

I t-budded quite a few plum to my peach tree last summer, two survived, both are on the same branch.

Here are pictures. Two grafts are about 3 inches apart. The upper graft is all new growth, over 20" long, thicker than the main branch (before it branches to three) of lower graft. The lower graft started to grow last year, it has three branches already, the longest branch is about 10"

image.jpg2448×3264 2.59 MB

image.jpg2448×3264 2.67 MB

So, which graft should I keep?

2

Keep the graft that wants to go, or can be most readily trained to go, in the direction you like best. They both look healthy and vigorous and as soon as one or the other has the entire branch to itself it will take off nicely. I kind of favor the higher one, but you’re in the best position to judge since you can walk all around it and visualize what might happen.

3

Thank you for your reply! I like the top one better too, it looks stronger. Should I remove the lower one now or let both on for a little longer just in case?

4

I’d probably remove it right away, but another option is to just cut it way back and keep it there until you feel perfectly comfortable with the keeper.

Nice problem to have, ain’t it?

:-)M

2 Likes
5

Hi, Mark

I am going to cut back the branches of lower graft, but keep the gaft for a while to be safe.

Comparing to my first plum graft several years ago, which only grew 2-3 inches the whole second year, this indeed is a good problem to have😄

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