These were grafted on Saturday, and I can clearly see them shriveling up. Am I doing something obvious wrong in terms of storing them? They’re inside in my bathroom, which isn’t terribly warm or humid these days.
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Unless I’m not seeing it they don’t appear to wrapped in parafilm or any other protectant. Yes with out that they dry out. Coating them in acrylic craft spray would work also.
Drew
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The air inside the house is dry and they are not protected with parafilm or any other way. It should be warm enough for you to put them outside.
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Today’s low was 19. It’s still bad out there.
Is the entire scion supposed to be wrapped? I thought it was just the graft site.
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Wrap or paint the whole thing. The buds will push through without any difficulty.
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Seems like a long scion for the rootstock to grow initially. Would cutting it back to a couple buds and cover help?
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Thanks all, I was hoping it was something obvious/stupid. They’re wrapped up now.
Anybody care to venture a guess on whether they’ll manage to survive? One is apple, one is Asian pear.
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Plus those other reasons, which I agree with, the scion seems too long. The graft union is not yet efficient for bringing up water from the stock. Trying to get water up all that way with a compromised bottleneck at the union is like asking a mother cat to nurse 15 kittens. One bud is all you need to make a new tree, and a second one for insurance is all you need.
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The possible reasons for drying that I observed from the picture. Long scion that was not wrapped in parafilm.
These are some more possibilities/guesses. Was the scion hydrated when it was grafted? Was the root properly hydrated and alive? Although not as much as during the growing season the roots appear to pump moisture upward during the dormant period. No pumping could allow the scion to dry out especially in an environment with low humidity.
I have successfully grafted many longer scions than yours but that part requires more discussion than I think your looking for in this post.
These are my thoughts on why the scion might be drying out but not intended to be exact. Just a few more possible reasons for the issue.
I like to wrap them and seal the ends with a sealer.
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I had somewhat similar problem. My rootstock started to dry out. Most likely scion too but I couldn’t see well because I wrapped the entire scion in parafilm. Rootstock looked like your scion, maybe even worse. I had potted up my bench graft so I put the pot in a tray of water and covered the whole thing with a garbage bag misted with water. I think it’s helping, not out of the woods yet. I’m going to move it outside after the weekend. Too more cold nights and after that low is in mid 30’s. Hopefully pear bench grafts can take temps down to 35.
Just wanted to let you know about wet garbage bag humidity dome in case you want to give it a try.
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disclaimer, I’m a total novice with regards to grafting, but I’ve learned some great lessons through this site and also from videos done by Steven Edholm at Skillcult…I initially had the same problems at you with the grafts drying out. So I focused on learning how to do the whip and tongue graft and kept practicing…seemed the easiest for me…anyway, I made sure that I shortened the scions up to only two buds per piece, and wrapped the two pieces very tightly (I use electric tape), extending above and below where the cuts were made and then covered the entire thing with tanglefoot pruning sealer…granted this is only my 3rd attempt at grafting, but I feel like I have a better grasp on the little tricks that will hopefully yield successful results…time will tell…
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I agree that the entire grafted piece has to be coated or wrapped with parafilm to keep it from drying out until the graft takes. Also, it’s possible that your grafts just haven’t (aren’t going to) taken. Perhaps you didn’t line up the cambium layers well, or didn’t snug the cut parts down together tight enough. Or you fingered the cut parts and transferred some body oil that’s interfering with the bonding.
I keep parafilm on my whip grafts for three weeks, I usually peek after about 10 days, but I always wrap it back up even if it’s looking good (no shriveling, good color).