I just ordered my scions from Fruitwood and I’m curious what people tend to do. I have never grafted loquat or pineapple guava before but I got some varieties to try, I’m curious if those scions can store well or if I need to attempt winter grafts and just protect the grafts during the winter. Last winter i grafted in January and every graft took so I’ve been fine grafting deciduous fruits in winter but I’ve never grafted evergreens in winter and just curious if I’m wasting my time or if I have to attempt it anyhow due to likely the scions not keeping well. Thanks for any input 
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Read their shipping section on the website. You shouldn’t get scion shipped until towards the end of winter.
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I hadn’t heard of winter grafting unless it was under controlled temperatures. What did you graft and what were the temperatures?
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My previous experience was unless you explicitly say in the order notes that you want them at the end of winter then they ship immediately, or as soon as they are available. There’s a “shipping notes” box during check out where you’re supposed to put your preferred shipping dates.
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Yeah last time I got them in December or January I think. I grafted pluots the day I got them and none failed, because I wasn’t aware I could store them at that time. I assume they will ship them before I’d prefer to graft them, but just curious how well those type of scions store
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I tried grafting loquat in winter last year when I made the same mistake with Fruitwood, and the graft stayed alive looking until spring, but eventually shriveled. This year I put in my notes to not send until late winter.
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I was afraid a few things I wanted wouldn’t last to purchase later
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No, I mean in the checkout, I ordered yesterday but told them in the notes to ship in Feb/March
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Yeah I know what you mean, didn’t know that was an option, just didn’t want a couple things to sell out. I’ll just try and wrap the grafts I guess
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You might be able to email them and ask if they can wait to ship. Though I’m guessing right now they are inundated with orders and emails.
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This should not be a problem. There is no difference between storing in their fridge vs. yours. I plan to order and I want mine right now. You never know what might happen later.
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They are definitely very busy. I’ve sent 2 emails in the past few weeks to them. One was answered almost a week later. The second hand been replied to yet.
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You seldom get into the ‘teens’ Fahrenheit, right? December or January grafting same as grafting in March in Kentucky!
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Fruitwood says it starts shipping dormant scion in the 2nd to 3rd week of January in order of the orders without any other instruction.
Works for me as winter typically is over freeze threat wise by mid march so a bit of time in my fridge and I can graft after I see how the trees are awaking.
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I wonder if that doesn’t apply to evergreen species like feijoa, avocado, and loquat? Last year when I didn’t specify a shipping date, they sent an order of just those three in early December.
For some reason I assumed they don’t actually cut the scions until just before the shipping date, but I guess I haven’t actually confirmed that with them.
I would assume they have cut them since they have the number available when you make your order? I’m just curious if you can store evergreen scions and no one has implied whether that is a thing or not haha. I assume they can be stored very short term, regardless I’ll likely try and graft them when I get them anyhow (with the loquat and feijoa)
They definitely cut dormant scion and cold store them. It basically says so when you read the shipping section of their website.
They update their inventory after cutting which is how they know how much they can offer.
As far as non-deciduous trees, I have no idea.
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My understanding from reading their shipping page was that they just estimate the number they will be able to cut later, and don’t actually cut them until after the orders are received. Last year, I noticed that a small number of things became available in late winter that had sold out in early winter, so my assumption was that they updated the stock after actually cutting things, and they had more of those than they had estimated in early winter.
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It seems to say the opposite? They first update their inventory in November (seemingly based on estimates of how many they will be able to cut later) and then don’t actually cut things until January. After January, they update inventory again and at that point everything is in cold storage.
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Of course I could be reading it wrong…
Regardless, in my first year of grafting they are the company I used and I was pleased with the condition of the wood, the packaging, and the printed labels that came with each.
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