North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["del stubbs" <pinewoodel@hotmail.com>]

        bless the snow if it covers your graft!   i'm envious of orchardists 
with 
deep snow.   Question, when i get my copy of the handbook perhaps i'll be 
more up to speed on winter kill,  but if this is Tom's 1st graft it deserves 
extraordinary measures, no?     if half of the winter kill problem is 
dessication, couldn't he wrap it with layers of plastic, or hot wax , or?   
or shovel snow up around it?
                                           Mn. del

>From: Tom Olenio <tolenio@sentex.net>
>Reply-To: nafex@egroups.com
>To: nafex@egroups.com
>Subject: Re: [nafex] topworking and high grafting
>Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 10:17:21 -0500
>
>Hello,
>
>Last spring I cleft grafted a Improved Snow (Fameuse like) apple, onto a 
>2.5"
>diameter trunk sucker, about 4 feet from the ground.  Over the summer the 
>graft
>did quite well and the scion grew about 3 feet.  Is this graft in jeopardy 
>of
>freezing this winter?
>
>This is my only successful graft to this point.
>
>Would the application of additional grafting wax at the union offer any
>protection from winter damage?
>
>If it keeps snowing like this I will be up to my hips in snow going out to 
>the
>orchard.  We have had mild winters for years, and we are getting a good ole
>fashioned one this year!  Lots of snow!
>
>Any ideas on my cleft graft, and protecting it from freeze damage if 
>necessary?
>
>Regards,
>Tom
>
>Claude Jolicoeur wrote:
>
> > A 03:29 00.12.14 -0000, vous avez écrit :
> > >I have had several topworking experiments going on, surprisingly
> > >similar to those that Bernie has going.
> > >I ditto his conclusions about apple.
> >
> > I also have a couple of cases that substantiate this:
> >
> > 1- I topgrafted Brown's Apple (an English cider apple) on an adult 
>Cortland
> > tree - the graft took off like a rocket and started producing nice 
>apples
> > after 3 years. Fine - so I started a tree, grafted 15 in high on a 
>natural
> > seedling. It also took off rapidly but, as soon as it grew higher than 
>the
> > snow cover (which is usually 5 ft high in my orchard), it started to 
>freeze.
> >
> > 2- I planted a Shinko (asian pear) tree 10 years ago. Every year, this 
>tree
> > freezes hard and starts again from between 1 and 3 feet high. One spring
> > after a milder winter, There was a bit of wood from the preceding summer
> > that was still alive. I topgrafted it high on a branch of my Golden 
>Spice
> > tree. Well, that graft has not frozen yet (but the tree still freezes).
> >
> > I remember an article Bernie wrote in Pomona many years ago - if I 
>remember
> > well, he was writing that the hardy supporting tree should have some
> > branches and leaves of his own variety for this to work, and that these
> > hardy branches gave hardiness to the graft by starting early the 
>hardening
> > process. Do you still hold to this theory, Bernie? Personnally, I think 
>it
> > makes a lot of sense.
> >
> > Claude in Quebec, zone 4, where it can get to -35C in a really cold 
>winter...
> >
>
>--
>Thomas Olenio
>Ontario, Canada
>Hardiness Zone 6a
>
>

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com


-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/0/_/423498/_/976975433/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->