North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <Lucky.Pittman@murraystate.edu>]

I've ALWAYS used Parafilm, and have usually had good success with it.
Rarely do I use it by itself.  Usually use it to seal grafts after wrapping 
with grafting/budding rubbers.

Grafting results this year have been GREAT!!, but I think it may be due 
more to timely rains, which we've not had in several year, than to any 
great improvement in my technique.

I attempted a number of early chip-bud grafts, as espoused by my friend 
Gordon Nofs - I tried 'em with a dozen or more pecan & hickory varieties 
and a handful of different black walnuts/heartnuts.  No success - but: we 
had two nights of sub-freezing temperatures in early to mid-April, 
following a couple of weeks of temps in the upper 80s - I had several 
pecan/hickory, pawpaw, and mulberry grafts that were just starting to push 
leaves, but the freeze killed them outright.   Perhaps without the late 
freeze, I might have had some success with the chips.

Later attempts have been much better.

Apples have been running close to 100% - I've done simple whips, clefts, 
and bark grafts, depending on size of scions & available rootstocks.  Only 
failures have been not-so-good scionwood, and Chestnut in one particular 
spot - (Del, I did get several takes on M7 with the scion you sent, but 
I've got one spot in the orchard where I've tried to graft Chestnut on 
several occasions, and CAN'T get a take - I've tried it on M9/M11, M7, and 
seedling crab - no dice!  That one spot is kind of like the Bermuda 
Triangle for Chestnut Crab, I guess.)

Persimmons are running close to 100% - have grafted close to 50, I guess, 
and the only failures have been with scionwood that was received in less 
than ideal condition.  I do a simple bark graft, wrap with parafilm, then 
overwrap with a .010 budding rubber.

I'm having good success with pecans, hickories and hicans this year - best 
I've EVER had - success rate probably running in the neighborhood of 
80+%.  Have been doing both 3 or 4-flap(banana) grafts or simple bark 
grafts; both are working quite nicely.  I usually wrap these with Parafilm, 
then overwrap with a split 3/8"x.020 budding rubber, and overwrap that 
again, with Parafilm.  Also have been making 'girdling' cuts below the 
completed graft, as recommended by my grafting mentor, Fred 
Blankenship.  Some of the pecans & hickories have pushed shoots a foot or 
more in length.

Oaks have been variable, but largely dependent on condition of the 
scions.  Had 100% takes of "McDaniel" BurXEnglish  and overcup scions that 
I collected personally, but 0% with bur & white oak scions sent by friends 
- they were shipped too wet, and I didn't check moisture levels before I 
pitched 'em in the fridge - think they just rotted.

Walnuts are still a toughie for me - I've tried chip buds, 4-flaps, bark 
grafts, Gray grafts, Wood Sap-stopper modification of the Gray graft, and 
none have worked all that well for me.  Guess the few takes I have gotten 
with black walnut or heartnut this spring have been with something of a 
modified graft bark(kind of like the Wood Sap-stopper) - I'm not completely 
decapitating the stock, just cutting 7/8 of the way through, breaking it 
over, and leaving it attached to 'draw sap' for about 2 weeks before I cut 
it off.  Have managed to get at least one take of all 6 BWs  and 2 
heartnuts I attempted this time, but it took probably close to 50-70 
attempts to get them. Success rate probably under 10%

Put some tiny little mayhaw scions on hawthorn seedlings - did cleft grafts 
with most.  Almost all took, if the scion was in any sort of reasonable 
condition.
Chip buds on pawpaw, done early, were leafing out when the freeze hit, and 
killed 'em off.  I've re-done most of them, as a simple whip, and some have 
pushed shoots with 3-4 leaves already.

I'm getting close to the bottom of my pile of scionwood, and I figure I'll 
be done within the next week or two - then I'll start thinking about 
starting some greenwood budding of pecans.

Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY


 

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