North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Bernie Nikolai <bnikolai@shaw.ca>]

A couple of things from my experience with similar grafting.  Firstly 4 ft.
is way too high to cut off the 5 inch trunk and graft.  I cut them off even
with the ground, or as close as I can get, and then bark graft.  This keeps
the graft union from freezing out during a cold winter, which does happen to
me often on bark grafts above the snow (zone 3/2).  Secondly the new trees
are very vigorous, and seem to start a new tree from the side of the old
one.  The flat area just seems to die off, but the new tree is great, sort
of like a new tree growing from immediatly beside an old trunk.  I regrafted
about 30 apple trees a week ago with exactly this method.  The trunks were 2
to 5 inches thick.  It has worked very well for me in the past. The
commercial guys use the green or white Dr. Farewells compound over the
trunk, whick is like a waxy paint.
Bernie Nikolai
Edmonton, Alberta
finally at green tip this weekend!!!


At 08:28 PM 5/20/02 +0000, you wrote:
>I went yesterday to visit the old crab I had grafted over for a neighbor  - 
>and came up with a question.
>Two years ago I  cut off the 5" tree at 4' high, and bark grafted a number 
>of scions;  they are doing well and flexible enough to still do the braiding 
>thing I learned from Bob Purvis.     However, the old heartwood is now gray, 
>and cracking.     It was cut horizontally, just like in all the pics I have 
>seen.    Surely this is an eventual rot problem.....the rain going in the 
>cracks, then a little rot that absosrbs more rain,... etc.
>  I could coat with roofing tar, but it cracks, and I would think this might 
>eventually promote even worse rot, and would have to be able to expand with 
>the growing sapwood a few years as well.  There must be an industry standard 
>I haven't heard of.   Thanks, Del
>(Thanks for all the thermometer imput too.)
>
>Del Stubbs  www.pinewoodforge.com  ag zone2/3
>
>