North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Mauch1@aol.com]

Del,

I don't consider myself an "expert" on plum grafting, but I
have gathered some experience over the past few years.  I 
don't have experience w/ P. americana or the cold-hardy plum-
hybrids you are using.  Plums (and all prunus (it seems) to 
varying degrees) require heat to callus properly between stock
and scion.  I attended an apricot workshop as part of the 
apricot interest group.  I grafted 4 European plums, 2 hybrids
(a plumcot and a peachcot) and 2 apricots.  I later grafted 
another 2 apricots and another European plum.  I have never 
been previously successful bench grafting plums (or any 
prunus) before, but I have successfully field grafted apricot, 
plum (1 European and 2 Japanese), and cherry (4 times).  

The bench grafting worked this time for me because the scion 
part of the graft was either dipped in wax (at the workshop) 
or wrapped in parafilm (the bench grafts I did afterwards).
Then the newly grafted trees were placed in damp sawdust in 
a bucket, covered by a large clear plastic bag, and put 
under an artificial light in a very warm basement (my basement 
gets warm from the forced air oil furnace ducts radiating heat).

They were left there until the scions showed signs of growth
(i.e. pushing through wax/parafilm).  They were then then planted out.

I have had success in prior years field grafting (after leaf 
break), but covering the graft with a plastic back (to retain 
moisture/heat), and then covering that with a paper bag w/ 
corners removed (to keep the graft from getting too hot).  
This year I also tried simply covering the whole scion w/ 
parafilm and that seems equally successful. 

I don't know if Minnesota gets warm enough outside to let the 
grafts callus properly.

My results (thus far):
Bench:
7 plums (6 successful)
2 hybrids cots (2 successful)
5 apricot (looks like only 1, but the jury is still out on 
   three)
3 Apple (3 successful)

Field:
4 apple (3 (maybe 4?) successful)
3 apricot (1 (maybe 2?) succssful)
2 cherry (2 successful)

I'd say roughly (including past years) that I'm batting around 
40% on  apricot and 80-90% on plums.

My problem this yr re: grafting (besides 10 stitches):
I grafted Puget Gold apricot 3 times this year.  Bench grafted
it to St. Julian A once, Mariana 2624 once, and field grafted 
it to an existing tree once. 

The St. J is failed, and the jury is still out on the other 
two, but they are looking less and less likely.  Does anyone
know if P.G. is particularly hard to graft? 

Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6






<<
Charlie, your plum thicket makes my mouth water!   My plum grafting luck  on 
to p. americana has been nearly a zero. For 4 years I have been trying both 
spring W&T grafting of dormant scions ( both bench and in the field) , and 
late august bud grafting.
So far I have only one that  has grafted successfully...bud graft of 
Alderman  on p. americana.     I have been working with pembina, alderman, 
and waneta.
On wild chokecherrry I have had fair succss experimenting with W&T graft of  
p. maritima, looks like this week I'll get the first blooms of that graft.
On apples - I just bench grafted 47 M26's to about 35 varieties for a 
friend's first orchard, and all but two are good, so my technique doesn't 
seem too bad, Any advice?  Thanks, Del
>>