North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Griffin Gardens" <griffingardens@earthlink.net>]

Fellow Scionwood Keepers,

I killed some tough wood this way last year as a test. 35 year old central
MN pear with a lot of P.usuriensis in it was all wood-killed in plastic
bags (w/o the ice block) when stored in the warmest (top) part of the
freezer. All brown under the bark after only a couple of months storage.

I've had good long term refrigerator storage of scions in bags without
added moisture when the cut ends are sealed with wax, then the scions
dipped and sloshed for 5 seconds in a 10% bleach solution which is rinsed
off to excess under the faucet. The scions are then toweled dry and
drenched with Wilt Pruf. I let them air dry completely at room temp,
turning them over when the top part is dry to distribute the drips hanging
off the bottom. Then I pack them tightly in sterilized bagel bags, which
are the right shape and tough. To squeeze out as much air as possible,
Before they go into the vegetable bin, I wrap the bags with the Saran
Wrap-like plastic that is used for tieing up the ends of unruly items like
14 pieces of wood trim at the local home center mega store when you
checkout. This is also sold there, and comes in a 6" wide roll that has a
handle on one end that makes it look like the German "potato masher" hand
grenade from WW II, the big one. If you have a roll of this around you will
find hundreds of uses for it, which is probably why I tried it on the
scionwood packages in the first place. I know less about why this works
than that it does - even the tender peach scions I take in early December
before it starts to get real cold come out good for budding in June.

Dave


> [Original Message]
> From: tanis cuff <tanistanis@hotmail.com>
> To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
 > Date: 1/27/04 9:47:10 AM
> Subject: RE: [NAFEX] Scion storage in freezer?
>
> Anton: I have heard, second-hand but reliable, of an orchardist storing 
> scionwood in plastic bags in a freezer.
> 
> Kevin: What if scion is in one bag, which is then placed into a second
bag 
> which also contains some moisture ?
> 
> tc
> 
> 
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: Anton Callaway <marillen@earthlink.net>
> To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: [NAFEX] Scion storage in freezer?
> Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 09:51:41 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
> 
> I seem to recall that Hilltop nursery used to describe in at least one of 
> their catalogs back in the '80's that they stored scionwood by freezing
it 
> in solid blocks of ice until the rootstocks were ready.  It is not
mentioned 
> in the old catalog that I saved, so I may have some important detail
wrong.  
> If this worked, it seems like it would be ideal for keeping wood
completely 
> dormant until the stocks were in prime condition- perhaps especially good 
> for stone fruit grafting.
> 
> Does anyone  have any experience with this kind of storage?
> 
> Anton
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ed Forest <edforest55@hotmail.com>
> Sent: Jan 27, 2004 8:56 AM
> To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [NAFEX] Vapor barrier of plastic bags
> 
> Plant Prop Princ and Pract states that
> 
> "Polyethylene plastic . . . allows the passage of oxygen and carbon
dioxide,
> which are exchaned during the respiration process of the stored woodk but
> retards the passge of water vapor. Therfore, if this type of wrapping is
> sealed, no moist packing material is needed; the natrual moisture in the
> wood is sufficient since little wil be lost.  Polyethylene bags are useful
> ofr storing small quantities of scioinwood."
> This is the 1990 edition
> I am not so brave as to try this since my system of wrapping them with
> slightly moist newspaper sealed inside of ziplock bags, which I change
every
> month, has done very well for me and allowed me to store wood all winter.
> The paper does get moldy after a couple months, or sooner if you don't
keep
> it at or around 32 degrees.
> I think I will try some of this polyethylene plastic with some scionwood I
> don't need, but I don't really know how to tell what type of bag this is.
It
> seems to me that Ziplock bags would be too impermeable to both air and
> moisture but that thin bread bags would allow too much passage of
moisture.
> I am surprised taht someone mentioned taht the permeability of the plastic
> actually increased the moisture in the bag rather than to dry it out,
unless
> they were storing it in other than a fridge, such as buried or in a root
> cellar.
> Kevin B
> Kevin Bradley
> 
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