North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Charles Paradise <machelp@attglobal.net>]

Skip:
My experienced guess:
Your success rate changed from 95% to 1% because of factors unrelated to tool.
I have used the same V cut saddle grafting tool with the same blade for 20 years with no dulling apparant or change in success.
You said you ordered rootstocks and then grafted them.  Apparantly you grafted them upon receipt.  Any experienced grafter will say the first rule of grafting is to use healthy plant material for your propagations.  But when you dig the tree ripping its roots out of mother earth you make it instantly unhealthy.
My go at it is you order rootstock this spring, plant it and don't graft it until 2005 or even 2006.
You can get away with unnatural methods sometimes now and then.  But nature will whack us upside of the head sooner or later and you cannot break the rules every year and get away with it.
You said you had 95% success before?  While you're waiting for your new trees to recover during this year get busy pruning and fertilizing your takes from last year!
Charlie Paradise
zone 5/Massachusetts

Diane wrote:

I grafted 10 years ago for the first time.I bought a "fieldgrafter" from New Zeland that made a "V" cut and formed a saddle graft.I had a 95% sucsess rate.I thought I was doing pretty good so the next year I ordered more rootstocks.Well,I had 1% sucess rate.I still am not sure why.I tried it a couple more years and had the same sad results.I think after I make the "V" cuts the scion "wobbles" around while I try to tape them up.I think this makes my cambiums not line up.This year I am thinking about getting a block plane from the hardware store to make a long diagonal cut on the scion and the root and then using my grafting knife to make the "tongue " cut.This will take longer but I think I will have better results.I have tried to make the first cuts with my grafting knife but they look very rough.What do you guys think?Thanks,skip in Michigan.Zone 5