North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Thomas Beckett <thomas@tbeckett.com>]

Hello all -

	Late in March I grafted apples for the first time.  Abour 40 trees 
altogether, using whip-and-tongue when the stem diameters were similar 
and cleft when the scion was smaller than the rootstock.  It was a bit 
more work than I expected, but enjoyable.  (Except for the one time I 
accidentally tried to graft a Cox's Orange Pippin onto my thumb:  lost 
several hours of prime weekend in the ER waiting room!)

	Now I am examining my results.  Some are clearing doing well so far, 
some are middling, and others I am no optimistic about at all.  The ones 
that are doing well I have been pinching off the occasional buds opening 
on the rootstock.  For the obvious failures I am letting those buds grow 
to preserve the rootstock for next year.

	My question for y'all is:  for the middling grafts, where the buds are 
opening but hesitant, should I allow the rootstock buds to grow in order 
to keep the root alive, in the hope that the scionwood will eventually 
take?  Or will the root buds take all the growth energy from the process 
and actually detract from the graft healing?

        Thanks in advance!

Thomas
Durham, NC