Here is an update on
using some really old scionwood.
Sometime in the
Winter of 2002-2003, a worker at the national pear repository in
Corvallis cut some pear twigs
to fill a request I had made for scionwood. After a heat treatment to
minimize the chances of passing on some insect pest (I can’t remember the
problem), my scionwood arrive in late March 2003. I did a few grafts
that Spring, and the leftovers went into the veggie bin in the frig. The
were wrapped in damp paper towel inside a plastic bag. I did a few bud
grafts that summer. None of my grafts worked that season, but I hung
onto the wood. In December I cleaned out the frig, and the scionwood
ended up in the shed outside. I found the bag of wood around a month
ago, and some of it still looked OK. I decided to do some grafts and
share the results.
April 2004: I
had run out of pear rootstock, so I grafted on seedling mountain ash that I
found growing wild in my neighborhood. From previous experiments, I knew
pear was compatible with mountain ash. I used a cleft graft I recently
learned from Leonard Jessen along with rubber strips and parafilm. After
10 days, the buds on that old wood are starting to push through the parafilm!
From December through April, it sat in my shed on a shelf in the
dark where the temperature fluctuated between 35-50F. That wood was cut
almost a year and a half ago, and I some how managed to keep it dormant
through neglect. I’m glad I was the one that found these twigs because
I’m sure anyone else would have quickly thrown it out.
I won’t believe these
grafts have worked until the branches have grown a few inches, but so far
things are looking much better than I would have thought. The one that
looks the best so far is Sucre
Verte…
“The
name means 'Sweet Green' in English. Origin obscure. Believed to have come
from Barmont, a chateau on the boundary of Burgundy. Described as early as
1598. Well known in Paris by 1670. Fruit small in size, roundish-turbinate in
form. Skin smooth, glossy, intense green in color with inconspicuous dots.
Flesh white, fine, but with some grit at the center, buttery, juicy. Fairly
sweet, nut-like aroma, pleasing flavor. Early midseason. Tree vigorous,
spreading in habit, very productive. Moderately susceptible to blight.
-
H. Hartman, 1957”
-Mark Lee, Seattle, zone 7B/8A
-----Original
Message-----
From:
nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org]
On Behalf Of Lon J.
Rombough
Sent: Thursday,
April 08, 2004 9:57 AM
To:
North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] using old
scionwood
If it's alive and the grafts take, there
is a good chance that the scions could at least push some adventitious buds
from the base of the existing buds, even if they are dead. At very
least, it's a way to get some new information.
-Lon
Rombough
Last
year was a crazy year for me. I had a big remodel done on my house.
Everything my family owned was either sent off to storage or packed
into a few small rooms untouched by the remodel. I had a bundle of
pear scionwood arrive last Spring that went unused. These were stored
for a time in the frig, but then I lost track of them in the construction
mess. Somehow they ended up in my shed. I found them yesterday
while cleaning-up. Some of the sticks were shriveled up, and most of
the buds look lifeless, but when I cut into some of the wood, I found green
and healthy looking layers.
My
question is would there be any point in trying to propagate this scionwood
if the buds are dead? It will be at least another year before I can
get some of these varieties again, but without buds on the scions I don¹t
think I will get a head start on just waiting for new wood next year.
Any thoughts?
