North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Stefan Brandle <sbrandle@css.tayloru.edu>]

Thanks for the replies. For those who asked, yes, my kiwis are actinidia 
arguta. To summarize, nobody said it wouldn't work, but there were 
caveats. I was cautioned about

* graft loss at the graft union in cases of extreme cold. (Kiwibob 
thought that union death from cold was a fairly high risk in zone 5. I'm 
going to try anyway because I think that we are in a warmer zone 5 
microclimate, but I've been warned!)

* problems about figuring out which was which (male/female) when 
pruning. That makes sense. If it's all mixed up way above, how on earth 
would you know which was which. But I'm guessing that I won't 
accidentally prune all the male canes. Plus, I could paint near the 
graft points to help track the male canes on any high grafts. It 
wouldn't hurt to also mark the low male grafts.

* not to graft until all chances of frost are over. We do have 
fluctuating late winter/spring temps that often trick the first leaves 
into coming out, then zaps them. Tender arguta is quite tender. 
(Fortunately, the female flower blossoms have shown up substantially 
later and were profuse.)

* and although it wasn't stated explicitly, arguta weeps heavily when 
cut in late winter/early spring. This probably causes serious problems 
for callousing. I'll have to do a test cut or two when I think it is 
safe, then wait a day or two to make sure that I'm grafting after the 
sap flow has calmed down.

Conclusions
I think that I will take a shot at grafting male vines onto female 
plants, but will pay attention to the advice about ensuring that I can 
track that male/female canes separately.
Lon's idea of grafting low and then layering the males so that they have 
their own roots + the female's help sounds good. I may also try 
Kiwibob's suggestion of grafting high.

-- sb