North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Erdman, Jim" <ErdmanJ@uwstout.edu>]

Jerry wrote about scions:

>  A few years back after someone told me of keeping them moist in the mouth 
> in saliva I tried it. Three of three > persimmon grafts took and grew. 
> Looked like a good idea. Next spring all three were dead which is not 
> normally a problem with persimmon. 

In the last month or so I have been doing a lot of reading on grafting in my 
library of fruit growing books, and I recall reading in one (and offhand I 
don't recall which book) about a study done about things that affected the 
percentage of takes of grafts.  One commercial grower had a grafter who 
habitually kept a couple of scions in his mouth, and he had a less than hoped 
for percentage of grafts take.  When he made a point to not put them in his 
mouth, his percentage increased dramatically, to that of the other grafters 
working in the same business with the same rootstocks and scion wood.

 

I never did find the info that I was looking for in the books, which would be 
clear information on the aftercare of benchgrafts--what to do with them until 
they are planted in the ground, and just when that should be, whether it 
should be in a nursery, etc.  No one seemed to have clear info unless it was 
hidden away in a different part of the book.  Any suggestions for reading 
will be appreciated.

 

Jim, in Menomonie, WI

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