North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[mauch1@aol.com]

 I have had some success with whip&tongue grafting cherries.  But it required me to either graft

incredibly early (before February 15th), or after the stock had begun to leaf out.  In the second

case, I bagged the graft to keep it from drying out.

 

I haven't had success in budding cherries, but my overall budding success is low.

 

The bad news is that 2/3 of my cherry trees are on GM 51 (and the 3rd dwarfing rootstock is unknown).  To paraphrase Jim Cummins when I heard speak at a Nafex conference:

"Beautifully dwarfed tree, but no fruit"

 

Some of the scion wood were from not particularly productive trees so I may have compounded my problems.  I'm considering starting to grow the sweeter tart cherries and give up on the sweets.

 

*SIGH* 

 

Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6
40° 5' N 75° 51'W
~650 ft elevation