North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>]

After several years of hit-and-miss prunus grafting, I have finally  
found a method which gives me good luck field grafting in the spring,  
including peaches which I find the hardest.  As Lon states, the  
temperature is the key.   What I do is look for the long-term  
forecast to be something around high 80 - low 60 for the upcoming  
week, and graft then.  Also I usually do two rounds of grafting at  
two different such points in the spring, to increase the odds.  All  
grafts are completely sealed with Doc Farwells to keep from drying  
out.  I over-wrap the grafts in aluminum foil to help stabilize the  
temperature, so the sun will not overheat them.   I get something  
like 80% takes on peaches, and other prunus have even better odds.  I  
have not found that the type of graft made any difference, and I use  
all types depending on the stock and scion.

For the commercial grafter this is a difficult option since they need  
to be continually grafting over a long period.  For us backyard  
grafters on the other hand it is not all that hard to do if you just  
watch the weather.

Scott