North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[tanis cuff <tanistanis@hotmail.com>]

I like the bench-grafting timing too.  Had great success last year, I think 
because third time of trying to everything correct is a charm.  But, I prefer 
grafting onto rootstocks which have been growing in the nursery for a year, 
and I do this in May (w/ dormant scionwood stored in refrig, double-bagged, 
regularly inspected.)  I have light & rather poor soil, so it's not practical 
to expect rootstocks received & planted in mid-spring to have enough roots 
for water uptake to mend a decent graft in May or June.  So for me it's 
either bench-graft timing, or the 2-year plan.

Today I'm looking at deep snow and zero temps (s.WI, almost Muffy's 
neighbor).  I could collect scionwood, but much rather wait for a few days of 
30s when the snow will melt some, easier to hike from tree to tree and to do 
the bagging & labelling.

What might not be intuitive is the need for good labelling, & double-checking 
your labelling, and keeping good records & nursery charts.  Being obsessive 
at first gives you the option of discarding unnecessary info later, rather 
than later wondering what the heck is what.

Also, for storing scionwood, you want to keep fruits, older or rotting 
veggies, and stratifying or germinating seed in refrigerator other than the 
one holding the scionwood.   




From: bluestem_farm
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:30:53 +0000
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Scion wood

Karen,

There are many ways of doing things.  I'll just tell you how I do it.  I find 
it most comfortable to bench graft at my kitchen table rather than working 
bending over a little tree, so that's what I do.  If the rootstocks come in 
time you don't need to precut your scionwood.  But you need to graft before 
the scions have started growing, so if a warm spell comes that might jolt 
things into starting before you've grafted you'd best go out and cut your 
scions.  Since I buy much of mine in I have to store it in the fridge after 
it's been mailed to me.  Then I cut what I think I might use of our varieties 
and keep it wrapped in damp towels and plastic bags with the other stuff.  I 
don't throw out the extra until it's long past time to graft, in case I get 
the urge to do some more topworking elsewhere...  The first grafts that I 
ever did that took were from scionwood that was cut within the day, so that 
can work too.  Have fun!  Once you get started you might find it hard to stop.

Muffy Barrett
Southern Wisconsin, good snow cover and steady cold so far this winter.


-- Karen Kellogg  wrote:

This will be my first year of attempting grafting; some rootstock is
due in April.

Do I need to get it established (pots or in ground) before I use it?

I will use scions from an old tree on my property, and one or two
from 'neighborhood' trees.  Do I cut and refrigerate, or wait and cut
when I am ready to use them, provided they haven't leafed out?


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