North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[sherwindu <sherwindu@comcast.net>]

Last week I did several whip and tongue grafts of apple, pear, and plum and
planted
them in small pots.   They are now on my patio under a canopy, where they get 
a
bit
of morning and late day sun.  The temperatures here in a northern suburb of
Chicago
have been in the low 70's to mid 40's for the past week.

Question I have is am I doing the right thing to optimize the callusing of the
graft
union?   Are the temperatures correct to achieve proper callusing?  Would I be
better off taking the pots inside for a more uniform temperature of about 72
degrees?
I am told that this callusing process takes about 10 days, and leaves should
start to
bud out on the scion by then.  Last year, I did the same process and had zero
takes
on my grafts.  People told me that the rootstocks were not in great shape,
because
several of them died after their grafts failed.  Most of these rootstocks came
from
Raintree (Bud 9 for apples).  I have had some successes over the years with
grafting
onto rootstocks with whip and tongue.  Just lately, my takes have been very 
few,
or
none at all.  Perhaps, changing the conditions for callusing would help?  Some
people
I know keep the rootstocks as bare roots, until the scion buds out.  Is this a
suprerior technique?

                                Sherwin Dubren