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  • From: Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Peach grafting
  • Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 22:37:18 -0500

I have done quite a bit of spring grafting of peaches. They are one of the hardest fruit trees to graft; they seem to be picky about everything. Over the years I have found a technique which gives me 75+ % success, and so by doing several backup grafts of every variety I manage to get a take on them all.

1) Graft when temperatures are forecast to be in the 70's highs and 50's lows for the next week. This is the most important, they seem very picky on the temperature. You don't have to be completely perfect here but the closer to this approximate range the better. I usually do two rounds of grafts a week or two apart to improve my odds here.

2) Use parafilm (or other method to keep from drying out) over the graft as well as the whole scion. My personal method is parafilm on the graft and doc farwells painted on the scion. Sometimes this is not needed because the grafts will take very quickly, but most of the time they will require a lot longer time than say apples and so you need to give them some help to stay alive.

3) wrap over the whole graft in aluminum foil, shiny side out. This helps to stabilize the temperature, particularly if the graft is in the sun.

4) Use very vigorous stocks. This helps all kinds of fruits but you need all the help you can get for peaches.

I usually do whip and tongue if the scion/stock sizes match, and bark or cleft graft if the stock is bigger. I sometimes do chip or T buds for the backup grafts, on an existing tree limb of around pencil diameter. For some reason my buds on fatter stocks nearly always fail.

Scott




  • [NAFEX] Peach grafting, Scott Smith, 01/09/2009

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