North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

Lon wrote, "the freezing by itself doesn't hurt the scions, but it draws water out,
desiccating the scions.  Catch it in time and you can re-hydrate them
by soaking in water  a few hours.  Otherwise it's like you left them to
dry out".

 

Lon, I'm curious if you can elaborate on this advice.  Obviously a freezer dehydrates food causing freezer burn when food is inadequately rapped.  Usually we go to great effort to protect scion wood from dehydration- double or triple rapping wood and often including a moist rag within the outer layer of wrap.  Wouldn't this protect wood just as well from freezer dehydration as it does from frost free refrigeration?  Especially if we are talking about a brief time in storage and a very short time at freezing temps?