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["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

One common response to freezing in many plants is the movement of water out of the cells into the intracellular spaces.  This seems to be a mechanism to prevent ice crystals from forming inside the cells, rupturing cell walls.  On the  plant the water seems to be held in the tissues and returns to the cells when they warm up.  As cuttings, the water  may be lost more readily since it has no means of replacement.  Obviously it makes a difference as to how the scions are prepared,  how low the temperature is where they are held, and how long they are held at that temperature.  However, I've seen scions that would have been fine in refrigerated storage that were turned to dry wood in the freezer.  
Your experience shows scions CAN be stored in the freezer if properly prepared, but barring a full set of guidelines on packing, temperatures, length of time in storage, etc. I'd still generally advise avoiding the practice if you don't need to do it, or haven't any wood to spare.  It's too easy to mis-pack or forget the wood in the freezer and have it damaged or killed.  
I've had cuttings survive and grow after over 18 months just in refrigerated storage at 33 to 35 F, so why risk freezing if it isn't needed?
-Lon Rombough

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On Mar 14, 2009, at 8:46 AM, Alan Haigh wrote:

Alex writes "I shouldn't intervene in other's talk, but I would tell my experience. I am
freesing my budwood since more than 15 years. I wrap the wood in moist paper
(usually newspaper), put it in a plastick bag and friese it at ca. 25 Degree
F/-4 Degree C."
 
Alex, please feel free to inject your experience.  It is only by sharing our experiences that we can sort out hearsay from fact if we lack data.  Your experience suggests that well rapped scion wood will not dry out when frozen which will be very useful to anyone considering throwing away bud wood that's been frozen.    Now maybe the gentleman who was considering  disposing of his wood will be able to put it to use. You've also satisfied my general curiosity and I await Lon's answer to this input.
 
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