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  • From: Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] grafting
  • Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 07:31:53 -0400

The reason I've asked questions about the generation of callous is that if the scion is a key contributor to this tissue then its dormancy might not be as helpful as it's cracked up to be.  It would presumably have to come out of dormancy to begin its contribution and might even complete the success of the bridge with energy generated by its new leaves. 
 
I have good success getting callous to form on apples and pear grafts but last year a lot of my grafts sent out feeble growth after sprouting out late even though they appeared well connected.  Most years I have about a 90% success rate but last years was about 50%.
 
I've always assumed that my connected and feebly sprouted grafts were dried out by leaf hoppers which are difficult to control here on late sprouting grafts because the rest of the tree has tougher, less attractive leaf tissue at this time.  I have long observed that I get much more growth the first season on grafts that sprout out early.  This is what has me thinking about how to get the scion wood off to early growth and I plan to experiment with some wood this year that hasn't been refrigerated.  I thought I'd throw this out there to see if anyone had evidence to show that my experiment was a fool's errand.
 
I suspect that there may also be regional variations on responses depending primarily on weather but also on a host of other issues.  FB suggests that there is variation based on cultivar, suggesting N Spy doesn't support grafts as well on 1 year wood as 2.  I usually do most of my grafting on 1 year, and haven't had any problem doing N.Spy this way, so go figure. 



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