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  • From: <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] grafting
  • Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 14:04:52 -0500


Well, this spring we will find out how well scions cut in early spring and grafted within 2 weeks of cutting will take.  I have 50 G11, 50 G16 and 300 M9 rootstocks that we are grafting Jonagored scions to.  We are also going to line them out in raised beds under a low tunnel system for 3 - 4 weeks to see if the grafts callous quicker under the low tunnel with drip irrigation.  The scions were cut last Friday, wrapped in bundles of 50 with wet newsprint wrapped around the ends, then wrapped in plastic and stored in our cooler at 40 degrees.  Our cooler is shut off in the off season and stay at a pretty steady temp of 40 degrees when off.  So we'll see how they turn out!
 
Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
Office (815) 648-4467
Mobile (815) 228-2174
Fax (609) 228-2174
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Alan Haigh
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 6:31 AM
Subject: [NAFEX] grafting

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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