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  • From: tanis cuff <tanistanis@hotmail.com>
  • To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Putting on grafting workshops
  • Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:59:02 +0000




Another testimonial that proper grafting knives are not needed! Take your 3
along & pass them around, so people can see the specialty features. But I
have pretty good success with any sharp knife with a firm blade with a
straight edge. CAN be sharpened both sides, and looking at the edge of the
bade it need not have a front & back-- it CAN be symetrical.



Keeping it clean seems to help too.



As for how to manage the growth of the rootstocks, when in the spring is the
indoor class? What will be the least challenging for the students to get
their work planted & growing? And, what facilities do you have for managing
the dormancy or growth of the rootstocks? Can you get the rootstocks to be
just breaking dormancy-- a compromise which might give good results if
planted out immediately. And what rootstocks can you get?



Remind your students to NOT put their trees into buckets of water before
planting. Roots should be kept "damp but not drowning".



Liability? Sorry. I usually end up teaching for some other/bigger entity,
and just assumed they had it covered. I never had a student get injured, but
maybe that's because I bring a first-aid kit!



tc, sWI, on the edge of our first snowstorm which was mostly rain here.





----------------------------------------
> From: david.maxwell

> To: nafex
> Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:18:55 -0400
> Subject: [NAFEX] Putting on grafting workshops
>
> I am planning on putting on a grafting workshop next spring, covering both
> grafting to
> rootstocks and topworking established trees. I have a good supply of the
> latter, (an
> abandoned orchard), but am unsure how best to manage the former. Does
> anybody have
> advice to offer, based on their experience?
> How many rootstocks should I set aside for each participant? What sort of
> rootstocks?
> (dwarfing? seedling? Bare root or potted up?)
> I have always done field grafting in April/May when the rootstock has
> broken dormancy. Is it
> feasible to hold my rootstocks for the workshop in cool storage and graft
> them at the
> workshop, then send the parcipants home with newly grafted trees to be
> planted
> immediately? (ie. can one graft onto dormant rootstock, and then plant the
> grafted tree out
> immediately, and have successful take? I know that growers who graft in the
> winter will then
> place their grafted trees in warm storage until the grafts take and callus
> over, then cool them
> again until planting out in spring. What I don't know is whether if one
> grafts in spring, with
> dormant rootstock (and, obviously, dormant scionwood), and then immediately
> plants them
> out, trusting that the rootstock will come to life in the field in time to
> callus in the graft, will
> work.
> Final practical details: I have only 3 grafting knives. If I have, say, 20
> people in my workshop,
> is it feasible to share these 3 knives around? How well do things like Olfa
> knives work, (ie.
> does one require a real grafting knife, sharpened only on one side, to get
> good grafts? (I
> suppose I could re-sharpen a bunch of Olfa knives specifically for the
> purpose if the answer
> is "yes".) Do I need to explicitly absolve myself of responsibility if
> partipants cut themselves?
> Any and all advice most gratefully received, either to the list-serv, or
> off-line directly to me.
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