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  • From: Bob Bors <bob.bors@usask.ca>
  • To: 'North American Fruit Explorers' <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Grafting workshop
  • Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:45:50 -0600

We do our chipbud grafting when the weather cools in late August in
Saskatchewan Canada. But we do our workshop 2 weeks before that time so
people could do it at home. We buy parafilm made for grafting from
"Professional Gardener" in Manitoba and it only cost $4 a roll. One roll
will do hundreds of trees. But I think we have to order 20 rolls minimum.
We sell the rolls at the event. We tell people to bring a sharp pocket
knife or an exacto knife if they don't have a grafting knife. In case
people show up without anything we have extra exacto knives that cost $1 or
$2. The only reason we don't do it in spring is because we are too busy
doing pollination then.
While we do teach chip budding, many people aren't good with knives and
could hurt themselves, so we also bring along a grafting tool that will cut
a V shape for them.
When I teach my Intro Hort students in fall, most times I just give them 1
year shoots to work with, not rootstocks. But when people pay we like to
give them grafted trees to take home.
I visited some nurseries in Pennsylvania who did winter grafting. They put
the plants back into cold storage for the rest of the winter. I was told
that survival was acceptable but not as good as spring or fall grafting.
Maybe they could be ok for a while in a fridge? They would heal slowly but
might rot. Trouble with doing dormant in winter is you might get very
stringy growth if they try to grow out inside a house with only winter sun
in the window. Also what if the plant wants to stay dormant, it would need
some cold to break the dormancy. Don't tell them to put in a freezer. Lots
of new people think that will give a good simulated winter but it won't
satisfy dormancy..only above freezing temps will do that. A freezer would
likely kill the plants.
It always a good idea to warn people that if they aren't comfortable about
handling a knife, just watch!!! Almost every class someone cuts themselves
so bring bandages. So far no one has sued me!


Dr. Bob Bors
Head of the Fruit Breeding Program
Dept. of Plant Sciences
University of Saskatchewan
51 Campus Dr.
Saskatoon, SK S0K 3A0
Canada
Program website: www.fruit.usask.ca



-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Ginda Fisher
Sent: November-12-11 7:17 AM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Grafting workshop

I'm pretty sure someone else on this list reported poor success with
toilet-sealer-goo. There might be something in it that plants don't like.

The easiest thing I've ever used to seal grafts is parafilm. It's pricey to
buy, but one roll lasts forever. I've had good success with both melted wax
and "grafting compound", but both are a pain to use. I had decent success
with strips of plastic cut from the produce bags at the supermarket. Someone
here reported that he does gazillions of grafts using nothing but masking
tape, and he has good success, but when I tried it a lot of my grafts dried
up and died.

Ginda
Eastern MA, zone 6

On Nov 11, 2011, at 6:17 PM, mike engle wrote:

>
>
> I went to a workshop in Southern Virgina last year and they gave us 5
dormant rootstock, and we got to choose 5 dormant scions.
> They had us use those grafting tools from Lee Valley. They were easy to
use, but they even said they don't take as well as using a knife. We used
the goo that you put around your toilet when you put in a new toilet, on the
grafts, and the top of the scion. Then we wrapped up the graft. I took them
home and potted them(as they told us to do) and let them grow on a window
sill in my patio up in Zone 5 NY. I think this was in April.
> I only had 2 out of 5 take. Mind you, it was my first time grafting.
Even worse, one of the ones that took got caught in a shrub that my mother
put down next to my potted tree and i didn't notice. I planted the
rootstock for the winter and I think I will try to re-graft this year with a
new cut.
>
> Mike Engle
> Troy, NY 5A
>
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