North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[R F Hollaus <hollaus@comcast.net>]

They are able to freeze bud sticks in liquid nitrogen (super 
freezing) for over a decade and still bud them back to life so it is 
pleasing to hear how you can go some of that distance in the 
ordinary fridge or freezer. You also made a good point concerning 
mold and mildew and the issue of being too wet. This is very true. 

I was talking about systemic issues which involve bacterial infected 
tissues from the interior of storing scions. For example I can get 
an order from GRIN for sweet cherry scions and by the time I get 
them in the mail the bacteria has multiplied to the point that when 
I receive the package it is already past. In this case it does not 
matter if it is summer budwood or dormant scions for winter 
grafting. I will use amur cherry and sweet cherry on the same 
established rootstock only to have just the sweet cherry fail.

In this case I am trying to propagate 'spur van' sweet cherry for an 
Alaska project that I need a suitable cherry low enough to the 
ground. It is the original material that I believe exists in the 
"stressed" state and a cultivar "van" that is more prone to bacteria 
canker, an internal bacteria for which plant pathologists have been 
tying to find a good cure for for a hundred years. Trying to freeze 
the scions seems to be the only viable option worth trying because 
it might could place bacteria into a dormancy. I'll try some of 
these suggestions from the other helps such as Jerry and Alexis as
well and just see. 


> Hello Rupert,
>
>   You and Jerry are correct with the understanding the scion wood 
> be moist when cut at least 1 day before hand above freezing to 
> allow some sap flow (just so the scion wood is not desiccated )
>
> Storage of scion wood Can be for me now and in the past stored at 
> 32 to 36 with a 2 degree variation higher or lower and this can be 
> even achieved in the fridge.
>
>     For a 1 gallon Ziploc Bag half full say 20 sticks I want one 
> Half of Standard size Paper towel just torn in half for a moisture 
> carrier /  not dripping or to point of run off but good and damp 
> to be the reserve Moisture carrier I have stored scion wood for up 
> to 3 year and still grafted with it this is not My first choice 
> but given the experiment that I performed in 2004 when I was 
> Activated to Active Duty Army 116 ACR Special Assignment.
>
> I stored the same wood in 2 different ways and the scionwood was 
> F-100 Male fruiting Virginiana that I received from Jerry that 
> Spring but Had not used I prepared some for the freezer packed and 
> submerged in water and the other held in a temperature of 32 to 36 
> degrees F. With this done I left in November 2004 and returned 
> December 2005 and in the spring I grafted with both pieces of 
> scion wood there was 4 stick 2 treated equally and out of 4 grafts 
> 1 of each one was successful and are large trees to day.
>
>    Often as Jerry pointed out it is not merely the storage 
> temperature that will cause the scion wood to go bad but that it 
> is the Fluctuations of the temperature above the normal storage 
> temp. and the lack of Moisture and too much can be a bad thing 
> also in a warm Environment.
>
>    With the use of Hydrogen Peroxide and a more sterile practices 
> we have elevated most of the problem of the scion wood storage for 
> long periods of time remember Hydrogen Peroxide is H2O3 and when 
> it breaks down after it has did its Job you merely have Water and 
> Oxygen and that extra molecule of Oxygen is very important.