North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Elizabeth Hilborn <ehilborn@mebtel.net>]

Thanks folks.

I guess this IS where the art of grafting comes in. It has been 
difficult for me to find printed/ posted discussions of how to maximize 
the effectiveness of nurse limbs...

Betsy



On 4/19/2015 6:40 PM, fuwa fuwa usagi wrote:
> Betsy,
>
> I just did several multigraft pear and apple trees for folks over the last 
> three days.   If I understand what you have written, I might suggest you do 
> what I did which was a combination of nicking and notching along with a 
> partial bark inversion.
>
> I run into this stuff when adding limbs to damaged espaliers and growing 
> replacement limbs.
>
> It is more art than science this point. But it sounds like you want to keep 
> your nurse limbs and simply let them leaf out to feed the tree and that is 
> where the nicking, notching and bark inversions are very useful.
>
> All the best to you.
>
> fluffy
>
>
>
>
> --- lpittman@murraystate.edu wrote:
>
> From: Louis Pittman <lpittman@murraystate.edu>
> To: mailing list at ibiblio - Northamerican Allied Fruit Experimenters  
> <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [nafex] Grafting - nurse limbs and apical dominance
> Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2015 17:18:33 -0500
>
> Betsy,
> After years of fighting with persimmons, I don't want any side branches
> with buds higher than the graft union.  I'll usually just break 'em over -
> leaving them attached - at some point so that any buds on the 'sap-drawer'
> are lower than the graft.
>
> YMMV.  Apples/pears probably not so ornery as Diospyros...
>
> Lucky
>
> On Sun, Apr 19, 2015 at 2:32 PM, Elizabeth Hilborn <ehilborn@mebtel.net>
> wrote:
>
> > I am grafting to apple and pear rootstock suckers. The original grafted
> > trees are gone. Last year I stripped off growth on the shoots arising below
> > the graft, but had no takes. This year, I selected suckers with side shoots
> > which I left to use as nurse limbs in the hope that increased shoot vigor
> > would give me better results.
> >
> > Question- some of the nurse limb apices are higher than the apical shoot
> > of the graft. I have only found one source that suggests that one does not
> > prune the nurse limb until the graft takes. But I am afraid that the apical
> > dominance effect of the nurse limb will prevent my grafts from taking. My
> > only thought is to 'split the difference' - to tie nurse limbs down
> > horizontally.
> >
> > Does anyone have experience with this issue?
> >
> > Betsy Hilborn
> > 7a NC