Grafting update.

[Lardman]

Picture proof even your fat fingered friend can get it right I think they've all gone past the shrivel and die stage.

Ignore the weeds - I do.

Worcester Black


Wyken Pippin


Unknown (but excellent) Cooker.


Hows everyone else getting on?

[nickdub]

I checked a few of mine from last year recently y - most of the apples were OK and a few of the plums worked, but the pear which I don't have any back-up for was a complete bust - I have a feeling that grafting on to the quince stock is trickier than the others.

I've done a few more plum this year to try to make sure I have at least 2 lots of each variety.

[Lardman]

I've not tried grafting onto a quince rootstock yet as I've been using up the pyrodwarfs, If the lost pear was anything I have let me know. I've said before about my poor success rate with plums, I did wonder if that was the st Julian A causing the problem.

I did a few more apples yesterday, including some whip and tongue grafts on some very thin roostocks Id separated from the base of a tree. I have to say that type of graft is growing on me, done with a very sharp snap off knife it's very easy to get good contact and more importantly it stays in place when taping removing the need for a third hand.

[burnie]

Never tried grafting, those images look like a success.

[nickdub]

I've not tried grafting onto a quince rootstock yet as I've been using up the pyrodwarfs, If the lost pear was anything I have let me know. I've said before about my poor success rate with plums, I did wonder if that was the st Julian A causing the problem.

.

Many thanks for the kind offer - I will indeed contact you next winter if I get the urge to try again :-)


As for failures, I've come to the tentative conclusion that there is a relatively short time window when grafts are most likely succeed, at least for a bodgey workman like me. Of course this time period is different for different rotor-stocks and in different weather, just to add to the fun.

I did a few more plum grafts the other day too, as the recent gales had snapped a branch out of my tallest tree and so I had a wodge of suitable material with no other use.

[nickdub]

Never tried grafting, those images look like a success.

Its not really that hard, provided you are prepared to work slowly and patiently - of course you get a lot of failures, but as I'm not working on commission and the grafting scions are generally off an existing tree of mine, it only costs a few pence to do a whole wodge of grafts - what it boils down to is if I want 3 successful branches done, I do 10 and hope for 5 :-)

[FB.]

Hows everyone else getting on?

This season has been a disaster because our household/family got so many illnesses this winter that we didn't have much time and now we have such an early arrival of spring.

So I didn't even manage to get any grafting done - and half the pruning didn't get done either!

I currently have a couple of dozen already-leafed-out but ungrafted rootstocks sitting in pots.

[nickdub]

This season has been a disaster because our household/family got so many illnesses this winter that we didn't have much time and now we have such an early arrival of spring.

So I didn't even manage to get any grafting done - and half the pruning didn't get done either!

I currently have a couple of dozen already-leafed-out but ungrafted rootstocks sitting in pots.

You could plant your root-stocks where you ultimately want the trees to be. then either bud them later this year or graft them next year -- obviously easier to do stuff like this on a bench while the root-stock is in a container, but I do all mine on trees already growing in the garden.

[nickdub]

Just thought I'd mention that I tried doing a rind graft for the first time today. I have some plum root-stocks which I bought about 30 years ago and what with one thing and another and my normal failings as an organizer they are still where I planted them but around 2" across now.

Anyway one of them was shading the stuff behind it too much so I decided to take the bow saw to it , then when I'd cut it off 3' or so from the ground it occurred to me that I've never tried rind grafting. I have some spare scion wood from a branch with blew down recently and I also snipped a bit out of another tree - so I put 6 grafts in, the bark being about 1/8" of an inch thick. I tied it off with wet raffia and wrapped some old cling film around it - so we'll see how it goes.

[mosstrooper]

Here's my grafting successes so far, Kidds Orange Red x2 cleft grafted on m9 rootstock many thanks Lardman
and a Bramley whip and tongue graft on a seedling rootstock.
I have Ashmeads Kernel, Brownlees Russett and Sunset looking as though they might break soon and a few others just sitting

[nickdub]

Excellent work, very impressive - looks like you've really got it sorted - maybe a new career as a peripatetic grafter is on the horizon for you ?

[Guest]

Here's my grafting successes so far, [ATTACH=CONFIG]86088[/ATTACH] Kidds Orange Red x2 cleft grafted on m9 rootstock[ATTACH=CONFIG]86089[/ATTACH] many thanks Lardman
and a Bramley whip and tongue graft on a seedling rootstock[ATTACH=CONFIG]86090[/ATTACH].
I have Ashmeads Kernel, Brownlees Russett and Sunset looking as though they might break soon and a few others just sitting

Well done. Just knock off the buds on ya rootstock though. (I bet someone will say they leave theirs on all the time now with no issues)

My Kidds Orange is budding up nicely considering I was late to get grafting. TY Lardman

[Lardman]

Nice to see things going well.

Any failures I can always sort more scions out for next year. I'll have you filling your gardens and plots with trees in no time

I did take some pictures myself yesterday, I don't want to jinx anything but it's looking like 100% success here even grafting onto the odd assortment of rootstocks I had hanging around.

[Lardman]

My assortment of bits.



Couple of Sturmer Pippins , then the rest courtesy of NFG Catshead , crispin, Henry VIII, Charles Ross and the big long thing which is just breaking is milton wonder.

I'll be taking them out of the greenhouse during the day now as it's getting a bit too warm in there and putting them in a sheltered spot.

I might try some chip budding later in the year - I've had 0% success with doing it so far but I want to graft over my Jonagold espalier into a Frankentree and I can't think of better way.

[nickdub]

I've had some success with budding later in the year. I'd say do a few over a period of some weeks as the bark is easiest to work with at a certain stage, which varies quite a lot in terms of the date from one year to another because of weather changes.