Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Depends on the type of tape used. I still use plumbers tape and I usually cut and remove the tape around the end of July. As soon as this scorching hear wave passes I will likely begin that process.
2014 Grafting Adventures of CrazyED
- Thread starter CrazyEd
- Start date
CrazyEd
5 year old buck +
x2, I too use plumbers tape and I dont think it breaks down very well. If you are using wax / parafilm / grafting tape you probably dont have to do anything.
buckvelvet
5 year old buck +
The one I just removed was plumbers tape, it worked out pretty well and was like CE said, it did not break down and was still very stretchy as I unwrapped it off the tree. I made a small slit and it just kind of started unwrapping so I figured why not unwrap it off the ol girl.
chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
I used electrical tape on a few and various PVC tapes. I have to cut and remove it.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I've used parafilm and it seems to get brittle and starts to crack on it's own. I guess I'll be safe ?? Didn't notice any apparent girdling or " strangling " effect.
CrazyEd
5 year old buck +
Well I got out and t-budded a handful of trees today while my kids were playing in the backyard. 3 random of a random yellow 1" crab apple i found in a nearby park last weekend, and then today I did 4 more Cortland and 2 Hewes (Virginia). I have been growing Cortland in my backyard and it seems to be a really fine apple from a disease resistance perspective. I dont spray it much and there are no signs of disease and the bugs don't touch it. Seems like I can't keep the worms out of my zestar Apples a few feet away which needs constant spraying.
CrazyEd
5 year old buck +
Here is the progress on some winter wildlife tbuds I grafted in August of 2015. If you have any bench grafts that fail, tbudding is a good way to salvage the rootstock if it's still alive.
March 29
April 29
May 18
I just measured these 2 grafts today. They were Tbudded last august and as you can see in March they were nothing but a tiny bud.
Today the tape measure said
65"
63"
Not bad :)
Right now I am planning on keeping them in the nursery one more year which means they should likely be 8-9' feathered tree and almost 1" caliper by the end of summer 2017.
Those are coming along great Ed, looking forward to reading through the whole thread when I have a little free time.
buckvelvet
5 year old buck +
65 inches, are you freaking kidding me? 8-9 feet when it comes out of the nursery? Good gracious CE, you can't 1 up this guy, its impossible!
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Do you have a liner in the bottom of your growing bed or can they root as deep as they want?
CrazyEd
5 year old buck +
No liner at this time. I thought about doing plastic or lumite because I do have some grass that occasionally comes up, but i pull weeds pretty often and keep it very clean. It's probably for the best because the trees can go as deep as they want.
Again the details of my nursery. It's a raised bed essentially built 12" high. That 12" is filled with 10" of a premium black dirt / mushroom compost mix followed by 2" of nasty leaves that i picked up in my yard followed by heavy heavy clay. I think the trees actually dont really grow that deep, not into the clay. Most of the ones I dug this spring for planting, I didnt even have to dig. I really just gently pulled them up and they came right out with little force.
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Doesnt that make you just scratch your head sometimes! I have the same thing one tree is freakishly tall the next one in line freakishly short sometimes.
CrazyEd
5 year old buck +
Yeah i'm not really sure why some grow an inch and some grow 5'. But, success is success, sometimes they just need to be pampered longer in the garden, or culled. I let mother nature make those decisions.
About 2 weeks ago i went through and made a list of all my successful grafts and put in an order with my dad to make some tree tags. He dropped them off yesterday and I started wiring them to the trees. I have posted these before but we use engraved stainless steel that should last a long time. I like to get these on before winter because it seems like the plastic ones either have the marker coming off or they break in the cold, and i start moving trees around early spring so extra tags don't hurt either incase one falls off during the move.
About 2 weeks ago i went through and made a list of all my successful grafts and put in an order with my dad to make some tree tags. He dropped them off yesterday and I started wiring them to the trees. I have posted these before but we use engraved stainless steel that should last a long time. I like to get these on before winter because it seems like the plastic ones either have the marker coming off or they break in the cold, and i start moving trees around early spring so extra tags don't hurt either incase one falls off during the move.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
I engrave on metal tags too. Can't go wrong for longevity.
buckvelvet
5 year old buck +
Nice looking tags CE, I used the aluminum tags you write on.
buckvelvet
5 year old buck +
Older stock (leftovers) on the right? Really nice looking for sure!
CrazyEd
5 year old buck +
Everything on the right is grafted in 2014 or 2015. 2016 on left.
Much of the right will go to the farm first week in April 2017.
cavey
5 year old buck +
Just curious, are you going to start topping / cutting back the central leaders on the older batch of trees or just let them go... Im in the same boat, next year I'm going to transplant a bunch out to the fields and am waiting till winter to cut them back (topping the leader) and use that for scion wood. I just have a hard time cutting all that beautiful growth off.
