1st Graft Attempt

[Mortenson]

I had a freshly planted pear tree girdled by rabbits last year. Last month I cut scions while pruning a few others and yesterday I attempted to bring the tree back from the dead. Directly below the girdle was little to no green, but an inch below that, and barely over the soil level was green in the rootstock. For a beginner it seemed a cleft graft was the way to go. The buds on my scion wood began to slightly green up while in refrigeration. With that unfortunately being the case, would this effort have a better chance of success if I tried something I saw on youtube, and that's to place a wet paper towel inside that graft and cover it with a plastic bag and a paper bag? Or should I leave it as is? Any other tips? Thanks for the help.

 

[Merle Hawggard]

I use a cheap plastic sandwich bag on mine. Some use wax and some nothing at all, but I feel at least the humidity in the bag helps the graft not dry out and heal better.
I probably would have put a small hole in the corners of a bag, slid it over the scions, tied the bags below the buds I wanted to sprout and then the rootstock.
That being said your method will probably do just fine and I'm not the most successful cleft grafter either.
Ever if they don't take watch for sprouts to come up from the base. They'll be pretty easy for you to t-bud or w/t later.

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[Mortenson]

Here's what the graft looked like this morning. Leafed out nicely. The small scion hasn't done a thing. How long will it take to know if the graft took? Also included is a pic of a small orchard I have started. 6 trees in a clover plot. The pic is a week old, but the 2nd year Alice and Ladino clover make a nice carpet. The trees nearby are dead ash, but a little further beyond are black walnut. I hope that doesn't cause a problem by being too close to the fruit trees.

 

[Mortenson]

Today I undressed the graft. The large scion is over 3' tall. The small scion actually put out a few leaves. Another tall shoot emerged from the rootstock, which I terminated today. This tree is an Ayers now. It was really fun to do and has me excited to try more next year. My oldest child (Chris, 5) and my oldest nephew from the city (Ryan, 13) tagged along to help. Note the crop duster overhead. The cornfields are being sprayed with fungicide.

 

[Merle Hawggard]

It's growing well plus you've got some happy helpers with you too!

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