2014 Grafting Adventures of CrazyED

[greyphase]

Rick, those whip and tongue grafts pictured I believe are the Adirondack crab scions from you. I think you also gave me the Lane Crab. Do you have a picture of that one?

Here you go Matt. Taken in late Feb.

 

[buckvelvet]

gotta love those late hangers, great picture!

 

[buckvelvet]

Thats a really good question that I dont have an answer for. I mean a good graft you shouldn't even really even see after a few years. But as for strength i'm not sure.

Can you really even guage strength of a graft? I mean there are videos from Stephen hayes on youtube of snapped off limbs that look to be at least 2-3 inches thick from ravens landing on them. You can do much to fend off those kind of nature occurrences, right?

 

[CrazyEd]

How about the epic root systems of the B.118 from Cummin's? Insane!

 

[Rally1148]

I just counted 12 more b118 out in my garden that failed last year and look good for grafting. More tough decisions to make, what else do I need more of. Good problem to have I guess.
=)

Ed, if I were you I'd try to get as many wild trees as possible. Discovered cultivars are fun, but I think they'd lose their appeal after 75 of them :). Then again I'm a big fan of the unknown!

 

[sandbur]

Ed, if I were you I'd try to get as many wild trees as possible. Discovered cultivars are fun, but I think they'd lose their appeal after 75 of them :). Then again I'm a big fan of the unknown!

I think there are some real gems for disease resistance and hardiness in our wild trees. I was just thinking about some of the sln offerings and was wondering if they had any real advantage over our wild trees as far as wildlife is concerned.

 

[sandbur]

How about the epic root systems of the B.118 from Cummin's? Insane!

Those roots look great, Ed. Our dolgo rootstock also had good root systems.

 

[CrazyEd]

Ed, if I were you I'd try to get as many wild trees as possible. Discovered cultivars are fun, but I think they'd lose their appeal after 75 of them :). Then again I'm a big fan of the unknown!

A majority of the 75 are unknown varieties to 90% of the general human (common grocery store shopper) population and probably close to 50% are crabs . even with known varieties I focus on getting disease resistance. I prefer to know what I'm getting that's why I graft my own trees and don't plant seedlings. Best of both worlds in my opinion.

 

[sandbur]

50% crabs... You are coming around, Ed.

 

[Rally1148]

A majority of the 75 are unknown varieties to 90% of the human population and probably close to 50% are crabs . even with known varieties I focus on getting disease resistance. I prefer to know what I'm getting that's why I graft my own trees and don't plant seedlings. Best of both worlds in my opinion.

Well then I don't know! Maybe more known DR varieties that are good eaters?

 

[Honker]

Here's an example of what I mentioned in post #222.
Narrower cut to the rootstock to match the size of the scion.

The graft.

The parafilm wrap.

The wax dip.

 

[CrazyEd]

Good pics Honker. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean it looks like you're doing about 1" of cambium match up on 2 sides. Where I am doing about 1.5-2" match up on one side. A lot of different ways to go about doing this stuff thats for sure.

 

[CrazyEd]

50% crabs... You are coming around, Ed.

Actually art my numbers were off. I will have 77 varieties including what i'm grafting this year, assuming one of everything survives. Only 22 (28.5%) are crab apples / apple crabs. I still feel I have a nice diverse mix though with a strong focus in disease resistance.

Adirondack Crabapple
All Winter Hangover
Anaros Crab
Centennial
Centurion Crabapple
Cherry Bomb Crab
Chestnut Crab
Dolgo Crab
Golden Hornet Crabapple
Lane Crab
Harvest Gold Crab
Hewes Crab
Kerr
Monster Crab
Redvein Crab
Thornberry Crab
Violi's Hanging Crab
Whitney Crab
Wild crab
Winter Wildlife Crab
Winter Wildlife Pear
Yarwood Crab

Regular Apples and Pears
Airport Apple
Arkansas Black
Black Oxford
Black Twig
Cortland
Court Pendu Plat
Dutchess of Oldenburg
Eastman Sweet
Enterprise
Fireside
Flemish Beauty
Florina Querina
Freedom
Frostbite MN
Galarina
Goldrush
Harrison
Hidden Rose
Honeycrisp
Honeygold
Hudson's Golden Gem
Jonagold
Jonathan
Keepsake
Kieffer
King David
Liberty
Mystery Apple
Northern Spy
Northwest Greening
NY Bonkers
NY Bonkers/Galarina
Olympic Giant
Prairie Spy
Priscilla
Pristine
Purdy
Roxbury Russet
Sansa
Scarlett Ohara
Scarlett Surprise
Sherry
Shinko
SnowSweet
Spartan
SummerCrisp
Sweet Sixteen
Terry Winter
Westfield Seek No Further
Williams Pride
Winecrisp
Wolf River
Yates
Zestar!

 

[Honker]

I think the only right way is if the cambium lines up, after that it is the grafters preference. I like seeing the technique of others, otherwise I think it would be easy to get frustrated that my cuts aren't "perfect".

 

[CrazyEd]

Speaking of less than perfect cuts, So far the only blood drawn on my end was actually sharpening my knife not actually grafting. It was only a minor incident.

 

[CrazyEd]

So when will the u-pick 'em orchard be opening CE?

Stu, according to the deer and critters on our farm it's already open :) "Sand Pit Orchards"

 

[Bowsnbucks]

What are Cherry Bomb and Monster crabs ??

 

[CrazyEd]

What are Cherry Bomb and Monster crabs ??

Wild or domesticated crabs?

This is Monster

This is Cherry Bomb

 

[CrazyEd]

I think you're missing a "Pillsbury" crab Ed...its a late hanger (still holding loads of fruit now), about ping pong ball sized, and turns an orangeish color in the fall. No idea what it tastes like. If you want a scion or two next year...let me know.

You bet stu, i'll try it.

 

[sandbur]

I think you're missing a "Pillsbury" crab Ed...its a late hanger (still holding loads of fruit now), about ping pong ball sized, and turns an orangeish color in the fall. No idea what it tastes like. If you want a scion or two next year...let me know.

Maybe Orange Dog or April Fool's dog for the similar one from Stearns county