2014 Grafting Adventures of CrazyED

[buckvelvet]

You bet stu, i'll try it.

I have a homestead crab I call it that I can harvest scions from next year for people. Its a crabapple that the base is about 24-30 inches, huge trunk, it produces annually crabs in the 1 1/2-2 inch size.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Both Monster and Cherry Bomb look like good ones Ed. Monster on steroids ?? Loaded is an understatement. When do they drop - roughly ??

 

[CrazyEd]

Not sure how long Monster hangs. Cherry bomb is a wild seedling in an overgrown section of a park near my house. During ideal conditions I have seen it hold until Feb, in a normal year Dec-January time frame.

 

[CrazyEd]

So I moved all of my grafts outside and planted them in my nursery yesterday. Just to recap, I grafted these the first week of April. I left them in the dark in my basement about 2 weeks. After that I moved them out to my garage and put them in a north facing window with the blind cracked about 10" to let some light in. It's been really cool temps (40s at night to mid 60s day) lately so moving to the garage seemed like a good idea. I didnt want them getting so yellow like i experienced last year. I had them healed in about a 15 gallon tub. The end of last week it started to really warm up outside and the threat of frost seems to be gone so thursday I moved the tub out to my fenced in garden and built a little tent over them with a white bed sheet. I basically left them there for 3 days until yesterday when I pulled them out of the tub and planted them. They received a few hours of direct sun before it clouded over and rained over night. The 10 day forecast looks awesome, chance for rain almost every single day with overcast with lows in the mid 40s and highs up to 80. I think i'm good to go, if the forecast changes and a lot of sun pops onto the radar, well then i'll get my white sheets out and bulid a tent again.

Everything is packed in here tight but hey, I life on a 1/2 urban lot, it's all I got. I'm not worried.

 

[CrazyEd]

Incase you missed my other thread in the habitat section, I also posted some pics from the farm this weekend.

http://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threads/the-adventures-of-crazyed-the-beach-sand-guy.369/page-9

Here is a winter wildlife crab I grafted in 2013. It looks pretty happy for a 48" tree.

5th leaf Liberty on MM111 looking like maybe it wills how me it's first fruit.

Honeygold already blooming. 4th leaf on b.118

 

[aerospacefarmer]

Get theApple pie recipe out there Matt!!!!!!

 

[CrazyEd]

Nice Ed. What soil mixture did you keep them in while they were in the tub?

50% black dirt / 50% mushroom mix - same stuff as in my elevated box in my garden.

 

[CrazyEd]

Get theApple pie recipe out there Matt!!!!!!

Oh it's ready to go Aero. I have Hooper Orchard's recipe.

 

[Rally1148]

Lookin Good!

 

[greyphase]

Hey Matt

I think you'll like that Winter Wildlife crab. Here's mine 10 year old tree a week ago. It's been a reliable producer.

 

[CrazyEd]

Hey Matt

I think you'll like that Winter Wildlife crab. Here's mine 10 year old tree a week ago. It's been a reliable producer.

Great looking tree, i'm excited for sure. I've got about 3 more of them in my garden that i grafted last year too.

 

[buckvelvet]

Matt will you pinch the flowers off that 2 year old WWC or let it do its thing?

 

[CrazyEd]

Matt will you pinch the flowers off that 2 year old WWC or let it do its thing?

I dont like to pinch off flowers because if a fruit tree produces flowers it's very likely that it can help pollinate other fruit trees on my farm which is a benefit. I've also seen fruit trees flower but not actually produce fruit for whatever reason. If it does indeed fruit, I will likely pinch off all but a fruit or two.

 

[buckvelvet]

Thanks! Just trying to gauge how I should approach this for similar situations.

 

[CrazyEd]

Thanks! Just trying to gauge how I should approach this for similar situations.

Like anything i'm sure everyone has a different approach. That is mine. I look at it like the flowers arent the problem, fruit can be a problem with a young tree. I take care of the problem only when it becomes a problem :)

 

[aerospacefarmer]

I like taking risks and letting mom nature take its course. I have a few 2nd leaf trees with blossoms that I will let fruit so I can taste them I do it for fun and have enough other apples to feed me the neighbors and the deer. Might even be able to sell some this year

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I just planted 2 Winter Wildlife crabs this past weekend, along with 17 other apples & crabs at camp. 3 yr. old Dolgo and All-Winter-Hangover crabs are going nuts and have good blossom buds on them. Can't wait to see if we get some first fruit on 'em this summer. I'll limit the number of apples if they do push fruit.

 

[CrazyEd]

Grafted last year (April 2014) to b.118 roots, this centurion looks like an eager young tree. Greyphase sent me a bunch of scions both last year and this year. I'm glad I did a few more this year because these trees are stunning. They will provide some nice flair in my orchard.

Sadly i was having all sorts of problems with my camera phone yesterday but i want to post this pic anyways. Right now is an excellent time to remove competing leaders on your young trees. I go for 3-4" of space to let the leader really drive up. Just pinch off with your fingers.

Here is an outstanding 3rd leaf Zestar on G.30. It produced about 6 fruit last year. A very vigorous tree that will really pump out some fruit. I have to say I really like G30 as a rootstock for growing in my residential neighborhood. I have a honeycrisp and sweet 16 also, all excellent growers. I have one Cortland on B.9 i'm ready to rip out and replace with a G30, it's had a rough life but these G30s seem to be outgrowing by a landslide, and this is in HEAVY clay.

Here's a different angle same tree

It has quite a few blossom's this year.

Here's a pristine I grafted a month ago.

 

[sandbur]

That centurion reminds me of the winter redflesh I got from SLN last spring. This year it is just above knee high and I had to pick 6 of those dark red blossoms of of it.

 

[greyphase]

Hey Matt, that G30 does look like a nice rootstock for home orchards. I have a lot of this years grafts of all different varieties that are producing blooms. Don't know why that is or if it's good or not ???