Apple grafts

[THunter]

Finally remembered to take my camera to my parents' to get pictures of some apple grafts I did back in April. I ordered 10 B118 rootstocks from Cummins to graft an old heirloom horse apple and an heirloom striped apple of some sort from my buddy's house. The parent trees are nearly 50 years old. Here's a shot of all them. I have 8 of the 10 that appear to be making it.

 

[THunter]

Here's one closer of one of the better horse apples. Y'all think these have "taken"??

 

[CrazyEd]

Last year was my first year of grafting. I had one tree I grafted May 1st, it basically stalled out at 4". I finally declared it dead on August 7th.

I think when I trimmed it to 1 single leader is when it keeled over and died. I'm not sure if that stressed the tree to death or what. It just kind of runted out at 4". I'm not really sure why. You can see even 2 months after grafting it still looked pretty good.

Here it is on June 15th

July 3

 

[dipper]

Ed-I've done the same thing. Year 1 I let them do their thing. I wait till the next spring to pick my leader.

 

[CrazyEd]

Ed-I've done the same thing. Year 1 I let them do their thing. I wait till the next spring to pick my leader.

Last year I had good luck going to a single leader during the first year, a month or so after grafting in most cases. That's the best way (IMO) to maximize your first year growth. My best graft was over 56" in October. I think this particular tree that died off was a fluke.

Going back to the original post, I guess my jist was that it's hard to determine when they have "taken".

 

[Turkey Creek]

Ed that graft of yours that failed after a few weeks looks weaker than your other grafts in the background. I would say it is safe to say that there are some factors outside our control that determine the failure of some grafts. Could have been something wrong with the scion itself from the get go.

 

[CrazyEd]

Ed that graft of yours that failed after a few weeks looks weaker than your other grafts in the background. I would say it is safe to say that there are some factors outside our control that determine the failure of some grafts. Could have been something wrong with the scion itself from the get go.

Yes, it was always weaker, thats why I was always afraid to pick one leader. The other ones it was obvious and after I removed the weak leaders those trees took off more. This one never got that boost.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Looks good Tommy! Next yr I hope I can duplicate yall's success. Just couldnt get my ducks in a row this yr.. I may be getting in touch with you for some Arkansas black scions;)

 

[Turkey Creek]

Do you guys think the type of graft has any bearing on the growth rate ???

I can give you a better feel for that in a few weeks. I used cleft, whip and tongue and chip budding on a random basis on a number of varities on this years grafts.

 

[greyphase]

Awesome looking grafts THunter and a heck of a good average. Good for you for reproducing those old trees.
In only my second year of grafting I'm still learning a lot. Strangest thing so far was a Red Limbertwig grafted April 11 of last year and never showed signs of life until July 20 when it opened a bud and started to grow. Although it has been smaller than the rest of my grafts it's in the ground now and doing well. Have two grafts from last year that went into winter healthy but have not broke bud yet this year. I fear that I lost them over the winter.
It still seems like a miracle to me that you can "stick" two pieces of wood together and make a tree.:cool:

Rick

 

[THunter]

Looks good Tommy! Next yr I hope I can duplicate yall's success. Just couldnt get my ducks in a row this yr.. I may be getting in touch with you for some Arkansas black scions;)

I got plenty.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

;););)

It is a miracle! God sure has a cool way of keeping us entertained ehh;)

 

[THunter]

Here are three different pears I grafted at the farm. I started the trees from seed 2 years ago and planted them at the farm last year. This April I grafted Keiffer pear scions to them.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

They look healthy! Your farm has to be a honey hole! Hows your deer herd looking?

 

[THunter]

Didn't see a deer today which was surprising. The clover looks really good but wild ryegrass is choking some stuff out. Soybeans are coming up.

 

[THunter]

Went to Florida for a week's vacation and went to my parents to check my trees today. Damn deer ate every leaf. Haven't been deer in the 'hood in 4 or 5 years. They didn't touch the native stuff growing nearby--just my trees. Doubt they will recover. Lesson learned the hard way----AGAIN.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

Dang Sorry to hear that Tommy

 

[THunter]

That sucks. Weren't they caged?

Nope. They were in pots in their backyard. Like I said, haven't been deer in their yard in years.

 

[CrazyEd]

Bummer. Last summer I had my grafts in my garden, fenced with 48" welded wire. By middle of summer many of my grafts were pretty much reaching out of the garden above the fence line. One of my prairie spys got the top nipped off by a deer and I was livid. The tree rebounded well but it was definitely a setback and I was upset. This year I installed 60" welded wire around my nursery.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Ok,

New question. If the grafts have grown 8"+ and look healthy it should be ok to remove the "nurse" branch from the rootstock? Rght?
I've got a couple nurse branches that are taking off over a foot so I think I should snip them.

Yes