Bark Grafts...Should I dress these wounds?

[Rally1148]

Hey all,

So I took/cut the tape off around my bark grafts, and in a few cases the bark was peeling. I also pruned all of the branches off except my grafts. As you can see, the bark was "slipping" a lot, and I got a few tears. I'm wondering if I should put some pruning sealer over these wounds, as it's still earlier in the year, and I would prefer the trees putting their energy towards growth, not healing. I'm also a bit worried about fireblight.

Other than this, the grafts looked great! A few of them had HUGE callouses. Will this now turn into bark? I decided to cut all of the other branches off because I thought that most of these had enough green to supply the roots with some energy. The tree below had one of the worst wounds, but it also had some of the best growth via the scion.

 

[Rally1148]

I think I'd have slit the tape and left it to fall off on its own later. Is the big white thing that looks liked a piece of chewed gum one of the open callous? Has it hardened off or is it soft? Unless you've got fireblight near by I'd let them go. Harden off on their own.

That was originally my plan, but my curiosity got the better of me. On some of the others I cut the electrical tape, but left the plumbing tape.

Yes, that is one of the callous. It was firm.

My trees that appeared to have blight seemed to have lost it, i.e. it was only on the blossoms and didn't spread to the wood (which is actually kind of nice, even though it'll affect the fruiting). I just didn't know if I should reduce stress, as I'd just cut off all branches except the grafts. That tree in particular (a Sandbur Chestnut Crab) has the most growth from a single scion. The other trees only has 5-8 inches from each scion, so they are much smaller with, in general, less foliage.

 

[greyphase]

Most "experts" discourage the use of tree wound dressing, saying it's better for the tree to heal naturally.

 

[Rally1148]

No dressing it is! I'll be taking pictures of the rest of the trees so you all can see them (and probably point out something I did incorrectly!).


As usual, thanks for all of the help. I truly do appreciate it.