One week after topworking

[Native Hunter]

Surprised today to see leaves coming out only one week after topworking. My scions were wild apples from New York. They were sent to me about a month ago and have been in the fridge. Two different trees had done this and the others not showing anything yet.

 

[Neahawg]

Looks good!

 

[Native Hunter]

Looks good!

Thanks.

This may sound crazy, but I'm considering duct taping a tree tube around the trunk of that tree to help protect those scions from being broken off by a storm or birds. A guy could make it just the right size to give support to the limbs and cut some holes at the bottom to let rain water drain out easily.

 

[Neahawg]

Yeah I normally take a 3/4 inch drill and make holes all the way down my tubes to add a little ventilation

 

[H20fwler]

Very nice!
I top worked a few today... luckily only cut myself once and didn't even need stitches....a good day!

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Native - Great job on the top work. Is it a " Franken-tree " or are the scion all the same on the one in the pic ?? Keep us posted on this summer's growth on those.

 

[Native Hunter]

Native - Great job on the top work. Is it a " Franken-tree " or are the scion all the same on the one in the pic ?? Keep us posted on this summer's growth on those.

The tree in the picture is all one variety, but I did create a Franken-tree at another spot. I was back by there today and all of the scions now have green leaves.

Interesting thing - these scions are from wild trees in New York, and they are the first ones waking up. I expected them to be later.

 

[Native Hunter]

An update on the apple topworking. Looking good so far. All grafts either have leaves or showing that they are waking up.

 

[Merle Hawggard]

Nothing quite like the feel of success when they start growing! It's Christmas morning for us middle aged folk.

Sent from my SM-S903VL using Tapatalk

 

[H20fwler]

Very nice Native!

Looks like only the crabs I top worked are taking so far...it's cooler now and rainy maybe that will help keep them from drying out and give the rest a chance to take. I didn't baby mine near enough.

 

[chummer]

How long does it take to know if they take?

 

[Native Hunter]

How long does it take to know if they take?

Last year was my first year topworking, so I'm still learning. Some can show signs of growth in just a few days but I have seen some not take until after three weeks.

I did two early trees before the ones shown above, and one of them didn't have green tips until today. It was much slower than the rest.

 

[yoderjac]

How long does it take to know if they take?

I did some whip and tongue grafting of seedlings planted last year in the field. I grafted on March 7th. I think it was too early as we had a very cold snap a few days after grafting. At any rate, I was checking trees and doing maintenance on Thursday. I have some that clearly didn't make it, some that show signs of callus with no bud swell, some that did leaf out and grown a few inches, some that just leafed out, and one that has a green bud.

So, some have taken 8 weeks to show signs! However, I want to see about 6" of growth before I declare success. The energy in the scion can cause leafout without the graft taking.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[H20fwler]

How long does it take to know if they take?

For me when the scion starts to dry out and get wrinkly. Similar to what Jack said even after they leaf out I keep my fingers crossed for a month. I don't protect my new grafts like I should, I've been lucky grafting when it's cooler and rainy....I need to get more serious about it and get some bee's wax and grafting tape instead of the electrical tape my hillbilly ass has been using.
Grafting is extremely enjoyable and gives the grower a chance to expand with new varieties much cheaper than buying new trees.

 

[Native Hunter]

So far, once I had a scion to leaf out, I have lost only one. That was last year, and we did several. My problem was the storm on July 3. It uprooted many trees in my woods and broke several of my grafts, but I did have both apples and persimmons that made it through the first year and leafing out this year.

 

[yoderjac]

For me when the scion starts to dry out and get wrinkly. Similar to what Jack said even after they leaf out I keep my fingers crossed for a month. I don't protect my new grafts like I should, I've been lucky grafting when it's cooler and rainy....I need to get more serious about it and get some bee's wax and grafting tape instead of the electrical tape my hillbilly ass has been using.
Grafting is extremely enjoyable and gives the grower a chance to expand with new varieties much cheaper than buying new trees.

I think the best method depends on the grafting technique. Personally, I have found nothing better than electrical tape for bark grafting persimmons in the field. I think bark grafts do best with good pressure. The stretch in electrical tape allows me to get good pressure on a bark graft. Persimmons 2" in diameter or larger have tough bark and cutting or removing the electrical tape is not a problem.

I just got started grafting apples in the last couple years. The master grafter in the grafting class I took said he prefers freezer tape for whip and tongue grafting apples and pears. He likes the fact that freezer tape is water proof and that dissolves on its own and doesn't need to be removed. He also doesn't bother with parafilm on the scions.

Personally, I'll probably use parafilm-M on all my scions from now on. I think I grafted to early. All of the grafts I did in containers on M111 failed this year and I noticed that eventually the scions wrinkled as you said. I think putting parafilm on the scion, indoors or out, helps keep the scion from drying out and gives it more time to callus and begin growing. I think there is a difference between the master grafter who grafts at just the right time and me who grafts when he has time. If you know what you are doing with easy to graft trees like apples, parafilm is likely overkill as he says, but for me, I think it is an advantage.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[H20fwler]

Agree on using the parafilm or beeswax, I need to start doing that. The whip&tongue is my favorite graft, my scions to rootstock all did good so far, the topwork is about 50/50 this spring. If I could ever get persimmons started I would sure like to try grafting some, they are very touchy in my area and hard to get started...sooner or later I'll get them planted in the right spot and they'll take.

 

[Native Hunter]

The one below is my favorite graft this year. It is a cleft graft with 3 scions. The only bark contact for the middle scion is where it is touching the bark on each of the outside scions. This may be common, but I hadn't seen it done on any of the references I looked at. It just seemed like a good experiment, and all 3 appear to be taking.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

It seems there are a few " mad scientists " on the forum trying all sorts of grafting. Like someone said above - " you don't know until you try !! ".
Way to go, gents !!

 

[greyphase]

I got this idea from Stephen Hayes of YouTube fame. In the winter of 2015-2016 I cut some large limbs off a Pound apple tree in the corner of the yard that just didn't produce apples that we used. It sent up suckers last summer that I grafted to this spring. I used Razor Russet, Black Limbertwig, and Shennandoah scion. The Shennandoah scion hasn't "woke up" yet but the other two are taking off.