Too Early to Graft

Victor Van Meter

5 year old buck +
This will be my first year grafting. We have several days of warm weather coming in SE Ohio and was considering starting to graft some scions onto my pear trees. Is it too early? We sometimes have frosts into the first week of May around here. Thanks for the input.

VV
 
I’d wait until start of May after the pear trees start pushing leaves. If collecting scion wood, do now and refrigerate until you graft.
 
I’d wait until start of May after the pear trees start pushing leaves. If collecting scion wood, do now and refrigerate until you graft.
I cut some scions yesterday and wrapped them in a wet towel and placed them on my basement floor. I can try to find room in the fridge without alarming the family that there are "sticks" next to the food!
 
It's advised to not store scions in a fridge with produce. Do you have a separate fridge you can use? The 1st few years I grafted, my success rate was never over 50% when the dust settled. I had stored my scions in my normal fridge. Maybe it didn't matter but maybe it did. Last year I stored them in my parents' wine fridge (after making some room wink wink) and I had my best success ever, close to 100%. Could be that I just got better, but they're back in the wine fridge again this year.
 
It's advised to not store scions in a fridge with produce. Do you have a separate fridge you can use? The 1st few years I grafted, my success rate was never over 50% when the dust settled. I had stored my scions in my normal fridge. Maybe it didn't matter but maybe it did. Last year I stored them in my parents' wine fridge (after making some room wink wink) and I had my best success ever, close to 100%. Could be that I just got better, but they're back in the wine fridge again this year.
I do not have an extra fridge. I guess I will keep them as cool as possible in the basement and hope for the best. With the price of everything skyrocketing, a used fridge for scions is out of the question unfortunately.
 
Same here. There's always the option of keeping produce out of the fridge for a few weeks. Or double or triple wrap the scionwood to help keep the ethlyene gas away.
 
The decaying fruits in the fridge produce ethylene. This causes the grafts to go bad. They actually produce that gas to quicken the ripening of fruits.
 
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