Trav Puteshestvennik

After grafting 17 varieties and species onto a prunus Serotina, 1 survived, and well!
My only complaint is that cultivar varieties often produce enough hormone to suppress suckering, this does not, but as an interstem, it doesn’t need to.

I believe it is a Mirabelle plum, but it’s possibly a myrobalan plum cultivar, and it’s definitely on prunus Serotina, I checked that a lot! (Leaves in last photo)

This was taken in fall 2024 with almost 2 seasons of growth, not any care since July 2023, when I cut off all the other branches with grafts, fortunately it was one of the lowest branches on the tree.
I will try to get new photos now

Mirabelle on prunus Serotina:
(Possibly a myrobalan cultivar)

I should be embarrassed about the lack of pruning, but I am in Russia now and getting back and forth from the US is not easy.

In any case you should be able to see from second to last photo here, that the branch above the yellow flag (Mirabelle plum) is still holding leaves, and obviously different from all the other branches.

https://growingfruit.org/t/prunus-serotina-success-grafting-plum-on-timber-cherry/74045/6

You up probably shluld wait for warm weather march-April.
Prunus Serotina van have compatibility issues apparently, but I mistook one for a pin cherry and I grafted one with every stone fruit in the book, almost I'll update you.

If you have pin cherry or choke cherries it's probably better.

Figs are pretty much impossible not to root.

As long as you take dormant cuttings and don't let them dry out you'll get at least 50% to take, I think.
Elderberry is supposed to be even easier I hear, and black currants too!

I'm going top build a bottom heat sand box, and I'll let you know, look on you tube for bottom heat rooting by Edible Acres, it's interesting at least.

Bryant RedHawk wrote:The girdling method is most often used (by me) for changing the root pattern of Bonsai Trees, where you really want even spacing all around the trunk of the tree.
Even when doing this I do not completely girdle the tree since that makes it a live or die situation and with my Bonsai trees selling for 50 to 500 dollars, I really don't want to loose a few years work.

I have no idea why so many people seem to think this is good method, perhaps they think it will make better roots?

I always put it forth like this: If you want to kill a tree, you girdle it, this stops all nutrient flow in the tree and it will most assuredly die.

What I have always wondered is how many of the people recommending this method actually do air layering or grafting on a regular basis and if they do, what is their success rate?
I've never seen anyone touting girdling for layering mention their own success rate or how many they do in a year.  
I think it is one of those urban legends that people read and say "well, of course" and then they spread it around like they know what they are talking about, but they are actually clueless.

By my understanding, if you girdle a tree it starves the roots, not the branch, and a hickory branch over my apple tree seems to agree!

So I'm no expert with air layering, but I got about a 70% success rate with mulberry, even starting in a dry August, all the successful ones were girdled entirely, some with zigzag cuts, most straight, and scraped.

I didn't do too well with apple or pear, but I think I need to try spring for them, also many apples have poor roots apparently.

The girdling works, at least on dicots, on monocots they recommend splitting or cutting a bark flap.

This was my best mulberry, inside an old hydrogen peroxide bottle and wrapped with cling wrap.
Although I prefer the hot dog cut bag, cling wrap, and aluminium foil.