Fruit Tree Scion Wood

Hi.  My name is Justin.  I have some scions leftover from grafting this season.  Anyone want some?  Some is already pushing; some is still dormant.  It'd be good to practice grafting with.  You could graft up some late varieties.  Cuttings?  You could even try a bud graft or two and see what happens.  Anyway, I have a bunch of wood in my fridge, and I'm going to throw it out unless someone wants it.  Peace is today.

Justin,

Do you do grafting the old fashioned way, or do you use one of those new tools?

Is it possible to graft apricot scion onto a plum tree?

What varieties do you have?

Justin was one of our interns. He grafts like a good 'ol boy. 

It is possible to put apricot scions onto a plum tree. For your area I'd suggest the Puget Gold variety.

Spring grafting season is just about over now, though. I'd start looking into summer budding sometime around early July.

Dave

DAVE! DAVE!  DAVE!  OOO! OOO!

I wanna put apricot scion wood on the plum tree here!

What would be the best time of year to do that?

Might you have any suggestions on where I might get scion wood?

How long will apricot scion wood keep in the fridge?

Paul,

1. Purchase the Grafter's Handbook by R.J. Garner. Look up chip budding, t-budding, and topworking. I have personally had more luck with chip budding. I suggest doing it in July (the test of readiness is whether or not the cambium on the rootstock slips free of the wood). Before and after you graft, make sure the tree has enough water. Drought stress will prevent the cambium from slipping or cause the graft to fail.

2. For budding you can get budwood from anyone you know who has an apricot (remember Puget Gold if you want to avoid brown rot in this climate). I'd get 15 to 20 sticks to be safe. Dormancy is only an issue for spring grafting where you harvest the scionwood during the winter. I would just make plans to get the budwood the same day you graft it. You will want to collect one year old wood (not the stuff that has just grown this spring). Put the buds onto younger sticks as well (think pencil diameter). Budding onto younger wood is a lot easier than onto thick trunks with old, gnarly bark. Check out the topworking pictures in the Grafter's Handbook to see what your finished product should look like.

3. Don't get discouraged if your buds fail! Practice really does make perfect when it comes to grafting. Let the rootstock re-sprout from any branches with failed grafts and you can try your hand at whip-and-tongue, cleft, or bark grafts next spring or you can re-bud those branches next summer.

4. Make sure you maintain those buds! By this fall you should unwrap whatever you use to hold moisture in the bud (we use old chunks of plastic bags) and you should know which buds are likely takes and which have failed (based on whether they are dessicated, shriveled pieces of rotting wood or living, green buds). Keep on top of removing suckers coming up from the base.

Good luck!

I have 2 cherry trees that have various grafts.  My gardner limbed them up without my consent.  I am interested in replacing the grafts.  I planted them 10yrs ago.  Is there anyone in the Seattle/Edmonds area who does grafting of this sort?  Thank you.

I know that there are lots and lots of people in the area that could do this.  The trick is that grafting it a little tricky!  And right now the folks with these skills are up to their eyeballs in this kind of work.

Are you hoping that somebody with these kinds of skill would come by today and do this sort of work for free?  For pie? 

How many grafts are there? 

Are you keeping the scion wood cool and moist? 

Thank you for your reply.  I would be willing to pay someone to do this at their convenience.  Unfortunately, the gardner cleaned up and removed everything that was cut off.  So I am not really sure what my options are.

So you have trees that have interesting things grafted on them.  And then somebody cut the interesting stuff off of your tree, right? 

But they also too away the interesting stuff, so they cannot be grafted back on, right?

So, I suppose what could be done next is that somebody could try to line up scion wood for new interesting things and graft that on at some other time.    I would think that in the winter would be the best time to graft new stuff on - mostly because that's when the grafting experts have a lull in their other business stuff. 

Would this winter work okay for you, or are you looking for something a bit more immediate?

You mentioned cherry trees.  Do you have a particular variety of cherry that you want grafted on?

Thank you Paul, you have summed it up quite nicely.
I am excited that there is hope!
This winter would be fine.  I would like to replace the Rainier Cherry grafts and the Bing Cherry grafts.  One each on each tree, if possible.

I suspect that somebody will read this and make arrangements with you.  If you don't have anybody lined up for this winter within a month or two, let me know. 

I too have a fridge full of wood-apples, 90 varieties leftover.
  I just grafted 1800 whip and tongue onto bud-9 for trellising the rest of the wood will need to go-soon. It's getting late. but I have grafted in july with some success. In August will bud the rest (2000)
Gil Schieber-  Snohomish/Seattle
gil@Skipleyfarm.com