Peach Bud Graft Took and Growing. 8.11.2020

 This is the leaf curl resistant "Sunny Day" peach that I did patch grafts.  I think they both took, but the heat was too much and I was unable to look after them for a while.  One started growing, but the other one dried out and baked.  I think I'll just let them alone except for watering and shelter, and cut the top from the one that took, next Spring.  I might keep the other one for another graft attempt next year.

Better Bud Patch Graft. 7.21.2020

These are the bud patch grafts that I did, "Sunny Day" peach leaf curl resistant peach on Lovell rootstock, about 4 weeks. Today I was able to get out into the garden with my better camera. Still recuperating but each day is a bit better. I think it's time to cut off the top of the tree, to encourage the bud to grow. I can keep these out of the worst of the winter, so I'm not too worried about the growth needing to be too cold resistant.

Bud Graft, Peach "Sunny Day" on Lovell.  About 4 weeks.  7.21.2020

Bud Graft, Peach "Sunny Day" on Lovell.  About 4 weeks.  7.21.2020

Patch Grafts, Peach and Cherry. 7.1.2020

Here is one of the "Sunny Day" peach patch grafts that I did a week or two ago.  The leave has abscissed, leaving a green bud.  7.1.2020

A close-up of the same "Sunny Day" peach graft.  7.1.2020

Local Black Cherry Stick for bud wood.  7.1.2020

The bud patch that I cut.  Cambium is slipping nicely now.  7.1.2020

Fitting the black cherry patch to some first year growth on Surefire Cherry.  7.1.2020

Patch graft all wrapped up.  7.1.2020

Peach Bud Grafts. 6.26.2020

So far the bud shield grafts that I did for Sunny Day peach on Lovell rootstock look OK. The earlier one abscissed it's leaf, which I think is OK. The bud is still green as is most of the shield. Im a bit concerned about the brown appearance on the edges of the shield, and hope that doesn't mean it didn't take.  The second one, 2 or 3 days younger, looks about the same as it started.

Bud Graft of "Sunny Day" peach on Lovel, about day #3.  6.26.2020

Bud graft of "Sunny Day" peach on Lovell.  I think this one is about day #6.  6.26.2020

June T-Budding. 6.5.15

Apricot T-buds onto plum.  6.5.15

 Today seemed like a good day to T-bud.  I had a day of vacation.  Temp is 80 degrees F.  The bark is slipping very nicely, on plums, apricots, and cherries.

Several of last year's June T-buds on plum, took and put out about 18 inches of growth before winter.  The others all took, but remained dormant until Spring.  All of those have been growing rapidly, good solid robust growth.

Cherries were another story.  Only one Cherry T-bud took.  Maybe they are just more difficult,  and I'm still a novice.   One observation, was that there was a lot of callous formation under the grafts.  The callous seemed to push the grafts off the unions.

Last year I also grafted the cherries in mid July.  This time is more than a month earlier.

  Today, I T-budded some apricot onto the multi-graft plum.  It's a long shot as to whether they ever bear, because apricot blooms too early and is frost killed.  But if those couple of branches do that, it's OK.  I also T-budded Methley onto the plum multigraft.  The Methley is from my 4-year tree, which has not yet borne fruit.  I thought about also adding Toka, but did not find good understock branches. I can wait and do them as whip and tongue grafts next Spring, if I still want to add them.

As for Cherries, I T-budded 3 each of Stella and Ranier onto Almaden Duke.  Also 4 of Lapins, onto the same Almaden Duke.  This time, I double-wrapped as I did this Spring's whip-tongue grafts, first with polyethylene tape, then with Parafilm.  Then, to hold the cambium at the back of the bud, firmly against the stock, I overwrapped tightly, with a non-stretching nylon twine.

 Now it's wait and see.  From what I've read, the string will need to be cut at 3 weeks.

Ranier Cherry T-bud onto Almaden Duke Cherry.  6.5.15

These will need to be observed for the right time to unwrap, without letting the twine girdle the grafts.  It's worth a try.

I copied the bud-wood illustration from last year's attempts.  

Budwood Illustration from 7.15.14

Ember Plum on Hollywood Rootstock.  5.19.15

 The grafts are growing like crazy.  A couple of container apples on salvaged rootstock are not growing, but everything else is really growing.

Most of the bud grafts from last summer have about the same amount of growth as whip / tongue grafts from this late winter.

Hanska Plum, Top Grafted Onto Unknown Plum.  5.19.15

I've started removing some of the wrappings.  It doesn't seem to be girdling anything yet.  From the couple that I removed, doing so does not appear to have caused harm.

LaCrescent Plum Top-grafted Onto Unknown Plum.  5.19.15

Hollywood Plum Grafted Onto Toka.  Bud graft from 2014.  5.19.15

Fedco Apple Grafts.  5.19.15

T-bud Grafting Update. 3.18.15

Apricot T-bud 1st leaf.  3.28.15

Hollywood T-bud 1st leaf.  3.28.15

Rainier Cherry T-bud 1st Leaf.  3.28.15

 These are some of the T-bud grafts that I did last summer.  All of the plums took.  Of the cherries, only 1 took.  I think that was Ranier, that is on Almaden Duke.  None of the tart cherries took.

It's an interesting process.  These are grafted in summer, June, July, August.  With a couple of exceptions, the buds remain dormant until the following Spring, which is now. 

I pruned off the stem distal / above the grafts, about an inch above.  Now they have no competition and should grow vigorously.

I did not label some of the well.  All of the red leaf are Hollywood, and most of the green leaf are Shiro. 

Since these have been on the trees for about 9 months, if they are growing, that must mean they are solidly grafted now.

I hope to do more T-budding this coming summer.  Maybe, for the ones that did not take, I did not do them tight enough, or took off the wrapping too soon.  I'm very excited that many did take, and it gives me a sense of wonder.

Shiro T-bud 1st Leaf.  3.28.15

Buds. Pollinating. Bud Grafts. 3.10.15

Crimson Pointe Plum.  3.10.15

Peach and Plum flowers for pollinating.  3.10.15

 Many of the plums and peaches are in full bloom.

Unkown Battleground plum.  Mid to late bloom.

Unknown #2.  Scattered bloom.

Crimson Pointe Plum.  Full bloom.

Toka.  Early, almost full bloom.

Oregon Curl Free Peach - Early, almost full.

Charlotte Peach - Early, almost full.

Q-1-8 Peach - Early.

Hollywood Plum.  Full bloom.

Shiro Plum.  Full bloom.

Methly Plum.  Only 3 flowers on the tree.

Genetic Dwarf Peaches.  All full bloom.

Stanley Plum.  Buds eginning to swell.

Gage Plum.  Buds beginning to swell.

Sweet cherries.  Buds beginning to swell.

Tart cherries.  Barely noticable swelling.

Apples.  Buds swelling.

Asian Pears.  Buds swelling.

Pawpaws.  Buds beginning to swell.

Persimmons.  Barely detectable growth bud swelling.

Mulberries.  No noticable swelling.

Shan Zha (Chinese Haw) - see photo.  I don't know if these are flower buds or new growth.

Shan Zha buds, almost open.  3.10.15

I cut stems from the genetic dwarf peaches, Hollywood and Shiro plums, to take to Battleground as pollen sources.  I used artist paintbrush to transfer pollen from those to peaches and plum flowers.

Many of the bud grafts from July 2014 are opened and growing.  They are a bit less vigorous compared to other buds on those trees.  I cut back the stems to about 1/2 to 1 inch above the growing buds.  It's a long wait, from July to March, to see if they took.

It's interesting that some of the bud grafts are blooming, such as the Hollywood, pink, buds on the unknown, white flowered plum tree.   I noticed several such buds bloomed.  I think it's OK, the stem growth will follow.

New sign for the yard - Washington State Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary.  I had to fill out an application form describing the places in the yard where wildlife can find shelter, the trees, potential pollen and nectar sources for bees and butterflies, no-spray area, some native plants although by no means all.  Now signs up on both parts of the yard.

Hollywood buds on unknown variety of plum.  3.10.15

Toka plum in bloom.  3.10.15

 On bud grafts - it looks like plums did the best.  The couple I did on peach tree did not take.  Only 2 of about 8 on lilac took.  On cherries, hard to say because not all buds are swelling.  Some have fallen off.  I think all of the plum buds took.  Some are growing, some have flowers.

Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary

Learnings. What went well, what didn't. What I obsessed over. 2014. 12.30.14

Transplant Methley Plum.  Jan 2014

 This is Jan to June.  It turned out to be too much to review the whole year.

Transplanted Methley plum tree in January.  It did fine, but no plums this year.  January is a good time to transplant around here, if the roots are good and the weather is mild.

Lilacs are really easy to propagate by digging up suckers, pruning them off, and replanting.  All survived.  Again, dug them in January.  All of the starts grew moderately and developed good root systems.

Covering the raised beds with plastic increased the temp, allowing for cold season vegetables to grow in February.

Embossable labels work better than any other type of label.

Pepper plants started about Jan were the first to bear.  They do not have to be started that early, but it was nice to get early peppers.

Whip and tongue grafting is easy and awesome.  That was the end of Feb.  All of the pears, and all of the apples, took.  Few or none of the lilacs took.  Lilacs are more challenging to graft.  I still don't have a foolproof method for them.

It was easy to dig up and transplant daffodils and Hyacinthoides right after they  started to grow in March.  All survived and bloomed.  It was a great way to have some instant spring blooming bulbs, not planted the fall before.  Not really instant but seemed that way.  Waiting until the foliage dies is probably better, but there is so much going on then, I forget.

The indoor plant growing light was easy, cheap, and worked very well.  I have it set up again for this winter's seedlings. 

Learnings for the little orchard:  Deer were the most destructive and frustrating challenge.  They ate cherry trees, to the point of almost killing the trees.  I already had the plum trees fenced, so they were OK.  They ate a few peach branches, not a lot.  Similar for persimmons. Something - maybe a rabbit - ate off one pawpaw sapling, so all got caged.  As of now, all cherries are caged, all pears, apples, plums, pawpaws, persimmons.  Two trees died - Satsuma plum and Korean Dogwood.  I think that's because I did not get the roots unwound from the containers.  Another thought, is voles, but on the tree autopsy I did not see eaten roots.  Lesson learned - get those root systems spread out.  I already knew that but did not practice it in those cases.  Hollywood plum was very easy to start from cuttings - all grew.  Shiro plum did not grow at all from cuttings.  With hand cross-pollinating, the Asian pears had heavy yields, really productive, for the first time ever.  By grafting pollinating varieties within each pear tree, I hope the pollinating is easier in the future.  But I really didn't mind doing it.  Enjoyable.  I have almost every tree in a fencing circle to reduce or prevent deer browsing next year.  Lesson learned - install the fencing at the time the trees are planted, even before planting.  Then it is done, and you don't wind up saying "I wish I did that".

Lilac Propagation via Suckers.  Jan 2014

Covered Bed.  Feb 2014

Pepper plants, 2.1.14

Asian Pear - Whip and Tongue Graft.  2.25.14

Apple.  Whip and Tongue Graft.  2.25.14

Bulb transplants.  3.2.14

Plant light project.  3.2.14

 For me, the best way to grow 4:00's / Mirabilis jalapa, was to soak seeds for 24 hours, pre- germinate seeds on moist paper  towel, in zipper sandwich bags, on heating mat, then plant into seedling cups.  They did really well that way.  4:00's were great fun and I will grow them again this year, from seeds saved in 2014.  They do stop blooming in Sept, but that's OK. They also grew faster, bloomed sooner, and stopped blooming sooner, in containers.

The bearded irises were very frustrating.  Big, very frustrating, losses from bacterial rot.  Almost every plant had at least some rot.  A few were completely killed.  May have been due to too much nitrogen the fall/winter before.  Lesson learned.  No nitrogen boost this time around.  Also no ground covers, although weeds are challenging for bearded iris.  We'll see if they do better this time around.

Lilacs did great this year.  It's nice to have several types.   Now I have starts from 5 colors, at the Battleground place.  Bud grafting was about 30% successful on lilacs.  Maybe - we'll see if they grow.

Bud grafting is also awesome.  Some of the early bud grafted plums grew rapidly.  The later ones, healed but I will not know if they grow, until Spring.  All of the plum bud grafts look like they took.  About 75% of the cherries look good.  Not sure about the peaches, and the lilacs may have a few.

The buddleias were a mixed bag.  The "Cobbler" varieties - Peach Cobbler and Blueberry Cobbler - grew huge.  That was OK in that location, they will be a bit of a windbreak.  The flower heads are also huge.  They start blooming from the bottom, and work to the top.  That means, most of the time half of the flower is brown and dead, before the rest is done blooming.  The result is an ugly bush.  The "Miss" varieties  - Miss Molly and Miss Ruby - those have smaller flowers, and less of the half dead/half blooming issue.  They are more compact.  Neither the Cobbler varieties, nor the Miss varieties, attracted honeybees, but they were good for bumblebees.  The Honeycomb variety was newer, I'm not sure about that.  The Blue Mist variety stayed more compact, the flower heads were small and much less of the half-dead aspect, looked very nice and the honeybees liked it.

Peecycling was the big lesson this year.  Excellent source of nitrogen.  Our water bill decreased due to not flushing it down the drain.  Tomatoes were the most productive ever.  Peppers did excellent.  Lindens grew their most lush ever.   Negatives, leaves on some buddleias, and laburnum, were curled.  I used moderately on the Bearded Irises, and that may have been the issue with the bacterial rot.  Possibly too much on those.  I would not use on pear trees - they grow too fast, and lush growth is susceptible to fire blight.  Sourwood also had a touch of fireblight, but recovered and grew nicely. I think this concept is mostly a "guy thing".  We have been saving all of the at-home pee for the garden, and it was very lush in 2014, the best ever.

Plant light project.  3.2.14

Orchard.  4.6.14

4:00 seedling.  4.6.14

The persimmons and pawpaws did respond to the nitrogen boost.  I would not do that for mature trees, but it might be good for getting them larger, faster.

I still have a lot to learn about growing okra in this cool maritime climate.  The container okras did much better than last year's in-ground okra.  The varieties, "Burgundy" and "Baby Bubba" did best.  They are hard to grow in sunroom due to attracting aphids.  It helps to soak seeds over night, and pre-sprout on moist paper towel / zipper sandwich bag / on seed sprouting warming mat.  Contrary to info on many websites, okra is easy to start in containers.  You just have to be careful to slide them out of the container without damaging roots, when transplanting.  More to learn, but so far, so good.

This as a lot of learnings in 6 months.  Most of it went well.  I tend to forget the unsuccessful things.  The uncertainties to carry over to next year, mainly working on other herbivore control fencing, seeing if bearded irises will be free of bacterial rot, getting more okra in containers.   I plan to move more bulbs in March after they start growing, as I did last year.  Good to know that works.  Lilac starts are now in their permanent locations.   Much more grafting this year, based on last year's learnings. 

Historic lilac bed.  There were some good flowers despite a bacterial rot epidemic.

It' nice having multiple varieties of lilacs.  The different colors make for a beautiful bouquet.

This was my first try for camassia.  Very nice!

Pepper bed worked out really nice.  The cover kept them growing before the weather warmed up.  Covering also prevented herbivory.

Potato "wells" were OK, not great.  Not sure if I will do that this year.

Freeze killed figs grew back from the roots.

Okra was OK in containers.  Not lush like southern grown okra, but there was enough for some soups.

Peecycling was a big new lesson.  We got excellent results.

This plum bud graft took and grew rapidly.

Four O'Clocks were a new experiment.   They were great!

Buddleia Miss Ruby was good.  Compact and a nice bloomer.