Fruit Tree Grafting. 2.25.14

I've been watching the Calendar for grafting time.  I think this is grafting season now for apples and pears.  About the same time as I did last year, which was successful.

Today I added a pollinator variety to the little Honeycrisp, another to the one year old Sutton's Beauty, and one to the one year old Esopus Spitzenberg.  The pollinator varieties are old varieties.

I also added 3 varieties of Asian pear to the 2 year old Hosui, and 2 unknown varieties of European pear to the unknown variety of Asian pear.  This is for pollination.  Also I want to keep those varieties, if we move to the Battleground place.  I prefer more varieties, on the trees already there, than adding more trees.  We don't need a tree-full of each cultivar.  Just a branch for a couple bowls of fruit when each ripens.

Graafting Supplies and Scion Wood

Last year I did cleft grafting on existing trees.  I thought I was too uncoordinated to safely do whip & tongue grafting.  This time I did do whip & tongue grafting.  The saddle grafts all took, and some grew surprisingly fast.  But a cleft graft exposes open wound on each side, which dies and needs to be overgrown by new wood.   The whip & tongue graft does not leave exposed edges, so is potentially healthier.  In theory, all exposed scion cambium is matched with rootstock or branchstock cambium.  That's if the cuts are skillfully done.

I found that sharpening the knife between each graft, the wood cut very steadily.  I steadied my hand against my chest and mad the cuts very slowly, slicing along the blade. The biggest  concern with this method is it is hazardous to the fingers of the grafter.  I did get a small thumb laceration.  It only needed a bandaid.

Whip and Tongue Graft on Asian Pear

I used polyethylene wrap and treekote.  Looks nice and they seem like strongly splinted grafts.

Photo is blurred but still better than my sketch.  I found I had overlap of cut edge over bark.  So I carefully exposed cambium by shaving that section of bark.  Then it matched.

They are a little bent.  They came together with the wrapping.  I dipped in water so cut surfaces would not be dry.

Labels state variety name, expected ripening time, and on the back, graft date.

Wrapped snugly with polyethylene, and labeled.

Some references state polyethlene wrapping does not need external sealer.  Other references state sealer is needed.  A key to success is prevention of dessication, so I sealed.  Treekote is easy to apply.  Messy and not easy to get off the fingers.

Altogether today I did 3 grafts on Hosui pear, 3 grafts on unknown Asian pear, and one each on 3 small apple trees.  Then I wanted to do more but I had homework and a doctor's appointment so I quit.

Lessons learned today.
1.  Grafting is not as hard as I thought.  It takes practice.

Sealed with Treekote

2.  A very sharp knife is essential.  I used a grafting knife, and a hunting knife sharpener from Fred Meyer.
3.  Apply bandaid to thumb before starting.
4.  Work slowly, carefully.  Don't try to slice quickly.
5.  The whip and tongue stays together nicely and does not leave exposed surfaces.
6. Prepare labels ahead of time, with variety name, date of graft, and expected ripening time.  Label each graft as it is completed.
7.  Polyethylene tape is easier than wide rubber bands.  It can be cut from freezer bags, although I got mine via Amazon.
8.  The Treekote is easy to apply too.  That was also via Amazon.

Maybe this weekend I'll graft some plums and cherries.  They are considered more difficult.  The grafting season is short, so I might as well do it now instead of waiting to see how the others do.

Apple change of plan. Disease resistant, multigraft order. 1.19.14

Image source:  Wikimedia commons.

I emailed Raintree and requested a change of my order.  Initially I ordered a crab apple, Prairie Fire.  Later I found the same variety and bought it.  I thought I would let the order remain, for a second one of the same variety.  Then, eating some more apple pie, decided to change the order.

I emailed them and they were happy to oblige.

The replacement order is for a multigraft, disease resistant varieties on M106 rootstock.  M106 should result in a moderately vigorous tree roughly 10 feet tall.  Fine for my little orchard, especially with pruning.    Raintree says a bit bigger, 12 to 15 feet.  Either size is OK.  Probably no concern for planting pollinators, given it is multigraft.  Choices are 3 of...  Queen Cox, Belmac, Rubinette and / or Pristine.  One will be missing - their 3 in 1 are 4 in 1 that had one graft fail.   I did that with an Asian pear and am happy with that.

By going with disease resistant varieties, there should be less frustration in the future, and no need to spray.  At least, that's the plan.

Later, I could graft on other varieties.  This looks like a good start.

Anxious for the order to arrive.  Probably in a month.

Got the little Honeycrisp / M27 back into the ground.  This time it will have support - required for trees on M27 rootstock.  That was my mistake before.  The next question is what to graft onto the second stem.   This tree will probably only grow 5 or 6 feet tall.  This site lists Liberty as an option.  Easy, since we have a Liberty tree to supply scion.  Minnesota lists Jonagold among others.   I thought Jonagold was pollen sterile.  In fact, Spokane site states Jonagold is a nonpollinator.  Maybe graft on a Liberty scion, plus add another small M27 tree, such as Jonared.  Jonathan was my favorite, growing up in Illinois.


Next change - I ordered a dwarf Jonared from Starks.  I have not ordered from them before.  Jonared is a sport of Jonathan, redder skin.  Origin, Penashtin Washinton, 1934.   Jonathan originates 1864.  So this is a true heritage variety.  Not great in the disease-resistance department.  Parentage, seedling of Esopus Spitzenburg, which coincidentally is one of my grafts from last year.  Also the pollen parent of Karmijn de Sonnaville (1949), which I also have in the Vancouver yard.  Karmijn is also a self-sterile triploid, that can't pollinate others.

From Raintree on pollinizers - editing out the trees I don't have or haven't ordered this year.  Most should overlap.  I don't have data for Prairie Fire Crabapple, which should pollenize any of the listed varieties, if there is bloom time overlap.  From OrangePippenTrees.com - "The prolific blossom also makes most crab apples excellent pollinators for all other apple and cider-apple varieties - they typically produce five to ten times more pollen than a typical apple tree. The blossom is also usually more long-lasting than that of normal apples, and spans several of the mainstream apple flowering groups. Crab apples are naturally precocious and will often start producing blossom and fruit in their 2nd or 3rd years."

Early-Mid Season =  Pristine, Scarlet Sentinel, Liberty
Mid Season = Jonagold,  Golden Sentinel, Belmac,  Spitzenberg,, Karmijn
Mid-Late Season = Honeycrisp

Italic = self sterile, requires pollenizer and is not a pollenizer for others.

Grafting fruit trees. Progress Report.

Pear Graft #1

 All of the pear grafts and apple grafts took and grew this year.

I did not keep track of varieties.  The pear grafts were on the 2 Asian pear trees.  The intent is to have pollinating varieties, on the same tree.  And novelty.

The pollinating varieties were, two from a multigraft Asian pear in the Vancouver yard, plus 2 prunings from newly planted pear trees.  Those were European pears, Rescue and Orca.

Pear Graft #2

Pear Graft #3

 Some of the grafts grew very fast.  Others barely grew.

I grafted the apples on Feb 23rd at the Home Orchard Society grafting class.  Spitzenberg and Suttons Beauty.  Each has 2 strong growths.  Late winter, I want to graft each with an additional variety.  Or with 2 additional varieties, allowing a bud to form a branch below the graft for the originals.  These would be very low branching trees, which is what I want.  I want to get them planted in-ground this fall, so the roots have a chance to grow.  That means I will need deer protection, too, which is more of a chore.  Not too difficult.

The regenerated Honeycrisp broke off near the ground, but above the graft, last year.  I debated re-grafting it.  Instead, I pruned short, and allowed the tree to grow from below the cut.  It has 2 strong growths.  Again, I would like to graft an additional variety onto one or both of the growths.

In the Vancouver yard, I have the Honeycrisp start, Jonagold, Liberty, and Karmijn de Sonneville.  At Battleground, there are the columnar varieties Golden Sentinel and Red Sentinel.  GS had one apple this year.  It's only about 2 feet tall.  That's enough varieties for my test garden.

There is also Prairie Fire crabapple, now, which I hope serves as a pollinator.

Pear Graft #4

Regenerated Honeycrisp Apple

New Dwarf Apple Grafts

Broken Honeycrisp tree Sept 2012

Apple Grafts

Apple Grafts

These are the little trees I grafted in March.  Sutton's Beauty and Spitzenberg.  Growing nicely.  With this much of a top, it's safe to say the grafts definitely took.  I'll keep them growing in containers, this year.  Next year they can go into their permanent spots.

I'm very pleased, I created my own grafted apple trees.

All of the pear grafts this year took too.  Next year I might add some more.

Tree starts. Figs. Wild Plums. Apples.

Fig, Wild Plum, Apple, starts

Current status of mostly fig starts.  These were cuttings starting in Jan and Feb, some from my trees at home and some from exchanges on gardenweb.  Fig varieties Carini (New Jersey), Ronde de Bordeaus, Black Marseilles, LSU Champagne, LSU Tiger, Panachee, Smith, Hardy Chicago, Lattarula, King.  The apples are two that I grafted at the Home Orchard Society grafting workshop. The apples are Spitzenberg and Sutton's Beauty.    The plums are grown from seeds from a neighborhood wild plum tree.

Pear grafts. Progress report.

Some are growing better than others.

At the moment, all grafts are growing.

Very few incipient pears on the trees. It may take a couple of years for these to bloom. When they do bloom, the grafts should help the pollination issue.  Establihsed hives may also help.

Walking around the place.

Red leaf ornamental plum. I thought I posted on this, when planted - August? - but could not find the post. I think this is "Crimson Point", a columnar plum. The flowers are as nice without petals, as with petals.Tamara rose. Cutting-grown, moved last summer. I thought it died. Growing nicely. Tamara is very thorny. Maybe that will deter deer.Iris pallida albo variegata. Rescued from the Vancouver place, was overgrown there. Coming back nicely. Beautiful foliage.Pieris, rescued from the Vancouver place last fall. It was declining badly. The red new growth is as nice as any flower. Recovering nicely.Pollinizer graft on Asian pear tree. Looks viable and growing. No way to know until it grows actively. Sometimes there can be enough moisture to support a small amount of growth even if a graft hasn't taken.Rhubarb at the Battleground place.Laburnum flower buds. This is going to be impressive.

Pear Grafts

After taking the Home Orchard Society grafting class, I was anxious to try. These are the attempts. This is a russeted Asian pear, Chojuro. I've grafted a nonrusseted variety, unsure cultivar. Purpose is for pollination. Mostly I think it's just cool. This is the nonrusseted Asian pear. Unknown variety, had one pear last year. Grafted another unknown onto it from my home tree, plus 2 Euro pears, Orcas Island and Rescue. I tried to graft near the trunk.  Not the best grafts I've seen.  We did bench grafting in the class.  Learned whip and tongue graft, which took more finesse than I have on the bench.  On the tree it would likely have meant a blood sacrifice to the tree god.  So I tried the less hazardous but possibly less successful cleft grafting.  No loss if they don't take.  Pears have a reputation for easy grafting, so maybe.

Spring Garden Chores

Today (Saturday), I...

Weeded the rose bed. This bed now has almost as many fruit trees, brambles, and plants, as roses, but still contains about 10 rose bushes. I had moved one rose bush to accomodate the new Surefire cherry, and today moved a second one a little further from that new tree. I also moved a David Austin rose from the front yard, and a peony as well. It looks like I butchered the thick peony roots, even though I thought I was digging a wide distance from the stems. We'll see if it grows. It's interesting how few roots the roses seem to have - surprising that they survive moving. I pruned the tops further back to balance the reduced root mass.

Mulched the rose bed with bark mulch. It's now basically ready for Spring and Summer. I did not add compust to most of it this year, because the roses were too rampant last year and I don't want to overstimulate the fruits and roses. I did give some chicken manure to the roses that I moved.

Sprayed most of the fruit trees and roses with Neem oil. Not the peaches - the flowers are opening.

Moved one Orchard Mason Bee house to the front yard, since there are many fruit trees there as well.

Turned over the soil in the tomato patch.

Pruned the remaining rose bushes.

Stood around and stared at the results of my labors.

Grafted 3 fig scions onto the petite negri tree. Just to see if I can. According to most references, it can't be done. I hope they are wrong.

This time I used rubber bands to tie, and used plastic tape to cover and protect. The plastic tape was made by slicing a ziplock sandwich bag. Also used petroleum jelly as an antidessicant, as I did with the apple grafts. It's not just stubbornness - I really would like to see if they grow.

Added some petroleum jelly to the apple grafts - forgot to do that earlier, purpose is to serve as antidessicant.

Also mulched around this red-bark Japanese maple, that I moved to this location a few days ago. It was a seedling in the rose bed, among many others. I had never got around to pulling it up, and now will see how it does as a specimen tree.

More on grafting - another you tube video

Fig Grafting Experiment

I don't have enough fig starts to do a big experiment. This is a Petite negri that was started almost by accident from a cutting 2 years ago - stick stuck into the ground in the onion bed, just to see if it would grow. Last fall I dug it out and transferred to a container, and kept it in the garage to overwinter during the coldest weather. It's been outside again for about one month.

I don't really need more fig trees. Here is my thought: I would like to have a containerized tree, with multiple varieties, that I can move indoors for the winter. Doing so might preserve the breba crop. Petite negri is naturally small and slow growing, with short interstems. If PN can be used as a rootstock, just maybe the small, slow growing trait would be passed on to the scion. I could use the scion as the start for a multigraft tree.

I don't know if figs can be grafted this way. Since they grow so easily from cuttings, there isn't much reason for grafting. So this is my attempt. I used reverse saddle graft because it seems like the easiest method. Unlike the apples, I used rubber bands to tie, and I remembered to cover the grafts with petroleum jelly to hold in moisture.

This tree had 2 stems. That gives me 2 chances. If both grow (counting my grafts before they take), then one can be removed later for a stronger main trunk.


Petite negri in pot, Brunswick "Vancouver" in bag. The scions had been held in the refridgerator for the winter, with plan to grow cuttings.

Both scion and rootstock cut to size that I hope will match.

These match very closely.



Photo showing cuts for scion and rootstock.

Same as above, but the other branch.



In place. Note to self: After trimming, the scion diameter is a little smaller than the rootstock. If I do this again, adjust so that the scion starts a little bigger, for a closer final match.

One is completed. The other is held in place with a cut rubber band. I am concerned that the deental floss that I used for the apples might be too restricting, and am unsure of when to cut it. The rubber band gives more flexibility, but is more difficult to tie without moving the scion in it's new perch.

"Real" grafters use asphalt pain or waxes to protect the new graft from dehydration. I'm using petroleum jelly because I already have some. It does not harden, but should have a similar function. I also forgot that step with the apples, but in this chilly rainy season, they might still survive.

Final step - I wrapped them in plumber's teflon tape. It sticks nicely to the petroleum jelly, is easy to handle, and is very stretchy.

Count'em. 10 fingers. No blood. Another sign of success.

Will they 'take'? I'll have to post later with either report of success or failure.

Time for some grafting

Apple buds are barely beginning to swell. Two weeks ago I cut some sticks from my Dad's 2 apple trees, which I wanted to use for scoins to add to a dwarf apple in my yard. Last year, I used some branches of a neighbor's apple tree, which overhangs into my yard. As I remember, I grafted about 10 or 12 scoins onto branches of a 5 year old ultra dwarf (M27) Golden Delicious, which had never borne fruit. Of those attempts, 2 grafts definitely took, 2 more might have (the buds that grew are right at the grafting point, and I cant tell whether they are from the original tree or the graft). I used the reverse saddle graft method as shown in the video below. The reason for using that method is that, for a novice like me, it seemed like the easiest to cut and match the grafts.

Yesterday I made 20 small grafts onto the tree from my Dad's 2 apple trees. Unknown variety, he thought one might be a Delicious. Unfortunately, they had a day-long trip at room temp to get here, so may not be viable. The cambium layer was green and soft, so still worth a try. I may also have made a mistake, tying the graft together with dental floss, which I learned from a rose-grafting video. They are covered with teflon plumbing tape. We'll see.

Here is the result of my first attempt at grafting, 2 Springs ago. A a complete novice, I just cut the scion and base tree stems to match, tied them together with electrical tape, and that's it. This was the only attempt at the time. It grew that summer, and last summer. Looks like there might be a flower bud at the tip. I don't know the scion variety. The main tree is Liberty on M27 ultradwarfing rootstock.

Here is one result from last Spring, grafting from neighbor tree prunings for scions, onto Golden Delicious on M27. This scion grew like crazy, adding branches and about 16 inches of growth. One branch might have a flower bud.

Here is the other definite 'take' from the neighbor tree onto the Golden Delicious. Again, it grew well. The tip was frozen, so I pruned it back a little. It won't bloom this Spring but should grow as well as any other branch. This may be a tip-bearing, rather than spur-bearing, variety, so I don't want to get carried away with too many grafts.

Here is the final result. A bit odd looking. I'm thinking that I'll need to remove the wrappings in about one month. By then I hope to know if they 'took'.


Reverse saddle grafting multiple varieties onto an apple tree:

Apple grafting. Reworked tree.

This is the tree before reworking it. This is a "miniature" Golden Delicious. It's about 5 years old. All of the others have been bearing at this point, and this one had grown larger than the others (probably due to lack of fruit). It set a couple of fruit last year, but they were deformed and did not ripen properly. I'm not a proficient grafter - we'll see if any of them take!

I chose to do wedge grafting, similar to the demonstration in this web page.

This is the source tree. The owner "pruned" their side of the tree, basically topping it, but left many of the branches overhanging the fence. Apples that have fallen into our yard have been somewhat small, but with good flavor. I'm hoping that on a tree that is properly cared for, they might be larger and taste just as good. Plus, they'll be in reach and easy to pick on a small tree.

Here are the scions. I placed them in water while working.

It took multiple tries, but finally I started cutting smoothly with one fast cut.

Example of scion wood. As above, this isnt the best example but it's the one that came out in the photo. Again, after multiple tries, I learned how to hold the scion wood properly, and cut each side with one slice.

After completing the work, I counted fingers. There were 5 on each hand, and no bleeding.

Reworked tree when completed. I did not follow all of the grafting instructions perfectly. Without grafting wax, I tried melting actual candle wax and mixed with parafin, but that was still hard at room temp let alone outside. Finally, I just used petroleum jelly, which at today's temperature was thick and gooey, so it might work OK. Then, I wrapped with plumbers' silicone tape, which is soft, stretchy and flexible. Some grafts were held closed with dental floss before applying the petroleum jelly.