Collecting scion. And a Graft failure. 12.4.18

 Today I collected some scion for late winter grafting.  In this case, it was Pristine apple.  Pristine is an excellent PRI (Purdue Rutgers Illinois) disease-resistant apple, early season, really delicious with a delightful flavor. 

Unfortunately, this branch basically fell off the tree this summer.  It managed to hang on by a small amount of bark on one side, apparently living bark.

Today I removed some scion to try

 grafting late winter, onto another tree.  It appears viable.   I wrap in foil, then place into zip-lock bag and refrigerate until some time in March.

 I will remove this branch some time this winter.  There isn't much holding it onto the tree.

From the wound, it's obvious that there was never much connection.

There will be some more scion to collect.  I also want to collect some from North Pole apple.

A graft failure.  "Pristine" apple.  Unknown Semidwarfing Rootstock.  12.4.18

Grafting Day. 3.20.17

Image via USDA Image Collection.

Thanks to the Scion Exchange and my fellow fruit growing enthusiasts at the Home Orchard Society, some nice guys, I came home with several varieties that I wanted to graft as soon as I could.

Today was drizzling all day, not too bad for some grafting work, so I spent the afternoon in the home orchard grafting. In general, I leave about 3 inches per scion, and try to make sure it has 3 buds, and the diameter matches the understock. I have not learned bark grafting and cleft grafting for large understock, which just seems to expose the tree to too much potential disease due to the large wound, but it does work for others. So, I look for low branches about the same size of the scion, and use those. For young trees that are still a small size, that seems to work very well for me.

 What I grafted, today and yesterday:

1.  To the injured, new, 4-way Euro plum, I added Yakima plum to a branch that appears to be off the understock, and Yellow Egg plum to replace the Italian plum branch. .

Yellow Egg Plum.  Via USDA Image Collection.

2.  To my Stanley plum tree, I added Jefferson Plum.  I have been unable to find info about that variety.
3.  To the old green plum that came with the Battleground place, which might be a green gage plum, I added Yellow Egg and Yakima.  I usually cut the scions into pieces with 2 buds, so one scion usually gives me a couple of grafts.
4.  To the Rebecca's Gold pawpaw, I added grafts of Wilson pawpaw.  Those were so delicate, and they have flower buds, and I'm not sure they have leaf buds, so who knows if they will take,
5.  To the Illinois Everbearing mulberry, I added Noir de Spain mulberry, 2 grafts.  The internode spaces were very long, so I made those as 1-bud grafts each.  There is a bit if scion remaining, so might add more.
6.  To one multigraft apple, I added Fameuse apple.
7.  To other multigraft apples, I added Dolgo crabapple, Firecracker red flesh apple, and to Jonared, I added Jonathan, which I am curious to see if the redder sport is a sacrifice in flavor compared to the original.
8.  Yesterday I also grafted scion from Fedco, Sweet-16 apple, King David Apple, and Opalescent.  The first 2, I already grafted, but they had so little growth that I want to try again.

Fameuse Apple.  Image via USDA Image Collection.

9.  To an Asian pear tree, I added Chojuro.
10.  To Aromatnaya quince, I added Crimea quince. 
11.  I added spare pieces of scion to the hawthorn thicket, Crimea quince and Chojuro Asian pear.
12.  I also planted cuttings from Limon quince and Aromatnaya quince to see if they grow from Spring planted hardwood cuttings.

That's it for playing in the orchard, grafting.  I did not cut myself - always a good thing.  I know I don't "need" any more fruit varieties, but no harm in grafting on new varieties to see how they do and maybe get a taste in a  couple of years.  They may also help with pollination.  I got to try my hand at grafting some species that I have not tried before - mulberry, pawpaw, quince.  If any - or all -  do poorly or are not good, I can always prune the bad ones off, without losing a tree.  Ditto if one is way to vigorous and takes over a tree.

I'm using images from the USDA image collection.  They are public domain.  I don't know if the USDA will have funding cut and drop the collection, so it's nice to peruse them while there is a chance.

Home Orchard Society Scion Exchange 3.19.17

Today the Portland area Home Orchard Society had a scion exchange / propagation fair event in Clackamas, Oregon. I helped some with the set up yesterday, and again helped a bit with the event today. It was a lot of fun. Lots of people, especially home orchard nerds like me. I brought some handfuls of scion from my own trees - mostly the persimmons - to add to the already massive amounts. Naturally, now I have some more grafting to do, and did that this afternoon. I'll list the scions later.

2017 Home Orchard Society Propagation Fair.  3.19.17

Kitchen Garden Progress Report. 3.17.16

Container Planting of Radish and Spinach Seedlings.  3.17.16

 I did a lot of gardening today.

Large half-barrel size containers with greens and favas are coming along nicely, roughly one month after planting.  Pictured, radish and spinach.  Favas are also growing nicely both in containers and in-ground, and scallions are more than a foot tall - Eqyptian Walking Onions.

Grape cuttings look good, about one month.  I am starting Interlaken and Price.  These will get extra TLC this year to achieve planting size as soon as I can manage.

Grape Cuttings at One Month.  3.17.16

Favas Germinating at one month.  3.17.16

Apple Scion, Fedco.  3.17.16

 Fedco apple scion came yesterday.  I stored in refridgeratore overnight.  Scion includes Milo Gibson, Sweet-16, Baldwin, Newtown Pippin.  Some were very small.  I multigrafted 3 existing trees, and also created one from a one-year plant of semidwarf stock taken from the stump of a prior apple tree.  That last was a rind graft, because the scion was so much smaller than the rootstock.  I used Mil Gibson because it is rare and unique.

The seedling gemetic dwarf peach is blooming at 4 years.  Others at same age and younger are not blooming.  I'm designating these as "gremlin peaches" because the trees are so tiny, suitable for container.  I don't know what they will be like.  They need a designation because it's too much typing to continue stating "seedlings of genetic dwarf peaches".

I planted herb seeds indoors in seed starting soil, in reused, washed seedling 6-packs.  I started seeds for greens in the outdoor half barrels.  As pictured below.

Rind Graft, Milo Gibson Apple on unknown semidwwarf rootstock.  3.17.16

Seedling Gremlin Peach at 4 years.  3.17.16

Seeds planted indoors.  3.17.16

Seeds planted outdoors in large containers for greens.  3.17.16

Even More Grafting. 3.21.15

Fedco Scion Wood.  3.21.15

Jonared Apple with 5 other varieties now grafted.  3.21.15

I did the rest of the grafting at the Battleground place. 

Most of the scion looked good to me.  One - South Dakota - looked dead and a little mildewed, so I did not try.  One was a hybrid of McIntosh, which I did not want, so I did not try that one either.  Thought went into each choice.  No reason to grow one that I didn't choose, no idea about disease resistance, flavor, or other characteristics.

Jonared now has grafts of 5 varieties - Priscilla, Granite Beauty, Keepsake, Redfield, Porter. 

The unknown plum now has grafts of Ember, La Crescent, and Hanska.   There are 2 each of La Crescent and Hanska, making 2 4-inch scion from each 8-inch.  That plum already has grafts from Hollywood, Shiro, apricot seedling, and possibly, Toka.

 I also used left over 4-inch scion from the grafts made earlier from Ember and the Redfield apple.

Some sources list Hanska as a Plumcot.  Makes sense given its ancestry.  It might be a better choice than California - bred Pluots, which are also plum / apricot hybrids.

My prior listing and description of these apples and plums is here.

This time I did the initial wrap with polyethylene tape.  Then I thought, maybe that doesn't seal well enough, so over-wrapped with parafilm.

I also discovered that I can keep a jar candle burning, and dip the top end of each scion in melted candle wax, before grafting.  That seals them without the problem of potentially dislodging the graft while over-wrapping with parafilm.  It's also easily available, does not have to be specially bought.  I dipped a couple of times, each quickly, for a good seal.

Plum Scions for 2015. 12.15.14

Image source:  Vintageprintable.com

I went ahead and placed an order to Fedco. Apple scion as in previous post. Each will be a branch on a multigrafted tree, so I don't need room for more trees.  And so there is a range of ripening times, so I don't suddenly get more fruit of a particular type, than we can use, and waste  them.   Also the following plum varieties:

"Ember.  Late Summer. (Prunus salicina Shiro x P. americana var) 1936... red-blushed fruit...Rich yellow juicy sweet flesh is very firm and meaty but tender.... Tastes and looks like an apricot...

La Crescent. Late Summer. (Prunus salicina Shiro x P. americana Howard Yellow) 1923.... thin-skinned yellow fruit is sometimes blushed with a little pink. Tender yellow juicy fle...aromatic and suggestive of apricots...

South Dakota. Late Summer. SD 27. Prunus americana unknown parentage. 1949... tough yellow skin with bright red blush. Medium-firm yellow flesh is meaty, juicy, sweet... very long flowering period... pollinator for all hybrid plums...developed before 1907.

Hanska. Summer. (Prunus americana x P. simonii) 1908. Medium-sized bright red fruit with a heavy bluish bloom. Firm fragrant yellow semi-freestone flesh. When cooked, the fruit has a strong apricot-like flavor reminiscent of its Chinese “apricot plum” parentage. "

All info is from the Fedco catalog,  edited for brevity.  It seems like a lot.  On the other hand, how much does 1 plum, or 1 apple, cost at the grocery store?   Each scion is $5.  If these take, each grafted branch can give a couple dozen a year, for potentially many years.  They are intended to give a diversity of size, shape, flavor, color, and ripening times.  The main trend here is 3 with apricot flavor.  I hope they are much more adaptable to this area, compared to apricots.  Toka has some of that too.

Apple scion, heritage varieties. 11.29.14

Apple Varieties.  Image Source:  Vintageprintable.com

Apple Varieties.  Image Source:  Vintageprintable.com

I discovered a company that sells apple scion wood, heritage varieties.  Fedco.com in Maine.  I didn't count, looks like more than 50 varieties.  They are sold as 8 inch scion, shipped in March, order deadline is Feb 20th. 

I went through the varieties, and read the evaluations in Apples of North America, by Tom Burford.  That book reviews 192 "Exceptional varieties" of historic apples.

I know I can graft apples.  Of the apple grafts I made last year, 6 of 6 apple.  All grew vigorously.

First priority is disease resistance.  Especially fireblight, endemic around here.  No use growing a variety that will give years of frustration.  For example, Golden Delicious.  On the other hand, Liberty has never been affected, and bears well every year.

Second, I went for descriptions of exceptional or unusual flavor., or other exceptional traits.

Top choices, for now.

Granite  Beauty.  approx 1815.  Early bearing, moderately resistant to the major diseases.  Spiciness compared to "coriander or cardamom."

Keepsake.  1978.  A cross of NM 447 and Northern Spy.  Resistant to fireblight and cedar apple rust. Flavor described as "sweet, spicy, and strongly aromatic."   Orangepippin.com states "Unattractive, irregularly shaped... Fine grained, hard, very crisp, juicy light yellow flesh. Strongly aromatic flavor. Very hardy...  Keeps in storage through April."

Priscilla.  1961.  Developed by the Purdue, Rutgers, Illinois consortium which specialized in disease resistant apples.  A seedling of 601-2 and Starking Delicious.  Described as "crisp and aromatic."  Orangepippin.com states, "very resistant to fireblight."

Redfield 1938.  Wolf River X Niedzwetzskayana Red Crab,  NY program in Geneva.   Resistant to the major apple diseases.  Described as "red flesh, dry, very tart."  Leaves are red/bronze color, and flowers are large, deep pink.  Orangepippin.com states "Medium to large...Dark red with dark red flesh. Juice is red. Not for fresh eating".

I may choose one or two more:

Porter.  around 1800.  Moderate resistance to the major apple diseases.  Taste "fine grain, crisp, tender juicy, subacid".  Orangepippin.com states developed in 1840, "Pure yellow skin with crimson blush, tender, sweet... juicy..."

McIntosh seems passe, but is a standard.  1796, white flesh sometimes with red tinge.  "Fine grain, crisp, tender, subacid to sweet".  Moderate resistance to the major apple diseases.  The idea of growing an apple that has been around since 1796 is amazing.

Six seems like a lot.  They would be grafted onto one or two trees.

This is all speculation at the moment.