More Grafting. 3.21.15

Image of Ember Plum from Starks.

Ember Plum Scion.  3.21.15

 More grafting.  The plum rootstock is Hollywood Plum grown from cuttings last year.  Hollywood is a hybrid of Prunus cerasifera, which I think makes it a variation of Myrobalan which is used for rootstocks.  I didn't know what to do with the plum saplings so no waste if it doesn't take.

Ember Plum is one of the scions from Fedco, arrived Thursday.  I kept in fridge in plastic with wet paper towel, just 2 days.  The scion looks healthy.

Some photos were too blurry to use.  I did whip and tongue, but the photo that showed the whip and tongue together was too blurry.

Wrapped in Parafilm.  It's more awkward than polyethylene, still not sure what I think about using parafilm.  At the top of the scion, I melted the parafilm using a match.

I don't know if I have the finesse to do whip/tongue on plums which are more delicate than apple and pear.   If it doesn't take, it's my fault, not the scion which looks healthy and viable.

The rootstock Hollywood plum has grown about 1 to 2 inches of new growth, with healthy leaves.  I don't know how that will affect take of graft.  Impression is it is OK for rootstock to be growing, but scion needs to be dormant.

Matching size of scion and stock.  3.21.15

Diagonal cuts.  3.21.15

Fedco gives description of Ember as "(Prunus salicina Shiro x P. americana South Dakota #33) U Minn, 1936. Medium-sized roundish-conic slightly pointed mostly red-blushed fruit with a medium bloom. Rich yellow juicy sweet flesh is very firm and meaty but tender. Recommended for cooking and fresh eating. Tastes and looks like an apricot."  Since I have so much trouble growing apricots, maybe this will work better.  Stark's image of Ember does not look like apricot to me.

Final Graft.  3.21.15

Redfield Apple Scion.  3.21.15

Redfield Whip and Tongue.  3.21.15

 The Redfield apple is a red-leaf variety that is red and white inside the apple.  The young wood inside the scion is also colored with streaks of red.  The flowers are pink and the leaves appear to have reddish color as well.  Japanese link.

orangepippin.com gives Redfield as "Parentage: Wolf River x malus pumila niedzwetzkyana Originates from: United States Introduced: 1938 Developed by: New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, NY " and states not for fresh eating, juice is red.  Might be good for apple sauce and pies.  Other sites state Redfield is good for cider and jelly.

This went onto a scion that I forgot to label, has good roots and starting to grow at the top.

I think this rootstock was from the old Yellow Delicious semidwarf but could have been a minidwarf from removal of prior suckers from Jonagold.  Either is OK.  A little better scion/stock match compared to the last grafting attempt.

I wasn't sure if the parafilm was tight enough, so added rubber band.  Obviously I'm still no expert.

Final Redfield Apple Graft.  3.21.15

Apple Grafting. 3.14Not a p.15

Materials for grafting.  3.14.15

First cut, with pruners, to approximate size.  3.14.15

 For Pi day- 3.14.15 -  I grafted a little apple tree.  To begin life for a pie. 

This scion came from an aged apple tree that hangs over my back fence.  I do not know the variety.  It must be 55 years old - it looks it.  Maybe older. The tree gets no pruning, no spray, and no thinning.  As a result, the apples are lumpy and small and wormy.  The few that escape that fate are tasty.  It may be a while before the Fedco scion arrives - if ever.  I have one M27 - minidwarf - rootstock left over from last year, so decided to construct a new little tree, from scion, taken from a branch, from that apple tree.  Once in my hands, it will be pruned, and apples will be pampered, so maybe will be bigger, and not lumpy or wormy.  That is the plan.

This time, instead of polyethylene strips, I used parafilm.  It's easy to buy through Amazon.  I don't know that parafilm is any better than polyethylene.  If no strips are available, it's easy to cut strips from plastic food bags, which is free and recycled and easy.

Parafilm does make a good air-tight-looking seal.  I don't know if it stretches quite as tight.  Maybe.

The rootstock was larger diameter than the scion.  As long as the cambium matches on one side, the graft should take, and fill in the other side.  Apple grafts are pretty forgiving.

Second cut, with knife, for whip matching.  3.14.15

Cutting the tongue.  3.14.15

Fitting the graft together.  3.14.15

 Forgot to use macro setting for first few photos.  The rest are more clear.

I tightened the parafilm so the bent cut edges matched.  I did not draw out a long tail on the ends this time.  Last year when I did that, they curled away from the graft and needed to be cut off.  The church window that remains will fill in, on its own.

On one side due to size mis-match.  3.14.15

It's OK if it doesn't take.  Prior experience tells me it might.

Meanwhile, the whip-and-tongue grafts I did on one-year-old columnar trees a couple of weeks ago, have swelling terminal buds.  That's better than dead terminal buds.   If they take, the bottom branches will have red apples, the next ones up will have yellow apples.  If next year is good, a third tier of another red could be added.  That would make for a couple of unusual trees.

Wrapped with parafilm.  3.14.15

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.

Grafting follow up. Cleft, Whip and Tongue, Bud Grafting. 8.31.14

Sweet Cherry Bud Graft.  Grafted mid-July 2014.  9.1.14

Lilac Bud Grafts.  Grafted June 2014.  8.31.14

Hollywood Plum Bud Graft.  Grafted late May 2014.   8.31.14 

Cerasifolia Plum graft.  Grafted late May 2014.  8.31.14

 This is a follow up on a few of the grafts I've done.  The lilac bud grafts all appear to have taken.  The buds are plump and green and look similar to the "native" buds on the stock.  They have a good start for winter.

Most of the earlier bud grafts, from late May, healed and merged with the stock, and did not grow.  That is pretty much as I expected.  They look ready for winter.  For late winter pruning, the plan is to cut the stock above the buds, so that there is no auxin - inhibition and they take off and grow next Spring.

Two of the May plum bud grafts took off and grew like crazy.  The cerasifolia graft shows up nicely against the green foliage of the stock tree.  Hollywood would do the same.  i wonder if these rapidly grown grafts will bloom next year.  If they do, that will be awesome.

Cerasifolia Plum Bud Graft.  Grafted late May 2014.  8.31.14

Sour Cherry Bud Graft.  Grafted July 2014.  8.31.14

Sweet Cherry Bud Grafts.  Grafted July 2014.  8.31.14

 The sour cherry and sweet cherry bud grafts mostly appear to have taken.  Possibly, all of them.  Most look about the same as the native buds on the stock trees.  The sides of the T-slice tend to curl back as the bud and tree callous and merge.  The top of the T seems to callous and merge without peeling back.

Last year's cleft graft on the Asian Pears, have almost completely healed over.  I was interested to see if the expose wood, would be a problem.  It looks like there is not problem.  At this rate, next year they will be completely filled in, leaving a visible graft but no open wood.

This year's Whip/Tongue grafts on the Asian pears, both the Asian pears I grafted and the European pears, have all healed over completely.  Growth surprised me - most had 2 to 3 feet of growth.  That is faster than the cleft grafts, in general.  Not a good test, but with no exposed wood, and instant, full cambium connection, whip/tongue in theory could give a faster start.

This is only a few of the many grafts I did this year.  All plum grafts took, all pear and apple grafts took.  Only one of the whip/tongue grafts on lilacs took.  It looks like all of the bud grafts on lilac took, so maybe that's the best method for them.

Grafting is amazing.  I can't believe it works.  It should - it's been done for thousands of years.  But it's still amazing.

Asian Pear Cleft Graft. Grafted March 2013.  8.31.14

Pear Whip and Tongue Graft.  Grafted March 2014.  8.31.14



Another Lilac bud graft, about 3 weeks.  9.1.14

Apple Whip and Tongue Graft at 6 Months. 8.24.14

Almost 6 months.  I grafted these about March 1.  The graft is nearly invisible now.  Vigorous, 5 foot tall tree.  Another I did at the same time is about 2 feet tall.  I think the difference is, the taller one was grafted onto a more vigorous shoot.

Apple Whip and Tongue at 6 months

Apple Whip and Tongue Graft at 6 months.