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

Harbingers of Spring. Two New Fruit Trees. Phenology.

The small narcissus are always first. I think that some were lost last year - I remember more. Still, great to see them blooming.

The Aprium is one of the first trees to bloom in my yard - right there with the peaches. I think this stage is called "First Pink"

And here are the early peach buds. The bags at least didnt kill the tree. Now to see what happens with our nemesis, leaf curl.

The first of the 2 newest additions, "Surefire" sour cherry. Arrived Tuesday, kept in a cool place overnight, and planted when I came home from work Wednesday (last night). This might have been the only rain-free window of time for a week, so it worked out perfectly.

The other of the 2 newest additions, the multigraft asian pair. I STILL don't know which of the 4 potential varieties are represented on the 3 grafts. The label states "Varieties from bottom to top: Shinseiki, Yonashi, Hamese, Mishirasu". I studied the grafts and decided that one bud did not take, second from bottom, which would be Yonashi. That would leave the 2 smaller, yellow, sweet varieties, one for early aug and one for late Aug, and the large russeted Mishirasu, a September bearing variety. Any combination would be fine. Probably 3 years to know for sure.

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: