Fruit Tree Blooming. 3.22.15

Unknown - Green Gage? - Plum in bloom.   3.22.15

In Vancouver fruit trees that have finished blooming. 
Shiro and Hollywood Plums.   Genetic Dwarf Peaches.
Fruit trees starting to bloom.  Sweet Cherries.

In Battleground, fruit trees that have finished blooming.
Older unknown Asian Plum.
Young unknown Asian Plum
 Crimson Pointe cerasifera plum.
All peaches almost done.  Indian Free is the last.
At its peak:   Toka plum
Starting to bloom.
Asian pears.
Sweet cherries.

Most apples have visible flower buds but not near opening yet.
Pawpaw buds starting to swell.
Shan Zha.  flower buds are visible.
Tart cherries.  flower buds are visible.

Growth buds are swelling on all 3 persimmons, but not near open leaves yet.

Pourin rain for next few days.  That could impact pollination.

Battery is dead.  Will need to finish in 2 days.

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Toka Plum in Bloom.  3.22.15

Hosui Asian Pear.  3.22.15

Unknown Asian Pear.  3.22.15

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.

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

Indoor plants. Propagating geraniums. 3.14.15

Yellow clivia.  3.14.15

Crassula argenta 14 years old.  3.14.15

 Ning discovered that his clivias are blooming.  This one was grown from seed, from a plant that was grown from seed.  At the time that was sold as "Sahin's yellow" but this being next generation, the variety name may not apply.  Clivias like storage dry and cool for the winter, until they send up flowers.

I repotted the Crassula argenta.  This one  is 14 years old.  It likes the conservatory - like environment of the sunroom.

Geranium scraps for cuttings.  3.14.15

Geranium cuttings in water.  3.14.15

I picked up some geranium scraps from the overwintered plants that I cleaned up last week, pruned of torn or dead parts, and placed them in water.  That often works.  If it does not work, they are free so nothing lost.  Several of my geranium plants were started that way.  The water should be changed every few days, and the plants potted when there are a few roots growing.

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