Sweet Cherry Bud Grafts. Progress Report. 8.13.14

Sweet Cherry Bud Graft @ 17 days.  8.13.14

Sweet Cherry Bud Graft @ 17 days.  8.13.14 

The sweet cherry bud grafts have varying degrees of plumpness.  I think they took for the most part.  There were some hot days, which either stimulated callousing, or stressed them. 

Thinking about a few more lilacs to graft.  And a couple of ornamental flowering cherries.  And.....

Buddleia "Blue Chip" 8.13.14

Buddleia "Blue Chip"  8.13.14

Buddleia "Blue Chip"  8.13.14

Buddleia "Blue Chip" just started blooming.  It's much more compact than the other sterile buddleia.  It's the only one, so  far, that honeybees forage.  Nice shrub.

Buddleia "Blue Chip" 8.13.14

Rose of Sharon 8.13.14



Rose of Sharon Seedling 8.13.14

 This Rose of Sharon seedling continues to grow.  There was minimal deer foraging on this shrub, this year.  That resulted in more bloom.

I think it's a striking flower.  Much nicer than the parent shrub.

Rose of Sharon Seedling  8.13.14

Rose of Sharon seedling parent  8.13.14

Bearded Iris Bed Maintenance. 8.10.14

Bearded Iris Raised Beds.  8.10.14

Trying not to over-do TLC for the bearded irises.  It's hard for me to just leave them alone, even if I think they might be better off without me puttering around them.

We are at the hottest day of the year, so far.  Around 95 F

I crushed eggshells and scattered them one the soil surface.   The eggshells provide calcium, which is deficient in my soil.  I think they don't raise pH.  I am guessing, lower pH might slow some fungal growth, so no more lime.  Eggshells might provide a little slow-release nitrogen, and if so that's all they get this time.

Removed more weeds.  Removed the last of the multiplier onions, which were a disappointment due to attracting deer or rabbits to eat them.

Bearded Iris Raised Bed.  8.10.14

Filled in some soil low spots with dry mole hill soil.  They were bone dry to a foot deep, so I did water them.  The watering might not be needed, and could be harmful, but it's hard for me to not-water.

Last week I also sprayed them all with a generous spray of Neem oil, following the manufacturer's recommendations of 2-4 tbsp per gallon.  I used 4tbsp per gallon.  My hope is that will keep any fungal diseases in check.

Will try not to mess with them more, unless there is a long dry stretch.  The Neem can be applied every 2-3 weeks, and it might be helpful to do that.

No more plants between iris clumps, except a few Sempervivum, which tolerate dry, heat, neglect, and do not spread much at all.  There is a grape cutting and genetic dwarf peach seedling in one bed, those will come out this fall.

Bud Grafting Lilac for a Bouquet Lilac Bush. 8.10.14

Bud Grafted Lilac Bush.  7.25.14

This is a late entry.  About 2 weeks ago I went around the yard in Vancouver collecting Lilac budwood, then grafted 5 varieties onto this young lilac bush.  This is a single-trunk lilac, so far.  I don't know if it will produce suckers of the original variety.  If it does, so much the better.

This bush has stems about 1/2 inch diameter.  This is a young bush, that had its first 2 flowers this year.  They didn't amount to much, so the grafts could enhance it quite a bit.  The bark slipped nicely. 

I don't know the names of any of these lilacs.  They are white, blue, lilac-color, purple, single, double.  The stock is pink-ish.

Checking today, the buds remain plump and green.  Same method as everything else. 

If they grow, that's great.  If not, at least I tried.

I expect, if the grafts take, it will be new growth next year, and potential flowers in Spring 2016.  Long way away.  But why not try?

More from the Kitchen Garden. 8.10.14

Zucchini and Scallop Squash.  8.10.14

Tomatoes.  8.10.14

 In addition to the tree fruits, we have squashes of various types, tomatoes - mostly Sungold -, eggplants, and today had a taste of honey.  Oh wow that honey was good.

Honey.  8.10.14

Dendrobium Nobile in Bloom. 8.10.14

Dendrobium nobile 8.10.14

This Yamamoto-type Dendrobium nobile has been outside on the North side of the house.  I water it about once weekly or when I remember.  I noted buds last week.  Pretty nice.  This one is around 10 years old.

Fruit Update. 8.10.14

Fruit Bowl 8/10/14

Mulberries, Green gage plums, Shiro Plums, Hollywood Plums, and the first of the Oregon Curl Free peaches.  My bowl runneth over.  There are also blackberries but I ate all of them.

Buddleia, Butterflies, and Bees. 7.27.14

Honeybee on Buddleia "Honeycomb"  7.27.14

Honeybee on Buddleia "Honeycomb".  7.27.14

Butterfly on Buddleia "Blueberry Cobbler".  7.27.14

One of the main reasons I planted buddleias was for bee forage.  It turned out, honeybees don't care for Blueberry Cobbler and Peach Cobbler varieties, and not too crazy about the red "Miss Molly" and "Miss Ruby" varieties. 

This year I added the variety "Honeycomb".  They do like this one.

All of these are responsible, sterile, noninvasive, legal varieties in the Pacific NW.

Butterflies and Bumblebees like all of the varieties.

Summer Bud Grafting Cherries, Plums, Peaches. 7.27.14

Cherry Budwood.  7.27.14

Cherry Budwood, trimmed.  7.27.14

Today I am lazy.  I did re-work 2 cherry trees, added new varieties to the established Asian plum, and added a pollinating peach variety to Indian Free Peach.

Why.

I have 2 cherries, in Battleground, that did not produce this year.  The first is North Star, a tart cherry, which is in its 2nd year, about 5 feet tall.  The branches tend to grow horizontally, which results in deer eating them.  Some branches finally took off and grew, but it doesn't look like much and I don't expect much next year.

So for that one, I chose bud-wood from a Sure-Fire I have been growing in Vancouver for 10 years or more.  Sure-Fire has an upright shape, so once the branches get past deer-height, should be relatively free of deer foraging.  There are 3 main branches, with some bifurcations, on the North Start tree.  One looks unhealthy, so I used the other two.  I grafted the Sure-Fire buds onto each ramification of the branches, about 10 grafts.

The Cherry bud-wood is pictured.  I cut it this morning, kept in water, and trimmed off the leaves before using.

The next photo shows the method I have been using.  I slice into the bud-wood making a vertical cut on each side of the bud, a horizontal cut above the bud , and 2 angled cuts below the bud.  I then peel the bud from the bud-wood.  This is not the method most authors describe.  I think it's an easier method for a novice like me, and it gave 100% success on the plums in June.

The 2nd cherry was Almaden Duke.  I bought that variety thinking it might bloom later than sweet cherries, thereby giving a 2nd chance for cherries in late frost years.  As it turned out, it bloomed at the same time as the sweet cherries.  I moved it from Vancouver to Battleground in 2012.  It was looking  very nice, but this year the deer developed a taste for cherry branches.  Again, this variety has a horizontal form, giving the deer fresh salad each time the branches started to grow.  The branches that did survive being browsed, did not produce many cherries.  It's time to rework it.  Ning especially likes Ranier, so I removed budwood from the Ranier Cherry in Vancouver.  Some Lapin as well, to keep it varied.  I bud grafted using mostly Ranier, and a couple of Lapin buds, making use of all of the branches as close to the trunk as I could.  I can let some Almaden Duke branches remain, to pollinate.  They may produce better with the other in-tree pollinators, too. 

Peeling Cherry Bud Shield from Budwood.  727.14

T-Bud Cherry.  7.27.14

T-Bud Cherry.  7.27.14

Reworked North Star -> Sure-Fire Cherry.  Deer Net Added.  7.27.14

I wrap each bud as I go along, for minimal exposure to the elements.

The budwood now has a thin papery cuticle layer.  I do not know if that layer should be removed.  For maximum cambium contact it seems that layer should be peeled off.  It seems to be non-living, peels like paper.  For maximum protection of bud, it seems the cuticle layer should remain in place.  So some buds, I left it on, and other buds, I peeled it off.  It peels very easily, is not strongly adherent to the underlying epidermis.

I replaced the deer net for the re-worked tart cherry.  I have not done that yet for the Duke / Sweet cherry but should.

I also added  some buds to branches of established Asian Plum.  I added Toka and additional Prunus cerasifolia.  I think it would be useful to have In-tree pollenizers because it's so windy when they are in bloom, maybe all pollen from other trees, which are all downwind, blows away.

Finally, I added 2 buds to the little Indian Free Peach.  This is one of the few peaches that is listed as needing a pollinator.  In addition, that little tree is upwind from the potential pollinating varieties. I chose Oregon Curl Free because it was less bothered by leaf curl, compared to Charlotte.

This is my first attempt at grafting cherries and peaches.  I'm curious to see if they take.

Bud grafting is an act of optimism.  Growth is not likely until next year, and bloom or fruit, in 2017.  A lot can happen before

Shiro Asian Plum, Bud Grafted onto unknown variety, at 2 months.  7.27.14

then.