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harvestmann

graft question for Scott or others about J. plums

alan haigh
12 years ago

I was going to e-mail Scott directly but it occurred to me others might benefit from his guidance, if he can offer any, and some of you may also have experience with this issue.

I'm going to try some simple splice grafts on J. plums this year and wondered if they take OK when you graft one year wood onto 2 or even 3-year wood.

It works OK for pears and apples, I assume it wouldn't work for peaches but what's the verdict on J. plums?

Comments (7)

  • ramble
    12 years ago

    My question is whether you graft J plums when buds swell or when green leaves show? Have seen conflicting info.

    Same question for sweet cherries.

  • alan haigh
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    OK, you can hijack my thread. I guess it can handle a couple of questions. My understanding is it depends on the weather- you want to graft stone fruit during warm weather and if a tree starts to grow while it's still cool you should wait.

  • ramble
    12 years ago

    On youtube, for your question, they graft onto the bottom of old trees and onto rootstocks. So, it seems you can graft onto older than 1 year old wood. Now, maybe that's for apples and pears. But they don't say that. Here's a link and you can google various grafting tehniques on youtube yourself

    Here is a link that might be useful: cleft grafting I think

  • Scott F Smith
    12 years ago

    Hman, I have never heard of any limits on what age of wood to use for any graft. The scions are best as one-year wood but I never heard restrictions on the stock. On older stocks I am usually doing bark or cleft grafts but have also done some wedge grafts which worked fine.

    For grafting time I would wait for leaves. You can graft earlier but at about 1" leaves the odds are better.

    Scott

  • alan haigh
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Scott, I thought you were one of the people who suggested that grafting stone fruit during warm periods was an important part of having a good ratio of success. I know I've heard it from several sources but I've forgotten who they were.

  • macmanmatty
    12 years ago

    I have grafted 1 year old plum scion wood on to 1 year old peach and plum trees and gotten good takes I have also grafted 2 or 3 year old plum wood on to 1 year old peach and plum trees and gotten good takes I have then grafted 1 year old wood of plum on to very old peach and plum trees and 2 year old plum wood on to these old trees as well. So Any combo should work But as scott says the key is temperature. Plums like it warm You need between 65 and 80 all most all day get good takes on plums especially when grafting to peaches.

  • Scott F Smith
    12 years ago

    Hman, I have only found peaches to be very picky on temps. Japanese plums always seem to work for me. But, I wouldn't graft when temps are too low or too high. Basically highs of 55 to 85 is the range for plums. Don't graft plums or anything else when highs of 90+ are coming, it can fry the grafts. A few days of cold are less problem, the grafts will just sit there. If an unsuspected hot day is coming wrap the grafts in Alu foil with the shiny side out. I wrap all of my peach grafts in alu foil anyway, it helps stabilize the temps and they like stability. Also I paint all my scions with Doc Farwells (a latex paint product) so if they are having trouble taking they will get more of a chance since they will dry out much more slowly. You can get a similar effect by wrapping with parafilm.

    In terms of leaf length I mentioned 1" above but I often do my first round at more like 1/2" leaves. I try to be all done by 2" leaves. Earlier and later than this interval will work, but it corresponds to this zone of good temps and is the most reliable time.

    Scott