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canadianplant

signs that grafts are taking?

canadianplant
9 years ago

I've only tried grafting a few times. this year I cut down most of my seedling pear to graft Flemish beauty. I did this early may. one scion has shriveled while the other has been slowly pushing leaf buds and looks quite healthy.... is this a good sign or is.this too early to say

Comments (13)

  • Konrad___far_north
    9 years ago

    Growing means good and should be considered as a take, ..you can still graft now,..if it didn't take, [providing you have scion wood]...just done several pears tonight.

  • canadianplant
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    ran out of scion. on a whim I stuck the last ones I had in the ground and one looks like its rooting too lol.

    I'll keep an eye on it. I know they can fail at any time. since its a seedling there could be compatibility issues.

    what kind of grafting should I be doing? I have no dormant scion for cleft grafting. is it the season to try budding?

  • TurCre
    9 years ago

    I find pears to be somewhat deceiving on whether a graft has taken or not. Seems to me that there is enough life stored in a pear bud to get the initial bud break, only to have the scion stall out and then die. At times I have had that happen only to have new leaves come from within the seemingly dead shriveled up leaves.

  • marknmt
    9 years ago

    It does occasionally happen that a graft will push and then fail, but as TurCre notes you may still get a late success (presumably from a latent bud that expresses). Why that initial failure? I don't know. But I suspect that it has to do with dormancy, that is, the bud that popped and then failed was already breaking dormancy. Being fully dormant is not an absolute essential but it sure does increase your odds.

    All that aside, the "good" graft looks like a sure thing -Congratulations!- and that other one isn't costing you anything at present to leave it alone, so I'd give it all time to heal up. One thing I noticed in your picture is that the tape doesn't appear to fully seal up the gap next to the scion, so air may be getting in there and that's a potential problem.

    Good luck.

  • canadianplant
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    thanks mark...

    that piece of tape was a hood for the first wrapping to make sure water doesn't get wet. I'm not.sure when to take the tape off.

  • marknmt
    9 years ago

    Ah! I see what you did. Makes sense.

    I'm never sure when to remove tape- no rush, would be my thought, though. I generally use parafilm and grafting rubbers and don't worry about it too much, but when I experimented (successfully) with rubber tape I left it on a full year. Electrical tape has some give and I think it would be OK that long as well. Maybe slit it lengthwise late this summer.

    If I haven't said so before, I think you'll like Flemish Beauty.

  • canadianplant
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    electrical tape seems to last until winter or so here. when I make large pruning cuts I use it as a temp.seal until the tree does.its.thing. I may give it a sclice in a few weeks so it can break on its own. I.didn't use any tree seal though.. I may have to.do that before winter.

    a friend sent me the.scion.saying they are delicious and produce well without a known pollinizer around.

  • johnnysapples
    9 years ago

    It's best to leave the tape on till next spring. You should be careful taking it off. I unwrap it slowly till it gets to the last wrap and then go real slow looking to see if its going to pull the bark or not. If it starts to peel bark stop and just put a razor cut on the tape to relieve it so it wont girdle the graft. Then let it come off with weather in time. If your not careful you can pull your graft out. I did that on one of my first ones and about had a fit!

  • canadianplant
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    A week later....

  • marknmt
    9 years ago

    That's going great! They take a little longer here but sometimes catch up by fall. Good going.

  • canadianplant
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Well the only thing im worried about is that its just pushing buds with the little bit of energy the scion had stored. I tried these guys from cuttings and thats what happened.

    I do think its a bit late to say that is whats happeneing

  • johnnysapples
    9 years ago

    Your not going to get that kind of energy from a stick of scion. Your grafts have taken and are looking good. They are fragile so let them grow. Looks like your on your way to success. Things can still go wrong like weather or a bird landing on it or a squirrel climbing it. You can tape a couple sticks to the root stock that stick up higher than the grafts. That way the bird will be more likely to land on the stick.

  • canadianplant
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    There are 2 or 3 branches left on the rootstock. One of them is taller then the scions and it even covers them slightly.

    I really hope this guy makes it in the long run!