It isnt too late to do this?.... Thanks as well simple yet informative

Not for dormant chip budding. All these buds i'm placing will stay dormant until next spring. Although I should get an idea in a few weeks if they "take" or not.

Yeah..its not too complicated and can be fun, if the mosquitoes and biting flies leave you alone.

One thing...use a very sharp knife.

I've been practicing T-budding. I have not seen anything sprout since starting this. If they were to take can I expect them to spout this year or will it be next year?

The bud you place will generally push only when forced, ie cut off everything above the bud. Don't cut too near the bud for fear of damaging it. But cut an inch or two up trying to take off any node on the rootstock that might push foliage higher than the scion bud.

If done early, May or June, you can force the bud two wks after budding. If done later, usually Aug or Sept, force the following spring.

Greetings:

I did my chip budding over the weekend with some heirloom apple varieties we found last fall at an old farmstead that is now becoming a park.

Some of the varieties are striped and I could not identify them but we marked the trees last fall that we liked and
chip budded them onto some of my existing apple trees this past Saturday.

The mosquitoes ate us alive even though we were in full sun at 10:00 in the morning. What we hoped to be a wonderful time turned out into a feast for the mosquito.

I managed to chip bud at least two of each variety we hope to save. Some of the old trees came down this year in a bad storm. I will not get a second chance if the buds
don't take. I will know more next year how successful the
endeavor was.

Being zone 5 and if you are doing it this late, you don't want to be forcing buds this time of year. If you are able to bud early enough, you can force them (i believe the nurseries out in California do it this way). I've never forced anything the same season.

I believe you can chip bud almost anything (oaks? maples?) and its seems to have a high take rate. I budded sweet cherry last summer just because i want to try...placed 3 buds on one branch and all 3 took! So i just pruned to the lowest one.

One issue i continue to run into is finding suitable wood low enough on a tree...especially stonefruit because they tend to grow so fast ...some of my early chip budding from a few years ago are very high up in the canopy and look goofy... Now i use a little more caution in how high i'll bud (if i have a choice that is). This is another nice thing about having rootstock (I use seedlings) in pots...they tend to put out a fraction of the growth as an in ground tree, making it easier to bud low on the tree.

FN:

Would "notching" above the bud work as well?

Sometimes you might not want to remove the growth above the bud graft.

Mike

So if you don't force the buds now you just wrap them completely with tape and next spring cut above them to force them out? The bUd is strong enough to break the tape?

"One issue i continue to run into is finding suitable wood low enough on a tree...especially stonefruit because they tend to grow so fast ...some of my early chip budding from a few years ago are very high up in the canopy and look goofy... "

Frank,

I pretty much bud down low on any size rootstock. If chip budding, I put two chips in the notch on a large rootstock (side by side). Seems to work, but still not as well as T-budding, which can pretty much be done with any but the largest rootstocks.

I do know what you mean though. I have some two year old rootstocks which failed to take grafts this spring. They are getting huge. I figure I'd like to try cleft grafting with them this next spring.

We still have a couple weeks away from T-budding down here. Around the 1st of Sept. seems to work best for me.

So in zones 3/4 I should still have some time to try chip/bud grafting? Looks like its done on semi hard wood as well?

You have plenty of time still...in the past i've done it into early Sept.

I placed 3 in a row here...need one to take...these are placed on thicker wood.
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This is Tomcot bud placed late summer 2012
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This (i think pluot/label fell off last summer..my fingers are on where the bud was placed...some major growth.
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Another Spring Satin (note yet wrapped/rubber banded) on seedling hybrid plum:
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I usually place all my buds on this years growth...

I would say apples/peaches seem the easiest to bud...

Nice work, Frank. Thanks for the fine pictures.

I'm going to try some stone fruit chip buds in September. They can be done even when bark isn't slipping, a big advantage this time of yr. In the past I may have done these too early. I've got lots of heat in Sept and Oct in my greenhouse. Too early and they haven't survived well into next yr for some reason.

Thanks for the tutorial!!