August 2 I ran into a real nice cherry at the HOS budding event. It was just about the blackest cherry I had ever seen, and very sweet. I rate it higher than the best Bings off my own trees. Pretty impressive.
The weather was too hot immediately after getting the scion wood, so I waited till August 8, a Friday, to make a three bud whip & tongue graft with some scion wood made available by Joanie Cooper. Well, guess what? All three buds are pushing through the Doc Farwell glue (only took a week to start showing!) I painted the whole scion with. Nice green buds. It was grafted to a yearling cherry that came up underneath my pear tree and does get some sun. I expected the graft only to heal, and wait till next spring to grow.
I plan on leaning a glass window over the graftling for the winter, in hopes of keeping pseudomonas and other nasty organisms away from the tree-let. Does this seem like a good idea? Anyone ever done so?
When is the best time to transplant such a tree-let? I am thinking that if I do it when it is wet and cool in the spring, disease organisms could enter sites of tissue breakage. Anyone see a problem with this?
Maybe I should transplant now, while there are no leaves to cause water stress, and while environmental conditions do not foster disease organisms??
Hi Plumfun,
I think you have two main issues. The best time to move it is October to April. The best time to prune it is during this time of year (the opposite). Cherries are subject to disease when pruned/cut as you said, so I prune mine only after fruiting in the summer. You could get away with a sunny high pressure system at a different time of the year, but it becomes more risky. Moving a tender plant at this time of the year I also consider unnecessarily risky, so I would try to balance those two as well as possible and possibly separate the two tasks.
My two cents,
John S
PDX OR
Well now I wish I'd gotten some. Those cherries were small but really really good.
I've never really seen the point of budding when you don't gain much over grafting in the spring. I guess it makes sense on trees that need hot weather to take.
But now that you (plumfan) say that you summer grafted and got them growing already I wish I could say the same thing.
John,
I tore all the leaves off. After the graft I painted the whole scion with Doc Farwells glue, just in case it was tempted to dry out in the warmer weather, before healing in.
I am curious as to how far into the fall we can push this concept. Around a week ago I put on more apple scions in the same manner. A local cultivar found growing on a fenceline that I am calling Novemberstein, as in November Gravenstein.
All my late grafts are okay, but have produced no winter worthy dormant buds yet. I may have to dig these, pot them up, and winter them in a friends greenhouse for the winter. Such are the problems of us fruit explorers eh?
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
John S
1 Guest(s)