I have been grafting for quite some time and have had very good luck in the spring when the base or root stock is breaking dormancy and the scion is dormant. I also saw pictures of nursery people doing hundreds of whip grafts of dormant scions onto fully dormant bare root stock to be sold or planted in the spring. Their success rate must be very good. What is the reason that grafts that are not dependent on slipping bark cannot be done outside during late fall and early spring weather permitting? Anyone done this? Success rates and any knowledge on this would be very interesting.
Thanks, Bberry
I have successfully topworked apple trees as late as 4th of July using dormant scion. Success depends on proper sealing of the graft and scion tip as well as using small enough scion pieces that will not tax the union too much allowing the scion to dry out in hot weather. I only use a 2 or 3 bud piece of scion. On apples I use tape on the graft and wax on the tip. On stone fruit I wrap the scion completely with parafilm after taping the graft. I think that stone fruits either don't heal as fast as pome fruits or they just don't have as much sap flow.
The success rate is much higher because the "green push" of Spring helps enliven that scion. Some people with amazing technique, including some on this formum, are able to graft outside that window. I don't have amazing technique, so I stay within the window.
John S
PDX OR
I have no problem grafting in the spring. I noticed on a pic young whips being grafted while dormant and the scion dormant. Looked like they were put back into cold storage and planted in spring. Is this a common practice commercially? If so I want to experiment on late fall and early spring grafting. Obviously it won't be bark or rind grafting since the bark will not be "slipping". Anyone else experimented with this. Any successes out there.
Bberry
bberry,
For what reason are you grafting..? Usually, the graft fits the need. Commercial Nurseries are looking for the most cost-effective way of propagation, thus they Bud in late summer because it’s the most ‘fail-safe’ method.
Large orchards will occasionally Topwork their trees with massive dormant grafting to change from one variety to another. As long as the scions are dormant, they can graft into the summer.
We Home Orchardist’s often ‘make our own’ trees this time of year because scions are dormant and can be transported & connected to dormant rootstock. We end up with ‘cheap trees’ of our preferred rootstock and variety. …If I understood your intent perhaps I could add something worthwhile 
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Viron,
Glad you saw this. My intent is to push the edges of when I can graft. My time to graft can be limited during the best (bark slipping) time and I would like to know if dormant scions to dormant base stock is a viable option. I noticed in another post that you are doing grafts at the scion exchange show. Are those materials all dormant that you are working with? If so the success rate must be good. I am interested in any information that you can relate. Thanks.
If so I want to experiment on late fall and early spring grafting. Obviously it won't be bark or rind grafting since the bark will not be "slipping".
Well, chip budding is done in late summer and fall. You are still asking the cambiums to "knit" with a promise to grow later. I have done whip and tongue grafts in the fall as well and the cambiums still heal up, and the scion puts out growth the very next spring. Cambium is cambium!
The main problem I would see with this late grafting is dehydration of the 2 or 3 bud scion. Hence that is why I cover every single graft with grafting glue -- seals in the moisture till the thing can heal in.
I think whip & tongue done in fall is just as, or more efficient in some cases than regular chip budding. In one action you can attach 2 or 3 buds instead of one, and there is the additional wood and water that go into the scion graft, vs. very little wood/water using a chip bud. But they both work okay.
I say that if a tree has green leaves, and a little bit of heat during the days, cambium can knit. This is for either fall whipping or chipbudding.
I will not guarantee the same result if you do the same thing, sans leaves, in December or February. The scion would then have to sit around until the understock gets active. If you do try the Feb grafting for plums, you could try antioxidizing the cambiums with weak Vit C solution, so help prevent browning of the tissues. I have good luck with it, keeps the tissues fresh, IMO. And that is worth lots considering how rapidly apricot and peach wood oxidize. I use it on most everything anymore, especially chip buds who are dying for moisture anyway, that time of year!
Just squirt some on, let sit a minute or so, then either blow it off very well or wipe it off with a clean napkin. You probably don't want the union going together with lots of juice in there. Never done it, but it just seems intuitive.
Vit C solution is very good when grafting milky sap things like Osage orange, fig and Mulberry. In that case I use it to rinse the milky sap away until it is not exuding milk anymore, reasoning that a milky-sapped union might fail easier than a clean, antioxidized union.
Good luck BBerry!
[quote="bberry":3dyzlooo] Viron, I noticed in another post that you are doing grafts at the scion exchange show. Are those materials all dormant that you are working with? If so the success rate must be good. [/quote:3dyzlooo]
Yes, other than a plum that was beginning to leaf (and bloom), everything was considered dormant. The key being, dormant scion wood. If the rootstock’s active, that’s OK, you’re just hacking off some of the nutrition once stored in its roots, instead of having that forced into scion growth.
If the scion’s ‘pushing,’ that can be a problem, the transfer of nutrients from an awakening rootstock can be too slow to feed the two or three buds on the scion, thus they dry & die. We often get scions with pushing buds, if the client insists ... we give it a go. We’ll snap off the ‘growing buds,’ make the graft and allow the lateral buds at their base to ‘sprout.’ There are generally two of them, but never the best method…
Plumfun, wow! Grafting figs and mulberries, nice 
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
John S
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