So, are you guys suggesting this is a decent time to cut scions? I always figured later was better. I mean, closer to the time of grafting. Whenever that might be. Portland weather being what it is this year, I assume nothing.
Around my house, I'm not sure it has hit freezing yet. Very El Nino. Sunny and clear, warmish. Some wind, some rain...No East wind.
Clear signs of an impending apococalypse. Do I have time to plant citrus, before the end.
Scions cut in December and January are more likely to survive when grafted than newly cut scions.
I love the aesthetics of the apocalypse, if you can throw a couple of aliens in there, I will even be more entertained.
We have had many frozen mornings. I skidded across ice biking to work and almost was hit by a car that wasn't paying attention.
When the leaves fall off, the trees are dormant. Time to cut scions. Dry weather is good for stone fruit and quinces, etc.
Best odds for whip and tongue grafting: A dormant scion grafted onto a just awakened spring, newly growing rootstock.
John S
PDX OR
It's a little known fact, but having a good, diverse orchard is a deterrent for zombies. Important for applopocalypse preparation.
John please dont get hit by cars. That doesnt make for good biking.
In my, inexpert, hands, apple scions take on dormant or early growing wood. I always use dormant scion, usually stored in ziplock bags in the fridge for a few months. That has also been my experience for pears, cherries, plums, gingkos, and persimmons. Plus, the scions from the HOS scion exchange have all taken. I don't know how long those are stored.
This week I cut some more North Pole apple scion, and some columnar purple leaf plum, which has small soft clingstone fruits with very rich flavor.
Great info guys - thanks.
I usually look for a dry period of several days in late January for scion cutting. I've grafted over 1000 apple trees in the past 3 winters using that schedule and it has worked out well for me so far. After cutting the scions I immediately label them and put in gallon ziplock bags and they go into the fridge. I've also been putting a slightly damp paper towel inside each bag to keep a little moisture present, but not sure if that is necessary (I don't hear of others doing that so perhaps not).
Looking at the weather forecast - the next 4-5 days look to be mild and partly sunny here in Newberg, so I guess it's time to start cutting scions!
Depending on weather conditions I typically start grafting in my shop in late March or early April, hoping to finish just prior to tree sap beginning to flow. Mostly doing whip/tongue grafts on 1/4" rootstocks, but a few cleft or side grafts when I'm unable to match the scion size to the rootstock size.
Dan
Frugivores,
I don't know about elsewhere in Internetland, but today, here, quite locally, it was a beautiful day for collecting scionwood. We had a very light snow-fall a couple of days ago (our first) and, last night, it got down to 24 degrees F. (our coldest so far). Today was crisp, with a blue sky worthy of poetry. With tomorrow predicted to be similar here, I'll be collecting scionwood from a few of my apples that I'd like to re-graft or have duplicates of.
Locally, I generally wait until late January or early February for collecting scionwood. We have indeed been having a mild winter, and I have found that February tends to be my coldest month (--hence, the dormant wood is gonna be about as dormant as it can get before the "warming" trend in March).
On January 29th, I had access to my wife's car (--my P/U truck is temporarily in dry-dock--), so I collected scions from three different trees between Chehalis and Toledo. One is a tip-bearing roadside plant that has medium-small fruits with ice-white flesh that -- caught at the right time -- has the most surprisingly sweet flavor. If used as a cider apple, I'd rank it as a "pure sweet." The second apple is near the historic Jackson Cabin near "Mary's Corner" which had a nice, firm, crisp, medium-sized red apple that I think may be a form of limbertwig.... ...Well, at least it had the growth-form of a limbertwig before someone did a heckuva butchering pruning job on it in the intervening time. And, inspired by davem's crabapple or apple-crab, I collected a scion from an old tree in a fence-row down in Toledo WA that I had observed and tasted several years ago. The fruit is only about an inch in size, but it was reasonably sweet and the fruits were colored like a Shiawassee apple (--I call it 'Wassiette'). I figured that it would at least have ornamental value in my yard as a semi-dwarf (--though nowhere near as beautiful as davem's 'Hey Jack' --), but could have potential use as a cider constituent. Every apple has an appropriate use.
Wishing blue skies for all... (and looking forward to the Fruit Propagation Fair...)
Tim
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
John S
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