Hey Nick, I’d hoped to see someone (anyone!) check in from ‘back East’… From all I’ve heard and read, it’s different ‘back there.’ You’ve a warm humidity we don’t get here on the upper West Coast; though I’m told by a neighbor from your direction that we ‘do’ have humidity, usually in the form of fog!

I appreciate your excitement! I tried ‘Filberts,’ now commercially called “Hazel nuts,” shortly after establishing my two acre orchard (surrounded by acres of forest). You’ve had ‘Eastern Filbert Blight’ for years (obvious by its name), now we’ve got it, too. My two Filbert trees didn’t amount to much so I gave them away.

English walnuts had been a mainstay in my area for decades, until a massive ‘inland hurricane’ wiped them out decades ago… Also, as has happened to most of our fruit crops, the industry has shifted to California; faster growing, if insipid fruit; if a shopper goes only by size and appearance, we lose to CA…

You’re planting seeds of apples for rootstock – excellent (in my book)! Most would never attempt such a thing; as rootstock, they’ll be varied, unpredictable - if likely aggressive in size and perhaps susceptible to diseases… but if you’ve rich ground – why not? I once posted on a ‘survival forum’ the basic method of planting apple seeds then grafting productive varieties to them. Nobody responded… Thought I was giving them some cheap and easy ‘survival skills,’ and had they followed my suggestions they’d likely have five year old trees about now. …But keep in mind, with a little research you can mail-order ‘certified known’ rootstock and graft your desired variety(ies) to it… A bit more conventional, but worth consideration.

Seedling cherry trees in the woodland. Me too! Here’s the deal: cherries are one of the most difficult fruit trees, or ‘stone fruits’ to graft. “Budding” works great on very small stock; but for ‘established’ (from 2 to 6 inch diameter) cherry trees, dormant ‘top-working’ methods have a very low percentage of ‘takes.’ And – the trees need sunlight and space to prosper. Most seedlings in the woods are growing straight up – toward the small window of opportunity directly above them. Unless you greatly diminish the competition, they won’t amount to much.

I’m not that familiar with ‘wild grapes,’ other than some massive stocks my neighbors have - climbing 40 year old fir trees and dating from the time of the first homestead nearly a century ago… Grapes can be grafted, but massive stocks hidden away in that woodland (likely climbing 40 feet up for sunlight) aren’t the best subjects for cultivation. Grapes grow fast, often putting on fruit their second year in! With a little research and a strong trellis in a sunny location you could plant two year old grape vines of superior varieties and be in great shape real soon!

Also – I suspect you’ve some wildlife left ‘back there’… if not - you’re welcome to have some of mine! Plan to protect your fruiting trees and vines; easily as much effort and expense was put into steel posts and chicken-wire fencing to protect (nearly) everything I’ve established in the last… 28 years. But it was well worth it! The same steel posts used to secure the fence doubled as training supports for establishing the framework of the trees. ...Now just above the deer’s reach - if not standing on their haunches. Disregarding bear, raccoon and elk… my trees have prospered.

And keep your eyes open for some ‘exotics.’ Not having joined this organization – I’d never have known ‘we’ could grow kiwi (the fuzzy expensive kind of which I’ve two large organic home-grown boxes right now in a second refrigerator), hardy kiwi, persimmons or figs – that combination being the most reliable, productive and useful of all the fruit I grow! Find the best nursery in your area, generally the most expensive, but in the long run – well worth it if they’ve ‘done the research for you’ and have, or can recommend any of these ‘exotics’ I’ve mentioned for your climate.

Otherwise – welcome aboard, you’ll likely meet some kindred spirits around here, if on the other side of our great nation. And never be afraid to ask what you’d consider ‘a stupid question,’ the only stupid questions are the ones not asked

Nick;

“have u ever tried grafting english onto native black? i was told to do it in june when it is very warm and to cut vertical slits to decrease bleeding. what do u think?”

I’ve never grafted the English to Black, but my great uncle had. That’s how most of the ‘English’ walnuts were established around here. I had a couple Eng. walnuts on the place when I got it, but one was barely productive and the other was so old it apparently had stopped producing.

The yard I grew up in ‘Portland’ had 5 English and one massive black walnut. Another uncle of mine harvest’s local black walnuts; husks, dries, then hammers open and eats their meat. He’s found some very productive trees in the area and the nuts are unusually his for the asking – as nobody wants to mess with them! They all appear planted as ‘seed’ nuts… as their shell and meat ‘size’ very. He only messes with the best.

An English walnut grafter in our society once described the process he’d found, and suggested using heat, or heat tape inside a greenhouse, thus allowing him to graft them closer to dormant… without the bleeding. He was quite successful… but I’ve forgot most of his suggestions.

“what is ur recommendation for rootstock? and where to buy? are seedlings really that unpredictable?”

Something resistant to Fireblight! I’ve no experience with fireblight… I don’t think it’s much of a problem ‘out here.’ I hope someone with experience will give you some answers… There are a lot of rootstocks, and beyond fireblight resistance, many give you ‘more’ of an ability to withstand drought or ‘wet feet.’ Otherwise, restricting size is the biggie.

Personally, I like (and wanted) larger trees than I’ve ended up with from store-bought or mass-produced “Semi-Dwarf” rootstocks from local nursery’s. I’ve areas of poor soil (as well as extremely rich..) and ‘semi-dwarf’ trees haven’t done much inside the Yamhill County Clay. I’d determine your local diseases; potentially wet (standing water at times during the winter – but not always) areas; or drought (after established); and size. Most rootstock's are dwarfing to some degree, I grab the least dwarfing as my goal is to get and stay out of deer / elk reach ASAP. I can control a ‘standard sized’ tree very well, a fun challenge; but it’s a lot more difficult to ‘grow’ a stunted tree… Though there are a few tricks.

“i'm going to post a thread about it, but i have some really old apple trees that i believe are just wild seedlings.”

I read the thread, good question. I hope someone will check in to give you some suggestions – I draw a blank, other than to research the ‘same’ online sites you’ve access to…

“i actually have some cherries in the open that get full sun. ...and adolescents, too” …”can budding be done on any sized branch?”

Good deal with the sun! Start spreading their limbs ASAP; cherry trees tend to follow a central leader to the moon! Hacking out that leader at an early age will force a ‘vase shape’ – then you’ll need to spread those limbs some, too. Big cherry’s are prettymuch set with their variety, “adolescents” are not good candidates for change, either… But 1 to 4 year ‘old’ cherry trees are ideal candidates to graft over to productive and pollinating varieties.

I lean toward dormant ‘cleft’ or ‘whip & tongue’ when grafting cherry trees. The cleft graft is brutal, and likely another reason for their poorer than most takes; whip & tongue’s pretty safe, though you’ll want to match the scion sizes as close as possible, which naturally limits you to young or infant stock " title="Wink" /> As I prefer bark-grafts on most fruit trees, I’ve always assumed – though never tried it on large or mature cherry trees - that since their bark tears side-ways it would begin to ‘un-wrap’ during the process. Maybe I should try it?

Since buds, when grafting, must meet the surface of the ‘wood,’ if the tree’s bark is thicker than the ‘height’ of the bud, it’s not going to ‘get out.’ And I’d have the same ‘fear’ chip-budding as I would bark grafting with cherries; their bark is so temperamental, I don’t envision being able to remove a ‘perfect chip’ or having another ready to insert…

As far as grafting ‘lots’ of branches, it’s always best to keep the grafts as close to the trunk as possible. Years ago an elderly woman, and past friend, had me graft over 30 varieties (over 3 years) to her well established apple & pear trees. Since the trees were so big, to grow, the grafts or scions had to be placed far out on well established limbs. Not good. It drove her pruner nuts! And, whenever she lost a limb, there went several varieties with it. She let me know it was more important for her to once again ‘have’ the varieties than to know they’d last forever… “Because I’m not.”

Well established cherry trees producing seedlings will only benefit the birds, and perhaps provide some critical pollination for other cherry’s. I’ve got several… other than bloom pretty, they’re bird seed. Even two giant ‘Royal Ann’ trees I rescued from the encroaching forest are too high to harvest and too big to ‘hack back,’ so I watch for our ‘Western Tanager’ when they’re ripe. But just a couple weeks ago I plastered some friend's seedling cherries, 2 to 5 year olds, with some ‘real’ productive varieties, including Stella, for pollination… They’re thrilled!

“scuppernongs and muscadine....have u grown any native grapes such as these?”

No, only read about them… But I’m in the middle of “Wine Country!” …and if I had it over – I’d have planted both Pinot Gris and Chardonnay for ‘fresh eating’ and juicing as opposed to several of my seedless ‘table grapes.’ I’m too high, or cool for Concord or Niagara And since many of my seedless will split, mold, or be devoured about two weeks before I’d eat them by birds (migrating Robins) – I’ve let my grape vines go… and am highly considering removing the twenty-something year old plants… I actually consider my grapes a failure (but don’t tell anyone around here), Kiwi, figs and persimmons are far more reliable, if augmented by late apples and pears…

“i've been dreaming about homesteading since i was 15 years old. i finally bought land 2 years ago and have built enough infrastructure and cleared overgrown pasture to start playing with orchards and gardens. it's an exciting time for me...thanks for helping!”

Wow – that’s why I do this! I feel your joy " title="Laughing" /> I inherited mine, but have known it all my life. My Great-grandfather and an interim Great-uncle were both orchardist’s; I learned much of what I know from that Uncle. I’d tag along as he’d collect the wood; dip it in the same honeybee wax-mix grafting-seal melted on a ‘trash-burner’ that his father had used on their peach and walnut orchards; then be back for Spring Vacation to watch him attach the scions - having had their tips dipped-sealed and buried in damp burlap on a north facing hillside for winter – to ‘wild apple’ seedlings along side the orchard… My oldest helped me wrap grafting-bands at our societies ‘Scion Exchange’ for the second time this spring and has done various reports on the subject; as well as had me graft an apple tree for each of two first grade classes. …Had one of those ‘first graders,’ now in High School, describe the massive apples they’ve been getting off ‘his tree.’ I’d grafted each of them a “Wolf River,” one of the largest apples. Man – what a thrill - for both of us!

Hey, you asked about my place; nearly two years I gave a ‘tour’ here …I’ll see if I can find it. And, if I’m helping you, it’s a continuation of the multitude of help I’ve receive from this excellent organization’s member's and event's. See if there’s anything like ‘them’ over your way. I read a lot of books, and about 2/5’s turned out to be correct… but listening to the folks around here brought up that average immensely! Here you go: “Viron’s Tour” - viewtopic.php?f=1&t=730

Hey Nick, I kinda felt bad cause it took me a couple days to answer you (if not completely)… take your time – enjoy the ‘tour’