It was clearer to me last year about this time that it was the time to cut scions. We have had a few freezing days here, but we haven't had the really cold temperatures that make it obvious. The Oregonian was saying that this is the 2nd warmest December ever. I don't want to wait too long and cut them in late February when the trees are starting to wake up.
Whaddya think?
John S
PDX OR
Those experiencing more than two days of 25-32 degrees of freezing and want to collect scions and we live around PDX, then today is okay to put them in a near zero freezer to store them. Supercooling or vapor pressure is as laid out by OSU and hosted at goodfruit dot com in the following:
How-The-Cold-Affects-Fruit-Buds
One word of caution is to follow the OSU guide and not to thaw out the scion before having it frozen at near zero.
I am local, so if I pick sweet cherry, and one other picks another kind, then let's both do it. We each should seal two scions in a baggie. We will move one of the two in an above freezing fridge in a month, then the other with it in 2 months. When we graft we can compare results and then we would know for sure that freezer chest temperatures for long periods of time won't kill.
This is applicable right now based on location only and this PDF used as the minumum 2-3 days conditioning period of time durations and the still early stages of dormancy on the scions;
So this is our local conditions already to date
It's getting too late. I checked my shiro plums and they were already showing white blossoms. They haven't quite bloomed yet, but they are close. With Santa Rosa and Methley, they are getting close to too late as well.
On other species, it might be ok. Just don't keep waiting if you need dormant scions.
JohN S
PDX OR
John S.,
I usually collect scions in February, which in the past has been the coldest month here. However, the climate is changing and the weather is ever less predictable. I'm already behind, but thankfully we're in a slightly colder area than those of you in the greater Portland area and, locally, we're in a bit of a microclimate.
Several miles away is a very old roadside tree that I discovered to be a pear with roundish, russeted fruit. It's next to an intersection that was once known by the historical place name of 'Klaus' on topographic maps, but, when we moved here, was locally known as 'Stinky's Corner' for a gas station that was already defunct. [It's on the N-S Jackson Highway which was the N-S route between Portland and Olympia before the Interstate 5 went through in the '50s.] I figure that it might be the "Sugar Pear" that was so popular in earlier times. I wanna collect that and graft it to a spare OHxF rootstock that I have. I think that the 'Sugar Pear' of old times is considered to be the 'Kieffer'.
I have some apple grafts to collect as well across a fairly broad area. Time is ticking down.... Neither the scions or the rootstocks should break dormancy before the deed is done! 🙂
Reinettes.
Idyllwild
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
John S
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