My quince plants are already leafing out. They are beyond the bud stage. That seems like a good time to start whip and tongue grafting. My success rate has been higher when I graft them now, than later when they are completely leafed out. They are usually my first graftable plant to leaf out, but aronia will be soon too.
Since my surgery, bending down to graft low plants will be hard. I will heal completely , but that will be after grafting season. I may want to put them into a pot for better access. Will it change the time of when I should graft if I have them bare root, in the pot, or in the ground? Will they push out leaves less in a pot or bare root? Will it interrupt the process that I am trying to use?
Bob
Bob,
I suspect the “quince plants” are seedlings you’re grafting producing varieties to..? I wouldn’t hesitate to do a whip & tongue graft ‘now’ - but would prefer dormant scion wood. I believe I’ve recently read around here of someone making a straight ‘living graft’ (currently growing wood to a growing rootstock) but find that very uncommon, tricky and risky. It’s a bit late, in my book, to be making a whip & tongue … why not Bud graft them?
Budding works great on small diameter rootstock, that’s the way the commercial boys do it. It’s much easier and has a higher percentage of ‘takes’ than even W&T grafts. And, you’d have several more weeks to prepare (and heal). Plus it’s relatively fast … just a ‘T’ slit in the stock, slice off a bud, peel back the T, insert the bud and wrap... And, if it didn’t take, you’d not have whacked off most of your rootstock!
I’m not sure what you mean by “bare root,” I’d suspect your leafing quince rootstock is currently planted somewhere. Location and condition of the rootstocks are important, but I’d have them as close as possible to their eventual growing conditions …and bud them 
Bob,
I w&T grafted onto my quince seedlings in February, along with aronia. Now would be a very uncommon time to w & t graft. Like Viron said, we're getting into budding season. There are people who still w & t graft at this time, but they are generally extraordinarily skilled. As I am not, I w & t graft as the plant is just starting to leaf out in late winter generally or early spring, depending on the plant. Persimmon was in June.
JOhn S
PDX OR
I've done rescue whip and tongue apple grafts in mid-September in a hot summer and 5 out of 5 took. Ditto some aple rescue wood of questionable quality last fall, but only 1 of 3 made it. Didn't help that the wood sat on some guys hot porch for a week, though. They were showing signs of drying out. Soaked them in cold refrigerator water for a couple days before grafting to attempt re-hydrating them before grafting.
Did some exotic service berry grafts about 2 weeks ago. Since service berries have pretty much set their terminal buds, i will have to wait till spring to see how many actually grow.
Pretty much most grafts will take as long as the tree has green leaves and there is some warmth left in the days. Yellowing leaves and cold days probably will not work too good.
Good to hear from you again plumfun.
Keep in mind when I say that w & t grafting is best just as the tree is starting to leaf out, it's possible at other times. If I were as good at grafting as plumfun, I wouldn't worry as much about the time.
For most people who are not amazing grafters (9 out of 10 people), choosing the most likely time for success definitely helps.
I completely agree with plumfun about soaking scions in water if they look the least bit dry before grafting. It has improved my still not terribly impressive success rate.
John S
PDX OR
Hi John!
It is not that I am good at it or anything, but it is that it really helps to line up the cambium on a side or two. the whip&tongue done this time of year has quite a lot of cambium matching, which is all the scion really needs to heal in and sit there all winter until spring. I feel it is not a lot different than a bud graft in terms of cambium heal-in etc. Of course chip budding demands the same one or two sides of the cambium to match etc before it can heal in and stay dormant till spring. But a bud graft has lots less moisture as insurance against dessication. It's almost like whip & tongue is "cheating" in that it has lots more moisture buffer, especially when it is covered with either parafilm or DocFarwell to assist moisture retention. Drying is our enemy this time of year no matter what style you practice.
I am pretty sure you could chip bud in early spring too and get good results with apple and pear. Drying is less an issue with our rainy springs. But you would only get one chance with one bud, hence the better overall take rate with a 2 or 3 bud scion in spring.
And I now agree with you that there is some bewitching thing going on with quince at certain parts of springtime. Had some 100% failure rates about mid-May this year, and it wasn't due to simple cambium matching. Not sure what is going on with quince.
Glad to add my 2 pesos to the mix!
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
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