What do you guys think

19 years ago

I am a little anxious now that I see that the first attempt I made at grafting a real live pear tree from one that my dad grafted and grew when I was a youngster in our homestead yard might be successful. In my opinion I believe it shows some promise.

When I grafted the scion onto the pear rootstock that I bought there where just pinhead size buds on the scion. Now if you look at the photos below you can see that they look alive and have grown in length a heck of a lot. If you look close you can see the covered up graft union.

I bought 6 rootstock trees to learn on and this was the first one I did using the whip and tongue method which I like very much. The other five trees I did at later dates and so far show no signs of new growth. I have to get at least one to grow for my oldest son who remembers eating the pears when just about 4 years old when my dad was alive back in the early seventies. He wants to plant one on his small farm he now owns to remember his grandfather.

I hope this one will survive and flourish.

Interested to learn your thoughts --- is it showing promise

or is it just growing using the sap that might have been stored up in the scion itself. I cut and gathered them in early January.

Thanks

Lou NE., PA

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Same tree

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Comments (6)

fignut
19 years ago
A failed graft does not look like that - they just dry up.
Congratulations - good job!
marknmt
19 years ago
Lou- you nailed it. I'm jealous!

Now I'm waiting to hear comments from the experts around here: what about the after care?

I guess I'd let all the green grow, at least this year, but is there any advantage to maybe rubbing out any buds now?

I imagine Lou could see fruiting in 2009, although 2010 is more likely?

Great job. Like I said, I'm jealous ... :-) I hope mine do as well this year.

Mark
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pitangadiego
19 years ago
Let me be a bit of a wet blanket. It looks fine. But, in a nice warm environment, scion can produce a lot of growth, without the graft union forming. So, keep an eye on it.

Second, for future grafting, success is usually increased by wrapping the scion in parafilm to reduce moisture loss while the graft union forms. Fit you pieces, then wrap the scion almost down to the graft point, then assemble and tie them together.

From here: the actual connection is very thin (cambium thick), to do not be in a hurry to remove what is holding the graft point together. Let it continue to grow through the season. Do not allow fruit to form, as the weight may well cause the graft to break.

Let all the buds grow. You can always prune for shape, etc when it is dormant. Unless you want to start training one shoot to be vertical to form a longer trunk, then maybe keep two shoots after it is well established, and then maybe down to one later one, to channel the energy to the one you want to keep.

Whip and tongue is a very good graft which is easy to do, and gives good stability at the graft interface.
pezzuti9
Original Author
19 years ago
I did not mention that I did not wrap the entire cutting with tape but instead covered it to below the graft with a clear tied off plastic bag. It seems to be working. I just checked two more of the trees I did and I can see the buds are also growing in size on those as well. I had to rub off small buds that where forming on the rootstock below the graft union.

I hope that they make it full circle. Only time will tell.
Lou NE., PA
pitangadiego
19 years ago
The bag is an alternative solution to the moisture loss issue. The parafilm is nice, because you can just leave it on, and the buds will grow through it quite readily and it stretches enough so that is doesn't restrict growth, and degrades on its' own in a couple of years. For things, such as mangos, which are touchier and take longer to take, the bag works well, because you can put something moist in with it, and refresh it occasionally, to maintain the moisture in the scion.

Also, the scion should be covered or shaded to keep down heat until the graft heals. An old envelope (junk mail?), or a white piece of paper stapled over the scion works great. It doesn't need to be fancy.
bonsaist
19 years ago
What I normally do, is I use a grafting rubber band to hold the graft together. Then cover the grafting union and the entire scion with the wax, that keeps it from drying.
pear should be the easiest to graft. My first grafts were persimmons, those are tough and still got good success rate.

For those that live in Pa, on March 17th there's a grafting workshop in the Amish country. It's for my club Backyard Fruit Growers. I'll be there, and I'm taking Lou along.

Bass