Hello Beeone. I don't know if I cam fully answer you, but I'll see if my own experiences are helpful.

Your first synopsis of questions:

>>My questions are, am I being impatient looking for growth? Was the paint a mistake? Since the cambium was green, I presume it carries out some photosynthesis, so by painting did I block the light and help kill or delay the scions? I know electrical tape isn't recommended, but it was handy and I figured I would remove it later this summer, plus I didn't want to waste a bunch of money on parafilm until I had figured out how to have a reasonable chance of success. Did I cut the scions too early? Should they have been breaking dormancy when cut? Should I have done the grafting earlier or later?I doon't think you're being impatient. The grafts often pop within a week or three. But I've had a couple take much longer, and a friend reports one that didn't come out until the next year. As long as the scion acts like it isn't kindling I leave it on.

The cambium should be covered completely, and I doubt that there is much photosynthesis going on from it for long. Once exposed it turns brown anyway. You need a callous to form where the cuts join. I've never used paint, but I doubt it was much of a mistake. Keeping the scion from drying out is a good thing, and people have lots of different ways, as you've read here, of doing that. Similarly, people often use electrical tape, which has the advantage of allowing lots of snugness- a good thing! "Pull those surfaces together!", I say. This is a weakness with parafilm, which is great stuff, but a little wimpy in terms of tensile strength. It stretches too easily, and needs help. I've used electrical tape but only with something under it to prevent it damaging the bark. I've also had successful grafts with masking tape, but I can't recommend it. Now I use budding rubbers or ordinary rubber bands and go over it with parafilm, or some such combination. Main thing is to bring the pieces into good cambial alignment without too much damage to the surrounding parts, hold them there while they heal together, and keep them from drying out until they take off on their own.

You did not cut the scions too early. Late dormancy is probably the best time, for a couple of reasons, but mainly the scions have less time to get damaged or dry out in storage if you cut them in March. Although I have grafted sucessfully with scions that were breaking dormancy I understand that they are less forgiving than dormant scions.

It is probably best to have the rootstock taking off- flush with water to seep across the seam of your suture into the new scion, which is surely thirsty, especially once it wakes up and embarks on its own career- but it's also doable to graft onto rootstock in its late dormancy and then let them wake up together. Essential, of course, to prevent dehydration.

I think you're well on your way and just need to keep at it. But I have to wonder if you'll be happy waiting for results from all those seedlings. You'll have full-sized trees, almost certainly, and it'll be years and years before any of them start to bear fruit. I'd encourage you to graft onto a semi-dwarf rootstock, but I imagine once you have a little succes with this current experiment you'll get there if you want to. (Plus, I think you can do a lot better than Yellow Transparent, but that's just me!)

Good luck,

M

ps- parafilm ain't pricey, and it sure is useful.

Thanks for the info. I'll just wait and watch and keep trying. I started the seedlings first just for fun and wondering what I would get. The nearest crab apple to the tree the seeds came from was about a mile away and bee hives were closer and in the other direction, so I hoped I might have a cross with a nearby edible apple. Thought I'd try some grafting and wait and watch the seedlings a few more years. If they should decide to start blooming and producing fruit, I'll see if they are any good. If not, then I can turn them into a root stock once I get the grafting figured out, or just take them out.

Always had a love hate thing with Yellow Transparent. Don't really care to eat them until they are sugary ripe, then they rot almost immediately. But, while still firm, they make excellent sauce, apple butter, and pies (pies need some thickening). Plus, they are early, and best of all, they were one of the few apple varieties in the area to survive the winter of '78.

Just wanted to update. I was up to the trees today and took a look to see what was happening. Have 3 scions pushing leaves nicely, have another just starting to grow, so it appears they are just quite slow in starting, but I have a reasonable success rate at this point.

Question--When is it safe to remove the electrical tape holding everything together as I don't want to girdle the stems. Was thinking about doing it this fall or early next spring to leave the support over the winter, but should I do it sooner?

Good to hear you're getting some takes- sure makes it fun when it works.

I don't think you have to be in a big hurry to remove the tape. it has some stretch to it, after all, and it is providing some strength, as you say. As I mentioned earlier, I don't use electrical tape any more because it's a little hard on the bark when you remove it, but if you slice it lengthwise this fall and leave it for the sun and weather to work on it'll probably practically fall off by spring.

:-)M