Grafting onto Peach

11 years ago

Neighbor has a big box store peach. I put (2) different peach cultivars on it and (1) apricot and (2) plums. The peaches and apricots took but the plums did not. Is there any reason plum wouldn't graft to peach?

Thanks,

Dax

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gardener365
Original Author

11 years ago

last modified: 11 years ago

Thanks for your valuable input Mrs. Lizzy. I tell ya it is a crapshoot as to why some die and others do not. A friend of mine who's been grafting for 30 years probably said he doesn't wait for "mouse ears" (leaves) to graft fruit trees but that's what people read. I told him I agree and that when I see bud scales splitting, it's time to graft. He said right away "and plums", they should be grafted before that. I don't know but maybe that will help you.

For me whether oaks, fruit trees, conifers, doesn't matter... once I see a white root tip if it's in a pot or the slightest split of the scales on a bud, that's the time I graft. I also hear that fruit trees are much more forgiving. I can't tell you how many times the folks in circles that I run with have said that.

Dax

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Comments (6)

zone4fruit__WI__franktank232
11 years ago
Probably just didn't take. Plums on peaches are very compatible. I believe a lot of nurseries use peach rootstock for plums. These are Japanese plums?
gardener365
Original Author
11 years ago
A European 'Green Gauge' and a Japanese 'Starking Delicious'. I just thought I'd better make damn sure. I planned on putting another Japanese on that tree another year so there are two for pollination.

Thanks Frank,

Dax
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zone4fruit__WI__franktank232
11 years ago
The Japanese should take...I think European are even compatible...but i've never tried it. I swear i've read that in the past someone had success doing it.

Try budding them if possible this summer again if you can... I take it you grafted them this spring?
gardener365
Original Author
11 years ago
Yeah, and they took off like rockets. Naturally, his tree being in the ground 3-5 years and at a 5-6' height gave a lot of power to them.

I just found it odd that using my Fieldcraft Topgrafter for perfect matches - didn't produce takes on those plums. I'll regraft it in a few years since I have a fresh graft of 'Elephant Heart' that'll need a few years to get wood.

Thanks again,

Dax
MrsLizzy K
11 years ago
This last March I grafted numerous peach, nectarine, apricot, plum, and pluots to a large, open center peach tree grown from a pit. In my case, the Japanese plums, European plums, pluots, and apricots were more successful, on the whole, than the peaches and nectarines! I got NO takes on four nectarines, about only about 60% on peaches. However, some of the European plums, even after growing several shoots of almost a foot long, died suddenly in the last few weeks. It's all so mysterious as to what works. I wish there were a giant database where all of use could input all our grafting variables (weather, date, type of graft, cultivar, etc.), along with whether they were successful or not, and finally figure out what tends to work!