Fruit Tree Grafting: Fall Field Notes

a new unnamed plum that has somewhat graftable to chokecherry, maybe fruit next year. the last couple photos are mustang on chokecherry with a toka interstem. experimental plum grafts in this test area are helping sort out chokecherry graft compatibility across all of the zone 3 hardy plums.

sweet cherry grafts onto pin cherry, in zone 3. will they survive and fruit? no idea, possibly first time anyone has tried this specific combination of swedish varieties (hardy to at least -30C) on top of some wild pin cherry in a zone that reaches -42C most winters. 5 ft off the ground help with deer grazing, and can help with air temperature, but surely this is an exposed location at the end of our lane, fully above the snow, but sheltered by some tall trees. #sweetcherry #zonepushing

parkland apple grafted to saskatoon, second year. a few cultivars have had stand out growth on this unconventional apple rootstock, might need to replicate to know if it's a one off or better compatibility. one way to look at long term health is the graft union, which looks pretty good. trial ongoing.

prunus americana, wild plum. I’ve been growing a couple of selections that are graft compatible with prunus virginiana. it takes some years to grow out more scion wood but the process has exponential returns. I have so many prunus cultivars and species that I want to grow, so turning the forest of established chokecherry into a canvas with interstems is such a rewarding project. of note, the other wild plum prunus nigra doesn’t seem compatible at all with chokecherry directly, but it might be with an interstem.

video is triple worked prunus, two interstems between a chokecherry rootstock and apricot on top. this worked well. the other photos are z graft unions from this spring, plums onto chokecherry. it makes a strong union that heals quickly, it’s in between modified cleft and whip & tongue #grafting

sweet cherry growing on pin cherry. leningradskaja may survive the winter here, but if it doesn’t I’ve collected scions early and can try again next year. in this way by serial grafting scion wood can be produced.. and in this case even without prunus avium rootstocks #grafting #sweetcherry

graft union with kyrgyz plum, prunus domestica, on top of a toka hybrid plum interstem. grew about 4 ft this summer, a way to collect scion wood. PD new growth has a soft almost fuzzy bloom and purple bark. this plum will likely die back to the union unless we get a very mild winter, but it’s ok I can regraft it. the idea is to have some less cold hardy prunus growing to ship to warmer provinces, but also for future breeding. #grafting

collecting scion wood from this old pear tree. I top worked it over to different varieties a couple of years ago and now it’s good for saving these genetics and producing material for grafting every year.

hawthorn grafted to saskatoon. liking the z graft, heals over better than modified cleft #grafting

grafting sea buckthorn is tricky, but possible. Here’s a fruiting branch grafted last spring from chinese sea buckthorn, H. sinensis onto a male H. rhamnoides , probably Indian Summer a shelterbelt seed strain. Sinesis gets larger, fruits a month later, and has a sharp citrus tasty flavour.

couple of Toka plum from this experimental tree. wow the fruity bubblegum flavour is distinct. grafted onto chokecherry rootstock, the top is heavy and outgrowing the base so needs some steaking. So far the graft union is sound, and I’m seeing vigor settle down this year. Would have had a full crop with a pollinator nearby, adding americana grafts around for that. I have four of these 3 year old grafts and it’s working, though I think Toka will end up being best suited as an interstem.

collecting some scion wood today. in cold climates with a long winter this can be preferable to the spring time, so long as you have a strategy for storage that’s at least as good as outside on the tree. storing in the new root cellar where I can keep it cool and humid, probably bagged in some peat. one more advantage here is varieties that are not quite cold hardy here can be grown, just need to graft it out every spring.

winter gardening, I was going to wait for things to warm up but looks like winter is here. lifting apple bench grafts after a warm fall followed by snow and cold snap. usually I would be lifting these after the leaves are all dropped, but check the forecast and the temp graph photos, looks like snow is here to stay until the ground freezes some time in the next week. second year lifting bare root trees in the fall, happy I have the new root cellar for these to store in. I now wonder how often I’ll be doing this in the snow! a very canadian experience.. #backyardnursery

apple trees bench grafted this spring. high density maybe 6” centers in 3 x 20 ft bed. Most are around 2 ft and they were transplanted in may after the ground thawed, we had snow until mid april, short season here. I keep these under hoops with netting to keep our curious deer who would see it as a salad bar, also rabbits. one hoop covers 2 rows so it’s easy to duck under and use the path to work between them.

it’s nice out so I went and collected some early scion wood. In cold areas there’s some benefits to doing this in November, so long as you store them in the right conditions. Early collection gets ahead of possible winter kill, the snow is less deep than in March, and some places stop taking scion wood orders in Jan so we’ll know what we need. Storage for us is in a dedicated fridge at 1C / 34F along with our seeds, and they’re kept on the dry side, minimal material added to the bags just to keep them from desiccating, will be trying peat this winter. As a precaution I only collected half the wood, will get the rest in March. For reference, the university of Sask also in our climate zone recommends Nov 1 collection and storage with fairly dry peat. #scionwood

I made a new blog post as a follow up to our wild rootstock grafting experiment. Also our site has a new design, and I’ve filled up the sections with most of the trees we’ll have available this winter. There’s a link in our profile to our site or you can type in oaksummitnursery.ca

a couple of norkent apple grafted onto saskatoon / service berry this spring. We had the same take with apple as we did pear, about 90% of the spring grafts on A. alnifolia are alive although the pear grew more, some of the pear grafts grew 3’ and the average apple grew 1-2’. #appletree #grafting #serviceberry