Cold Hardy Plums and Cherry Hybrids: Summer Field Notes

toka plum, on its own roots. with just the right conditions, this hybrid plum (part Prunus simonii the chinese apricot plum) - does well on its own roots. I have a set of three year old plants in pots doing well. I start these in small batches and will have some available in the fall.

black ice plum, a western sandcherry hybrid. I hoped it would share the strong rooting potential in other chums - cherry plums as the common name refers to prunus besseyi hybrids like sapalta, opata, manor, new oka, dura etc - a collection of these hybrid bushy plums that go back to the Hansen breeding in South Dakota. Black Ice is a newer cross from Wisconsin, and it's usually grafted. But it's a sandcherry hybrid, so here it is - I'll grow them along with the other chums in our collection. My grafts from last year are fruiting, so it also has that going for it.

canada wild plum. I collect seed from all around MB, here is a small accession with some amount of hybridization growing in the greenhouse. I'll keep these to grow out. an accession is just a plant growing from one specific source, you might keep track of it separately if you suspect there's some genetic variation that makes it different in an interesting way. for prunus nigra, I'm looking for trees that grow well in our sandy soil, hold up to the winter extremes, flower early, are true to type in their leaves and fruit. only by collecting seed from various places over time can I build up a germplasm that starts to represent this native plum tree, which is considered the best pollinator for hybrid plums, flowering heavily and lots of pollen, a good tree form with less suckering than american wild plum, and larger fruit.

first crop of wild plums growing on this draft, it's a four year american wild plum old graft onto chokecherry. it's flowered the last two years, but needed a second genetically distinct branch added for pollination. Prunus americana is reasonably graft compatible with chokecherry, not every graft I've survived this long but success seems more related specifics about the tree like how hard it was pruned, did the growth harden off at the end of the first season. after the second year survival has been very high. here at least I'll get some plums to grow in the nursery, usually I have to travel to collect them.

bei tang graft, before I chopped it up for cuttings. it's a recently named hybrid cherry plum, a cross between sapalta and manchurian apricot.

mustang, bushes planted four years ago to trim for cuttings. we've had lots of rain so the cuttings are big this year, 12" to too long I had to keep them 6-9" so they stick reasonably in the medium. 4000ppm iba, a bit of fungicide (secret ingredient in seems) and bottom heat on timed mist, mustang is a cherry plum, a sand cherry hybrid and anything with sandcherry it it's parentage is easy to root under mist. makes me want to create more sandcherry hybrids, propagation like this is easier than grafting.

epsilon cherry plum, a happy addition to the collection here. to get this on its own roots - I was lucky enough to get scion wood over the winter. grafted onto wild plum, here on an interstem on chokecherry rootstock. the growth flushes out, I collect cuttings and root under mist. by this fall, a set of plants will go into a bed where it can grow the way it should as a bush. for here, I can trim it next june and root more, etc. this flow can work for any plant where only dormant scions are available, and it's how I'm trying to establish stock blocks for softwood propagation. you can do it with hybrid prunus, but also any cultivar where the hardwood may not root. I'll use it for some Ribes next spring, sometimes it may be easier to graft first.

a few z grafts, you can see how on the larger rootstock it helps heal over the cut faster than a graft just off to one size. the large one is an unnamed plug directly onto chokecherry, and the small ones are american wild plum interstems between chokecherry and black ice plum - a sandcherry hybrid I'm trying to root this summer, basically it's a cherry plum - and the other has alenja on top, which survived -40 so another interesting imported plum to grow,

evans cherry seedlings. at the orchard where I collected these, there was a little variation between the evans trees, so it's possible they were seedlings, if that's true then I would expect these to have comparable large cherries. there's all sorts of interesting breeding history in the sour cherries we can grow on the prairies, evans was a chance seedling discovered, it grows into a small tree, while the bush cherries from u of sask have a long breeding history with complex hybridization, I think starting with prunus fruiticosa, a small bushy cherry.

American wild plum, canadian wild plum, sapa cherry plum, pembina plum

Sapa cherry plum. one of the OG chums from 1908 in the same wave as Opata. Sapa means black. sand cherry x japanese plum. flesh is sweet and tastey, reminds me of a really good sand cherry, which if you haven't had is cherry/plum the way a chokecherry is. the skin has some zing to it like a wild plum, but I think the balance is good. I would prefer to eat them over pembina. very similar to sapalta and mustang, probably sapalata improved on the flavour of the skin, and size.

Prunus nigra, the elusive canada wild plum. distinctive double bumps on the leaf margins (the profile is called crenate, the sharp version is called serrate as in serrated), fruit over 1" and oblong shaped, ripens around now through early sept. I'm finding these in old orchards, rootstocks from decades ago, they used mixed seedlings from shelterbelts and nursery stock so the genetics are all mixed together, but sometimes you find a tree that strongly presents as americana or nigra. these in between ones, I'll have seeds for sale this winter but not sure exactly what to call them, hybrid wild plums maybe. but to find the real prunus nigra is a treat, considered the best pollinator plum with more of a tree form, less suckering than americana.

Siberian c peach, possibly a peach that can survive the winter in Manitoba at -40, but can it thrive enough to fruit? I suspect in the right location, and maybe grown as a bush it can. btw wow they grow well as a plug these are nearly 3 ft

Double worked plum. on the rootstock is a short length of Prunus americana, and then on top Yakima plum, a cold hardy european plum. will it survive -40? we'll find out, it's in a semi sheltered location, five ft off the ground, and on a super cold hardy rootstock (chokecherry), all of these factors might improve winter survival. just in case I'll cut scions in november.

Found this potted nadia plum, completely forgot out it, rooted from softwood and it's been in this gallon pot for two winters. happy to see it survived, nadia is a sweet cherry x japanese plum (salicina x avium) hybrid, and I didn't think it would be cold hardy here... wonder if being on its own roots helped. surviving -40 in a neglected pot, barely watered and not particularly winterized or covered means it's tougher than I thought.

Started some orchard rows of plums and a block of apples. 42 plum, 24 apples so far, half are just seedlings I'll graft over. in this space there's full sun, light soil that will need some mulch, and lots of deer. it's right beside the beehives our neighbour keeps, so pollinators should be in good supply. Will need to cage or tube each tree, tomorrow's job.

Red leafed, wild black, new oxheart/oblong, garrington (seedling?), large garrington? seedling. .. of note the wild and garrington fruit have a round seed, the rest have a pointed elongated one. about the pfra's seed orchards, the used garrington, goertz and wild collected seed to grow the chokecherry trees so there's this mix of genetics, though if you have extra large early ripening fruit good chance it's a garrington seedling. what I have grafted named garrington could have been a seedling from the pfra, or it could be the cultivar - after seeing larger fruit on some of these seedling trees it has me wondering. the real deal maxes out just over 1cm on the largest fruit. if anyone else has seen chokecherry with this elongated shape let me know. they seem to get more round as they ripen, though none of the ripest fruit are completely round.

Chokecherry selection with oxheart shaped - oval fruit, super long racemes that trail into each other. it's from the pfra, so maybe a seedling of garrington or goertz but the shape is distinct. I collected seed and some budwood.

Sapalta cherry plum. last 2 photos are comparison sapalta top, mustang bottom. sapalta is sweeter with a slightly bitter skin, like a wild plum, very similar to but better tasting than mustang. larger than mustang, more elongated seed. kind of says a lot for mustang given that it's not well known for its fruit and more of just a rootstock. sapalta is good I would eat them fresh, a deep purple cherry plum that grows as a bush. productive and easy to pick.

Mustang cherry plum, just about ripe I think the color would go a little more burgundy. this is usually just a rootstock, though the idea of growing out the seeds to evaluate for their rootstock potential has me interested.

Branches just hanging to the ground loaded with chokeberries, these are the native prunus virginiana var melanocarpa, the black fruited chokecherry

Bei tang, a hybrid between cherry plum and apricot. happy to see that it roots, it wasn't a guarantee, a good outlook for propagating more. complex prunus hybrids are exciting because there are many possibilities, and with the sandcherry parentage it's just a few years to fruit and get to the next generation. this method of propagation started with dormant scion wood, grafted in may and then cuttings taken in early july have rooted by august. these ones will be stock plants, even if the original grafts don't survive for any reason what I really want with a cherry plum is something bushy growing on its own roots. #propagation

Late ripening chokecherry or a red fruited variety? I flagged some branches to follow up. there's more genetic variation in these than you might expect

Wild plums, these ones are some mix of prunus nigra and americana. the leaves and fruit are in between. the seedlings will be good pollinators and rootstock.

Prunus fruticosa, or mongolian cherry. from seed in 2023, just have the one in a pot.

Chokecherry cultivars. two with red leaves, but quite different ripening times, garrington an early large one, and our wild chokecherry var melanocarpa which ripens later to a deep black and hangs into early winter

Beach plum, prunus maritima. I have a small bed started from seedlings, and they've survived two manitoba winters, the plant is possibly zone 3 even though we're outside of it's native maritime range. so it's cool to have this species growing, and happy to see that it roots like a cherry plum. I guess my plants have been pruned low and were covered by snow last winter, so still need to really test these above the snow to know how it's going to hold up to -40

Picking cherries today at a local upick.

Nanking cherry, collected a good box full on one large thirty year old bush

Black ice plums growing on chokecherry with an american wild plum interstem. one of a few dozen cultivars I'm trying on these interstems this year. vigorously growing chokecherry with a trunk 1" or more, in good sunlight are suitable. I expect the plum to grow a little larger so still waiting to see how balanced the tree is, some of my 2-3 year old grafts may need a stake. I'm seeing americana match the vigour of chokecherry better than toka, which while takes and grows well, the prunus simonii in it is too vigorous and needs some pruning to manage the size. so does americana, trial is ongoing. the deer did some pruning for me this week, good that all of my grafts are up high. #grafting

Evans cherry and other Prunus cerasus hybrids can root from softwood, with some stronger iba and bottom heat to speed it up. the same works for some plums. the trick is what comes next, get them to grow a bit and then harden off for the winter, still working on a protocol to make that reliable. #propagation

Apricot on chokecherry with americana interstem. i did around 4-5 branches at shoulder height, growing good so far. this double working is basically doing two grafts at once, first the american wild plum goes onto the stock tree, and a few inches up that graft, another scion is grafted on. it only take a couple minutes for each one, we'll see how it grows.

Western sandcherry from seed this spring, collected from a neighbour's hansen bush cherries. they were excellent tasting, no idea yet if other sandcherries are as good. so this population will be kept separate from the ones I've been growing for apricot rootstocks, and will be used for breeding hybrids. so many hybrids, I want to cross all the prunus. what do you get when you hybridize fruit with different colors and sizes, I feel driven to find out. sandcherry is an excellent starting point because its progeny will likely fruit early, and root from softwood. eg all the cherry plums, and black nanking.

Western sandcherry grafted to *chokecherry*, showing some red indicating stress, early dormancy, no real growth so at least this graft unlikely to pull through. compared to prunus americana grafts which have dark green leaves and a couple ft of growth. I still want sandcherries up high, so will try again next spring with an interstem.

Potting up a plum tree on a mustang rootstock. it just worked out for our growing space and late spring grafting that this year all the grafted plums are in pots. what's interesting is the fibrous root system of a cherry plum hybrid stock seems to grow well in a small pot, you can see the healthy white root hairs, no circling roots, not too densely filled, in my experience just the right time to pot up. if I tried this this apple the thicker roots would be all tangled. I'm new enough to nursery work that several methods are getting experimented with for just about everything, but one thing I've consistently found is methods that work for large growers aren't the only way that works, and small craft scale growers may benefit from these slightly more intensive and time consuming methods, you almost just have to try it and judge the results to know.

Sapalta cherry plums, 4 weeks under mist with some bottom heat, medium strength rooting hormone. it's a hybrid with the western sandcherry, which is why it roots from cuttings so easily. more people should grow cherry plums, imagine a bush with one inch plums

Often when you see new leaves the softwood cuttings have rooted. at 3 weeks into the season some of the earliest cuttings are ready, a small tug on them also indicates rooting. these are cherry plums, the succulent leaves desiccated but the cuttings are still in good shape, and after these are potted up, hardened off and move outside they should hopefully grow a bit this fall and be included in our fall plant sale.

Purple/red leafed chokecherry, fun to graft these around and see the color change in june. the new leaves are green and change to purple after about a month

One of our sweet cherry grafts onto pin cherry, well it made a flower. notable, first Prunus avium flower at our nursery, maybe the first one I've seen. for sure the first sweet cherry blossom on a pin cherry tree #cherryblossom

Short interstems of toka on this combo brookred and brookgold plum grafted onto chokecherry.

The elusive canada wild plum, prunus nigra

Plums from our daughter's backyard, not sure about cultivar. anyone know? freestone, tasty, fully zone 3 hardy. I grew seedlings this summer from it.

White nanking cherries to grow next year, big thanks to @nature_is_fucking_dope_ for the trade. Prunus tomentosa has a fun potential for breeding to produce new hybrids, and how many cherries are white? for eg black nanking is a nanking x sandcherry hybrid. trying to build a collection for propagation and future breeding work, seedlings of Ian are a great addition, will take a few years to grow them out in a trial row and see how many have white fruit.

Checking on plums, this tree was fully ripe by aug 20 last year, red and starting to drop. this year plums in southern manitoba seem to be a full 2 weeks later, I suspect because last summer was unusually hot and dry, and this year was unusually wet.. it's surprising, last year I was picking plums from aug 10-20 all over the place, this year none are ripe yet

Two chokecherry cultivars, first one is lee red, second is probably Schubert. they graft easily onto wild chokecherry and add some color. Lee Red has larger leaves on my grafts, not sure if that's common, it does seem to grow vigorously. #chokecherry #grafting

D'artagnan cherry from u of sask getting potted up. cuttings from june 19 are at the right stage to pot and harden off, cherries take a while. next up trying some things to get them to resume growth and put on root mass before winter. #propagation

More photos of baker's gold apricot. my review is they're good, similar to ones i've had from the grocery store, larger. clingstone, not tart, mild flavour, hey it's the first apricot I've had in a long while and a month earlier than any plums around, a real treat. planning to graft some of these for next year, my sand cherry seedlings are sizing up.

Baker's gold apricots ripe this week .. one of a few zone 3 hardy apricot cultivars, and it's a local Manitoba selection

Subculturing some american wild plum. first time trying this, will update if they grow and I was able to keep everything sterile. #tissuecultureplants

Romance series hybrid cherries from the u of sask fruit breeding program. 75% prunus cerasus (same species as evans) and 25% prunus fruticosa, a small hardy cherry bush.

A local apricot introduction, Baker's Gold apricot.

Juliette cherries, finally got to try some. most of the u of sask sour cherries look similar to me but do have different flavours, and I'm sure sugar content, tartness and ripening times. I'm propagating juliette and d'artagnan this year, so I have plenty of cuttings but not so many cherries yet.

Prunus nigra, the elusive canada wild plum. seeds were an adventure to find last fall. potting these up to the next size. #wildplum

Evans cherries

Caging some canada wild plum along a forest path. these are actually a few years old, and wildlife seems to find and eat them down to the ground reliably, constantly setting them back - so finally added caging.

Nanking cherry, prunus tomentosa.. where tomentose is for fuzzy leaves.

Nanking cherry coming up soon, these ripen here in a couple of weeks.

Nanking cherry going into pots, watch me try this with one hand. I've had these just bundled into large pots waiting to plant, and the root systems are small enough that I think they'll be good to grow out this year in a 3.5" pot.

Beach plum, prunus maritima. native to the east coast, supposed to survive zone 3 winters. these ones made it through last winter under the snow. it's a prunus species that i've never seen in cultivation or offered at garden centers in our area, and exactly kind of plant I want to propagate. maybe eventually make some crosses with. it seems to want to grow like a cherry plum as a bush.

Cherry plum cultivar new oka, well rooted after a month. I started some plants last year from scions, so from graft to rooted cuttings, into a bed for the year to make more cuttings the next spring.. I have maybe a dozen here going into pots. more next year,. it takes time to let the stock plants recover from a heavy pruning. I also collect some new oka from the prairie genebank at u of sask last month from some old bushes. going to try keeping these in either 2.5 or 3.5" pots this summer and if they're large enough I'll have them available this winter.

Nanking cherry left, cupid sour cherry center, compared to grocery store sweet cherry right.

Black nanking is a nanking x western sandcherry hybrid (prunus tomentosa x besseyi) . both of it's parents root quickly from softwood, and it's the same. here is a cutting about 30 days in #propagation

Little cherry plum dropped it's leaves but bounced back. probably from too much mist. I try and calibrate it for the day depending on temperature and cloud cover, we've been getting way more rain than usual and on those days the timed mist can be dialed back. some setups use an electronic leaf for this, I prefer just to check on the plants a couple times daily during the season while they root. #propagation

Evans cherries in progress

IBA + NAA left, IBA talc right on cherry plum. I think left will quickly become a better root system

Spring american wild plum grafts onto chokecherry. maybe six weeks old. I trim back most of the epicormic growth but not all of it, actually letting it reduce vigour improves hardening off for the first winter. #grafting

Double flowering plum, an old bush that's fruiting for the first time that I've noticed. Will collect the seed, some weird hybrid might result. I have a nanking and evans nearby, and all three could have better pollination, need to figure out what to plant or graft, for the nanking another seedling is easy, for the others I'm not sure.

Own root plums are putting on way more growth than expected, this set is the earliest june cuttings. many plants have an ideal window of maturity / time for softwood, takes some experimentation to find out. A protocol is the details like timing, materials and methods to propagate plants, and specific protocols for many of them are a bit hard to find and usually lacking in details because that's a propagator's hard earned IP I guess, so I just figure them out. #ownroot #ownrooted #propagation #softwoodpropagation

Grafting wild canadian plum

Prunus maackii, manchurian cherry rooted softwood from spring grafts. One of my goals this year was to use this two step process, and i've had some luck with a few prunus species. #propagation

Prunus americana I think, along a trail at the Frank Skinner arboretum in Manitoba. Seems to grow fine in the shady understory.

An old plum tree - I'm hoping to identify the cultivar. It's clingstone, ripe today (mid august) in southern manitoba, skin slightly bitter but overall very tasty. Zone 3 -40F hardy.

Prunus nigra, wild canadian plums

Finished budding plums and apricots for the year I think. Maybe I'll do more, not sure how late it can go. In warmer places I hear July is the right time, but here early august seems like the right timing to have mature budwood. #grafting

Own root hydrid plums, "toka" cultivar developed 100 years ago in south dakota. The bright green flish of growth after rooting is a very good sign that the new trees are healthy. I wonder how many of them have been grown on their own roots like this. #plumtree #propagation #ownrooted

Own root plum trees well rooted in their pots, hardened off and going into nursery beds. Toka is the best cultivar I've trialed so far for this method, but steadily finding more through experimentation. Some prunus is very hard to root, like americana just gives up and drops it's leaves, maybe it needs the environment more tuned like a different mist schedule, or some pre-treatment. If anyone has been able to root american or canadian plum (P. americana, P. nigra) by layering or cuttings let me know. #propagation #plumtree #treenursery #growingtrees #fruittrees #fruittreenursery

Green elf plum rooted cutting. It's an old cherry plum bred in Saskatchewan. It's a cross between manchurian plum and sand cherry.. P. ussuriensis x P. besseyi .. kind of awesome parentage for a tasty green plum, I would like to cross it with some of the other chums which are besseyi x salicina.. one day #propagation #softwoodpropagation #plumtree #cherryplum

Help wanted to ID this plum rootstock, cuttings from root suckers. It's zone 3 hardy, few options right? Americana, sand cherry, mustang are the 3 I know of. Looks the most like americana, suckers like it.. but it roots super easily which seems different. Myrobalan isn't hardy here to -40, but maybe it is? Suggestions welcome, plant from a garden center no idea what nursery, tree is 4 yrs old with no winter kill.

Same plant different rooting hormone. nanking cherry at 5 weeks. right is off the shelf iba talc, left is an in house formula i'm testing made from pure hormones in an aqueous stock solution. left is a stronger result the rooting is up the stem and the roots are thicker, more dense. #propagation #rootingplants

Kuban comet asian plum softwood rooted. Took about a month, firm softwood cuttings 4000ppm iba talc some bottom heat. Own root plum trees are the goal, just takes some trialing to sort out the recipe. These and most other plum cultivars I root this summer will spend the winter well insulated in the new root cellar that's under construction at the back of the greenhouse - a must since they have a poor ability to harden off in time right after rooting. Chums do fine left in the ground, but many other prunus seem to need extra care just the first winter, plum trees especially - it's like they get confused when you do this to them. #propagation

Compartmentalization in an evans cherry cutting from a tray that was too wet, it was under a misting nozzle that drips. I'm showing the process of trimming and redipping in some iba talc - and the results. Also a bundle of cuttings from a tray at the right moisture level, all healthy an starting to root at 4 weeks. #propagation #softwood #cherrytree

Nanking cherry, prunus tomentosa #nankingcherry

Kappa cherry plums. working on multiplying these hundred year old cultivars like sapa, opata, dura, manor, and some newer ones like sapalta and new oka. prunus names are funny, I'm also grow nadia, green elf and p. cerasifera which are all very different species from the old hansen chums but... also called cherry plums. #propagation #treenursery #cherryplum

Western sand cherry, prunus besseyi

Pin cherries are ripe. prunus pensylvanica

1951 Bulletin from south dakota, some of the best information is in these old documents. For example, I'm propagating chums.. and they'll all in this chart from 70 years ago, sapa, sapalta, kappa, dura, manor.

Organized taking softwood cuttings. bagged cuttings are fine in the fridge for a day, prep the leaves and print some labels before heading to the greenhouse. Chums are a good example where good labels are essential, the cultivars all have identical foliage. #propagation

Black nanking cherry rooted at 16 days. P. tomentosa x besseyi #propagation

Plum grafts from one month ago are starting to take off #grafting

Red leafed chokecherry grafted onto wild chokecherry. #grafting

Toka plum on chokecherry grafted last spring.

Block of black chokecherry, prunus virginiana var melanocarpa grafted over to an assortment of other prunus to trial compatibility, grow out budwood for august budding onto rootstocks, and to produce softwood for rooting. So far this season take was high across every prunus species, and at 6-8 weeks every graft that leafed out continues to grow. Trialing various pruning and interstem interventions to keep as many growing until dormancy as I can, which can them be a reserve of dormant scion wood for next spring. Eventually I'll have an orchard of mature prunus for a more permanent resource, but chokecherry being common and plentiful here is working well so far. #propagation

Stratified prunus americana seeds before planting today. They've been in damp sand in refrigeration for six months. I could have planted a couple of weeks ago, just needed to make a screened in bed for squirrel protection.

More success rooting hybrid Japanese / American plum variety Toka. cuttings at 4-5 weeks had callous dipped again in 0.4% IBA and restuck in groups, what I'm starting to consider renovating a tray, added bottom heat for the first time this season. Rooting response has been good, the bottom heat is enough that the medium feels warm. Wondering if any cuttings that take more than 4 weeks = should use stronger hormone and bottom heat. Slowest rooting cuttings I have under mist currently are a few types of prunus, cottoneaster and lilacs. Everything else rooted and has been moved out. This time of year also has an effect, in July species that would root heavily in two weeks are now taking four. Next year I'll try these Toka cuttings in June and see how they root with 0.8% iba and bottom heat. I think this process can work with Malus, I had some success last year with baccata and those are all going into a stoolbed this fall. It's fun to consider that these fruit trees aren't propagated by softwood simply because it's either been decided it's not worth the difficulty, or if you have overcome that aspect there isn't a strong commercial application - a commercial orchard will always use rootstocks. But for the hobbyist, it opens up new possibility for an own root variety of a cultivar which could potentially live longer, grow larger and be more hardy. At minimum if winter kills the top it's going to regrow true to type. #propagation

Toka plum rooted cutting. who needs rootstocks? #propagation

All of the evans cherry trees in my orchard had about one cherry on them this year. To be fair, between the deer and taking softwood cuttings they had quite a trim, but cherries grow on last year's wood which the deer doesn't like and I don't use in the greenhouse. For a self pollinated tree with a reputation for large yields, still waiting for a big harvest from them. The lone cherry was good ;) #evanscherry

Chip budding plums. We've had by far the best result with Toka plum this year in our experimental grading trials onto wild rootstock, some of our grafts done in may have grown 4' with secondary scaffolds. We're now chip budding other cultivars onto Toka to use it as in interstem. #grafting

We had a wind storm this morning that broke off this grafted plum branch (shown upside down), there was a couple feet of flush growth above it. at 8 weeks there's more girdling than expected. Maybe I wrapped it too tight. One thing to pay close attention to is the strength of the graft union, if the tissues are less than compatible it won't be strong. In this case I think it's a girdled branch. I'll be removing the budding tape on all of our early May grafts this week and inspecting them. #grafting

Summer update for our plum on wild choke cherry grafts. Nearly every prunus variety we tried has grown, the most vigorous growth on this set of trees on a sunny hill. Success with this type of grafting in the first year seems to depend on the age and location of the root stock, as well as the amount of undergrowth and management of new suckering growth. I held off trying this for years because of anecdotal reports that it wouldn't work. My approach here is to question assumptions, research old studies where it was tried and do it for myself, there are quite a few variables, including genetic compatibility variation with specific individuals within a species. Choke cherry is prolific across forested areas in Canada, but there are no wood lots, parks, hiking trails or backyards full of them made into food forests by grafting them over.

An Evans cherry I planted in 2004, so about 20 years old #evanscherrytree #evanscherries

Planting out a bed of mustang cherry rootstocks. These should be large enough to bud in July. Our reserves of scion wood for many cultivars have been grafted out around the orchard, one reason to have an orchard next to the nursery - a ready supply of scion wood. This is one immediate benefit of our wild rootstock experiment, even if there is delayed graft compatibility in a few years for some cultivars, this summer we're successfully growing scion wood. #rootstock #cherryplum #mustangcherry #growingtrees #treenursery

Plum frameworked onto choke cherry at five weeks. #grafting #plumgrafting #intergeneric

Plum grafts on wild choke cherry. Our grafts were all done in the first three weeks of May and many are showing signs of growth, so a successful union so far. The take rate seems to correlate with age of the root stock and competing vegetation on it more than shade, type of graft or plum cultivar. In the fall we'll post a spreadsheet with some data, this is a multi year project to determine compatibility in cold hardy Prunus cultivars on the most prolific and hardy wild Prunus rootstock (Prunus virginiana) in our climate zone 3, southern Manitoba. #grafting #chokecherry

Double flowering plum, Prunus triloba #plumblossom

Nanking cherry grafted on wild chokecherry. (Prunus tomentosa on Prunus virginiana). Will it take? I'm hopeful for this combination. Also it's fun when scions blossom, feels like a small success. #grafting #nankingcherry #cherryblossom #cherryblossoms

Our plum blossoms all seem to have pulled through -2.9C this morning. Good thing the tomatoes are still inside under grow lights. #blossom #blossoms #plum #plumblossom

Small choke cherry tree grafted over to plums at three weeks. keeping the under growth continually rubbed off to ensure all of the growth is focused on the grafts seems key. For larger trees Instead of defoliating I've been topping all the other branches to try and give the grafts apical dominance. #grafting

Nanking cherries (Prunus tomentosa) ripen here in mid July, and the seeds from this tree filled a bed of seedlings we're growing this year. We also had good results with softwood cuttings, they root quickly and heavily, and we have grafts of them growing on our wild choke cherries. Quickly becoming my favourite prunus to propagate. On my wish list is some of the cool Russian cultivars. I wonder if it's possible to import a bundle of scion wood with the right phyto and paperwork. #nankingcherry

Grafted plums are taking off. This one is Nanking cherry on the left and Toka plum on the right. These are putting on better growth than our orchard plum trees on their third leaf, the Prunus virginiana frame tree is well adapted to our sandy soil and puts on vigorous growth. How long will these grafts survive? Of the dozen various Prunus cultivars and species we grafted out this year will some of them have good compatibility? #grafting #plumtrees #chokecherry

Mustang cherries for budding this fall. While around the orchard I like to experiment with rootstocks, the plum trees we'll want to sell will be grafted on these. It's a complex Prunus hybrid developed by a local nursery that has good compatibility with many prunus species and is fully cold hardy to zone 3. Our next choice after these would be P. americana or P. nigra I think, and I want to try those but it's surprisingly difficult to get seeds. Feeling like a proper nursery when wholesale trees arrive on a palette.. #mustangcherry #rootstock

Progress on one of our multi grafted prunus virginiana. This size of tree seems to produce the most vigorous growth. #grafting #graftingplants #plumtree

Hard frost last night, below zero from midnight to sunrise.. this thermometer hangs about shoulder height in the middle of the orchard. all of our plums are in bloom, so wanted plums this summer.

Nanking cherry harvest .. Super tasty fruit from a tree I planted in 2004. Picked the tree over the weekend, so I guess these are ripe the same time as saskatoons. collected some more softwood cuttings. #nankingcherry

Nanking cherries at three weeks rooted from softwood cuttings in our mist propagation. #nankingcherry #propagation

Toka plum grafted to wild choke cherry #prunus #grafting