Grafting - Pears

[mnjrutherford]

Well, I received 4 pear scions (2 sucre vert and 2 red) from GRIN. I ordered 10 pear root stocks from Cummins Nursery (Ithica NY, 607-592-2801) which arrived on Friday. I finally got to grafting them today.

If even one of the poor things makes it, I'll be shocked out of my socks. I made a few dozen practice grafts before sitting down to the real deal. I knew then I was doomed. The actual pears didn't stand a chance. I was turning them into paint brushes rather than nice clean cuts. Towards the end it didn't help that I kept crying. I could practically hear the poor, tortured things screaming in agony. ::sigh::

I really need a dedicated grafting knife. I believe I would have done much better than I did using a freshly sharpened kitchen knife. Also, all the videos, all the articles read... it didn't really teach me as much as I think I really needed to know. Cutting techniques? How do you achieve a 1 1/2 to 2" incline on a twig that isn't even a quarter inch in diameter?

Anyway, it's all done and over with for now. I am hoping to nail down a really good knife somehow and over the year, I'm going to practice practice practice. By next year, I shouldn't be such an ignorant novice.

[grunt]

Jo: Check out these videos for how to do it. www.youtube.com/profile?user=stephenhayesuk#p/u/112/7blxoFfJC4I
www.youtube.com/profile?user=stephenhayesuk#p/u/157/7UC5Dr3tWDc

[canadamike]

Mj, a good exacto makes a great grafting knife...it sure is not as ''sexy'' as a dedicated one, but apart from the temporary nature of the blade, it is hard to notice any difference, which would anyway end up in favor of the exacto in my case...now, remember that tools are what they are in the hands of the holders and some people might differ in opinion. I actually lost my grafting knife and feel no emergency at all to have it replaced...

No emergency at all....none whatsoever....