Emergency, downed apple tree!

[steev]

A toilet-seal wax ring is a very cheap, ample, and serviceable supply of grafting wax.

[MikeH]

Apr 24, 2015 7:02:50 GMT -5 greenfinger said:

Update and questions:
My tongue and groove twig grafts all failed. Water and potting soil rooting attempts failed. Buried branch failed.
If my now 4-ish year old sapling bloomed, I missed it, there were fruit spurs on it. We had a freeze during pear bloom, so I may have lost that fruit too.
Good news, I found a sad little granny smith apple tree for $10! My price range!
Having had a few months, I think I understand the bud grafting thing now. Thanks for that info. It will be two or three weeks till new bud growth, the trees have already leaved out. I plan to bud graft granny smith to the sapling previously mentioned.
I have several additional whip sprouts from the fallen apple tree. Maybe if I plop a pot over one or two and dump in some potting soil, they should root, and can be cut off, transplanted, then bud grafted as well?
Also, could I use straight beeswax for sealing grafts? Or do I need to buy a commercial product? (for the cases where a branch is cut off right above bud graft)

If you plan to bud graft, you need to take buds from this year's growth in toward the end of the summer when the bark is "slipping" When you graft you need to use tape not wax. This is the tape that I use - www.orchardvalleysupply.com/ovsstore/pc/Parafilm-Grafting-Tape-p278.htm. The description explains why I like it.

Yes, you could get the whips to produce roots by layering/stooling them. If you can insert the water sprout through a hole in the bottom of the pot and fill the pot with really good soil - well matured compost would be good - there's a very good chance that the water sprout will produce roots. If you "pot" up the water sprouts as soon as leaves emerge, you should wait until next spring to check for roots. Once you get good root growth, sever the sprout at the pot hole. I'd keep it in the pot for a month or so to make sure it was over the shock of severing. I'd also use at least an 8" deep pot to give a good length of buried water sprout for roots to emerge from. When you plant the tree, you can either leave it on its own roots or take scionwood or buds and graft onto a dwarfing rootstock if you wish.

[greenfinger]

I "potted up" 3 good sized whips, or 'feathers' in 12" tall pots.
"When you graft you need to use tape not wax"
On the bud grafts, yes tape. I will order some, thanks for the link. But if there remains exposed cut wood of the branch, from my understanding of Holistic Orchard, it needs to be sealed using grafting wax, latex grafting compound, or treecote. From pg 47. Did I misunderstand?
"A toilet-seal wax ring is a very cheap, ample, and serviceable supply of grafting wax."
Cheap is good news, but I have honey bees, so I have the beeswax already. Can I use beeswax?
I guess the buds need a while to of growing to become viable. I'll wait till late summer. Thankyou.

[steev]

Beeswax is great; just a question of having it warm enough to seal well; sitting in the sun is prolly good. May want to keep an eye out that the little devils don't want to re-re-cycle it.

[greenfinger]

"May want to keep an eye out that the little devils don't want to re-re-cycle it"
Yes, I figure during a necter flow. Here's hoping for cotton and soybeans nearby!

[MikeH]

Apr 28, 2015 14:34:06 GMT -5 greenfinger said:

But if there remains exposed cut wood of the branch, from my understanding of Holistic Orchard, it needs to be sealed using grafting wax, latex grafting compound, or treecote. From pg 47. Did I misunderstand?

Ummm. I'm not sure about what you're trying to do here. The only reference that I could find in the book follows below.

GRAFTING SUPPLIES

Every grafter has a preferred way of doing things. The supplies you need follow from there.

Cut. You can jump right in for less than $20 with a Victorinox folding grafting knife. The blade is honed on just one side to achieve that smooth cambium cut. Some folks manage with a bulkier razor utility knife. Whatever you use, keep it sharp!

Wrap. Rubber grafting strips pull the edges of a whip-and-tongue splice together exceedingly well. Hold the band on the understock with your one thumb and then wrap upward. I leave space between wraps going up, so to be able to see that side-to-side alignment hasn’t slipped, go for full closure on the way back down the length of the union, and then overlap the other end of the grafting strip to knot the two ends together. Don’t be afraid of pulling the rubber too tight, as this optimizes cambium closure. The frustrating aspect is when the band slips out from under your finger and quickly unwinds. Electrician’s splicing tape will be self-fusing and, if given a stretch before wrapping, works nearly as well. Masking tape is cheaper and flexible enough. Grafts covered in parafilm (a clear, stretchy polyethylene tape that deteriorates in sunlight) are not going to dry out but still require a more substantial wrap underneath to hold pressure on the union.

Seal. Trowbridge’s Grafting Wax smells great, seals well, and doesn’t crack, but requires heat to liquefy. Doc Farwell’s latex grafting compound goes on easily with a brush, doesn’t get brittle when dry, stretches as the graft grows, and remains in place for years at a time, providing a bright yellow marker to the graft union. Treekote (a black asphalt emulsion) works in the cold, dries quickly if it’s going to rain, and comes with a brush attached to the container cap for smearing directly over the grafting rubber and onto cut surfaces. Long ago a graft would have been tied with cotton string, then straight cow manure slathered on to cover the entire works.

When you make the bud graft, do NOT cut off the rootstock above the graft until you are sure that the graft has taken.  By not cutting the wood, you can bud graft again if the first graft does not take.  If you cut the wood too early, you have nothing to graft onto if the graft fails.  Also, the the wood that will grow from a successful bud graft will come off the trunk at an angle.  You can use the rootstock above as a stake to slowly straighten it into a vertical leader position.  Then you can cut the excess rootstock  The cut should be made at an angle so that water flows off rather than pools on a horizontal surface. Whether you seal it or not is a matter of preference. I've never sealed the cut but maybe I've just been lucky.  Or it could be that healthy vigorous rootstock and a clean, strong graft with healthy vigorous scion wood makes a good start that resists infection. 

[greenfinger]

"When you make the bud graft, do NOT cut off the rootstock above the graft until you are sure that the graft has taken"
Aha! I made an assumption. This is why I run most new things by the minds that play here. The wealth of all knowledge, indeed. Thank you for the clarification.
A perennial lurker,
Joy