Collecting Scion Wood

[Bottomland]

Would somebody give a beginner grafter a few tips on selecting scion wood? I've grown hundreds and hundreds of trees from seed for the past few years, and this year I'm going to try my hand at grafting from a few of the varieties of plums and pears I have growing on my farm. I already have OHxF & Marianna GF8 Rootstocks that I purchased last year and have grown in containers. I tried grafting a few years ago and got good early greenup on the scion but then lost all of them. Not sure why. I think I may have used too young scion wood, I have heard from some to use 2-yr old wood for scions, not last summers growth. Which part of the tree is the best to collect from for scion wood?

 

[dogdoc]

I always use the last years growth (so 1 year old wood). Proper collection and storage plays a huge role also. As soon as I collect the scions they are wrapped in a moist paper towel (in the field) and put in a cooler. Once I get home I seal all cuts on the scions with candle wax. Just light a candle and dip the cut end in the melted wax. I bundle the scions up and place in a Ziploc baggie. I do not wrap them in a paper towel but instead just give a few spritz of water from a water bottle. Get out as much air as possible and lock the baggie. I have a small dorm style fridge where I keep all my scions and seeds. I want them to always be cold to store as much energy as possible. You don't want the scion to run out of energy before the graft union is healed. When grafting at home I also don't want my grafts receiving full sun but sometimes in the field you don't have a choice. Making a little sunshield out of foil will help.

todd

 

[Bottomland]

I always use the last years growth (so 1 year old wood). Proper collection and storage plays a huge role also. As soon as I collect the scions they are wrapped in a moist paper towel (in the field) and put in a cooler. Once I get home I seal all cuts on the scions with candle wax. Just light a candle and dip the cut end in the melted wax. I bundle the scions up and place in a Ziploc baggie. I do not wrap them in a paper towel but instead just give a few spritz of water from a water bottle. Get out as much air as possible and lock the baggie. I have a small dorm style fridge where I keep all my scions and seeds. I want them to always be cold to store as much energy as possible. You don't want the scion to run out of energy before the graft union is healed. When grafting at home I also don't want my grafts receiving full sun but sometimes in the field you don't have a choice. Making a little sunshield out of foil will help.

todd

Thanks for the help. When you say last year's growth, do you prefer a certain part of the branch fro a scion, or does that matter much? I'm assuming most of those scions will be pencil sized. Do you prefer the end of branches, or sections of branches?

 

[dogdoc]

It doesn't matter what part of the scion. I might remove a 12 to 16 inch scion and make 4 grafts out of it. As long as I have 2 buds above the graft I am happy.

 

[Neahawg]

From what I've read two year old doesn't grow as well as well as it may be more likely to bloom instead of grow vegetatively.

 

[Hunter_Dan]

dogdoc is on the money. Remember to LABEL everything too, if you want to know what you have. Also keep in mind the size of the scion you're collecting. You want the diameter to be a little smaller than the diameter you're grafting onto (for a bench graft). So no point cutting off bigger branches or tiny branches (unless you're a super pro with tiny scions).

 

[Bottomland]

dogdoc is on the money. Remember to LABEL everything too, if you want to know what you have. Also keep in mind the size of the scion you're collecting. You want the diameter to be a little smaller than the diameter you're grafting onto (for a bench graft). So no point cutting off bigger branches or tiny branches (unless you're a super pro with tiny scions).

Thanks. I have all of my scions wrapped in bundles and bagged by species, with all the ends dipped in wax. I think I'm good to go until spring!

 

[Chainsaw]

Gathering scions is new for me as well and from what I can see all of the scions (last years growth) are fairly small running mostly 6 to 6 1/2 inches. Maybe sucker branches might be bigger/longer, I'll check.
Here is what our average scions look like with the new growth starting I presume at the crook/bend around the forty-seven and 1/4 and zero inch mark respectively.

Is this correct or do scions need to be larger? All of the trees I've checked looked to be about as these.

 

[DrDirtNap]

That looks like last year's growth to me. On the bottom stick you can see where the new growth joins the older wood...where the reddish color joins the grey color. What you collected is exactly what I would collect. Could cut them in half. Like Doc says you only need two or three good looking buds per scion.


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[Chainsaw]

Thank you DrDirtnap for your response. I thought I had it but needed confirmation.

 

[dogdoc]

Sometimes all you get is smaller diameter scions. Those collected will work just fine. When the scion is the same diameter of my rootstock I pretty much always use a whip and tongue or saddle graft. When the scion is smaller a cleft Graft works perfect. Just need one side of cambium lined up and your good.

 

[emetzger]

I will add that it's a good idea to prune selected trees aggressively the year before you want to collect scion wood. This tends to give you bigger and more scion wood to work with. I specifically do this with persimmon trees. Some trees are very large so I target lower branches and collect the next winter/spring.


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[Mortenson]

I'll be attempting my 1st graft later this spring, too. I had a young kieffer girdled last year, and I want to graft an ayers scion onto the rootstock of it. I collected 2 scions when I pruned the ayers last week. I'm pretty convinced I'll try a cleft graft with both of the scions. I'm planning to use black electrical tape and Treekote tree wound dressing that I have ordered. Will those items work well and be the only dressings I need? Or should I be considering wax as an alternative? Thanks.

 

[dogdoc]

I'll be attempting my 1st graft later this spring, too. I had a young kieffer girdled last year, and I want to graft an ayers scion onto the rootstock of it. I collected 2 scions when I pruned the ayers last week. I'm pretty convinced I'll try a cleft graft with both of the scions. I'm planning to use black electrical tape and Treekote tree wound dressing that I have ordered. Will those items work well and be the only dressings I need? Or should I be considering wax as an alternative? Thanks.

The treekote will work just fine for sealing a cuts in the grafting. I've used it with bark grafting persimmons. I've gone cheap now and use toilet bowl wax for all my grafting. The cleft graft is a very successful graft--use it a lot and a fairly easy graft for the beginner.
good luck
todd

 

[Mortenson]

Thanks a lot. Yes reading some of your posts on various threads on the subject led me to the cleft. Kind of silly to think I paid as much for the treekote as another clearance tree would cost. It should last me a long time though. The worst part is now I have to wait so long before it's grafting time. Feel like I'm waiting on the taxidermist to finish an animal. Anxiety.

 

[buckvelvet]

The treekote will work just fine for sealing a cuts in the grafting. I've used it with bark grafting persimmons. I've gone cheap now and use toilet bowl wax for all my grafting. The cleft graft is a very successful graft--use it a lot and a fairly easy graft for the beginner.
good luck
todd

Accept when you get it on you and it takes a month to get off. Treekote seals well but wow is it a pain. You can work on a tree 2 years after you applied it and it'll still get on you.