Fruit Tree Grafting

[CrealCritter]

So I planted a grafted cherry tree. It got hit with leaf brown spot. I hit it with orchard spray. But the real problem was tip dieback. I could not figure out why it was dying from the tip down. I have been giving it sufficient water.

Then I decided to call customer service at starkbros, the nursery I purchased it from. I explained the tip die back issue and the very nice lady said, are there any suckers growing near the bottom of the tree? I said yes there is one above the graft and none below. She said that's most likely the problem. Remove the sucker and trim back the top of the tree back at an angle, 1 inch at a time. Until you hit green wood and that should take care of the problem. She further added that the sucker if left on the trunk, will eventually kill the trunk and try to take over. She said try that and if that doesn't work give us a call back.

I did not know this... so I thought I would pass this along. Maybe it might help someone else.

I did exactly as she said... I took my hand and broke the sucker loose at the joint from the trunk, it came right off cleanly. The I took my clippers and trimmed back the top of the trunk 3 inches, an inch at a time.

It was really nice to be able to pick up the phone and call the customer service, get a nice lady and solid directions.

I guess that's why new growth near the bottom of a tiny grafted tree is called a sucker. Because it'll suck the life out of the main trunk. Who knew such a thing???

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

I purchased my first ever budding knife. It's a nice one, has a stainless steel blade sharpened on both sides and is sharp like as a razor blade. Plus on the other end, it has a bronze bark separator. I also picked up some parafilm 1 roll each of 1/2 inch and 1 inch wide.

I think I've studied enough and am ready to try and do some Budstick, T and Chip budding come August. I have 4 air-layers started off a M111 root stock, I hope they root strong and are ready to be potted by August, because I really want to give budding a whirl. If they are not rooted enough to be potted, I'll bud them right on the tree and pot them in March. Either way, I'm going to bud all 4 of them in August.

Jesus is Lord and Christ