Tree Fruit Leader, Vol. 1(1) Feb. 1992

The Home Nursery - Ordering

Peter Waterman, Horticultural Specialist
BCMAFF, Penticton

Another nursery season is behind us and I'm sure most growers have learned a great deal about handling nursery trees. I am firmly convinced that successful growing at the home nursery level makes a grower more successful in the orchard setting. The objective in the home nursery is not only to have a good catch (80 to 90 percent bud take) but strong well feathered trees of good caliper. It is entirely possible to produce an excellent tree that will pay good dividends in the early years in the orchard.

Ordering:

The process starts with your order for rootstock. Do not order stock of less than 6 mm caliper unless you intend to grow them on and bud them after two summers in the nursery. You can go this route but it is not worth it. A year missed in the orchard is costly. The best range is the 8 to 10 mm caliper size. It is fine for planting out to bud in place or for bench grafting. You should order by the end of December as the roots are dug in the late fall and local suppliers have their orders completed by early January. Orders for bench grafting can be delivered early (as opposed to late March) for stock to be summer budded.

Sleeping eyes: sleeping eyes are another option. The term refers to a rootstock that has a bud placed in it in August and then is dug that same fall and sold for planting out in the nursery the next spring. This route is less expensive than buying fully grown trees and bypasses the budding and one year's growth work in the nursery. The cost usually falls between $1.75 to $2.50 each.

When you request arrival of your order greatly depends on the production route you are going to take. If you do not intend to use sleeping eyes, the best route - the one for most success for most growers - is to bench graft. Since bench grafting should be completed by the end of February to early March in order to have four to six weeks healing time, how much earlier you order depends on the volume you propose to do. Experience improves the speed but between 300 and 1000/day is normal for relatively inexperienced grafters.

The main reason I stress bench grafting is the variety of options that are left open to you as a grower to increase your chances of success. If caliper of stock and scion are well matched and you have 8 to 10 mm stock, a three bud scion starts with lots of reserves, and if the bench graft fails you can chip bud the rootstock in May or early June, or leave it for summer budding. As the bench graft grows, disbud below 20 inches but leave the leaves on to improve caliper. If the bench graft grows well and pushes side branches, remove the side branches but leave the leaves and allow side branches to stay above 20 inches. Usually they will not branch well enough to be decently feathered trees, and the best route is to make them into cut trees the next spring by cutting them off at 18 to 22 inches. Do not cut poor caliper trees too high; they will not push adequately. The beauty of the bench graft route is that you have several choices of buds and even after cutting, you can cut again if, for example, the second bud that breaks appears stronger than the top bud. Therefore this is a better option than bench grafting with an interstem variety and budding at 20" in the summer, as you only have one bud to work with. The same goes for summer budded stock although you can do spring chip budding to cover failures.

Although the situation is improving, there has been a shortage of scion wood for bench grafting. A two or three bud scion consumes available wood quickly.

Another plus for bench grafting is the fact that you avoid cutting back the rootstock as you have to for summer budded, dormant or spring chip budded stock. There appears to be less difficulty with the "dieback problem" many nurserymen have experienced on summer budded Malling 9 roots.

Bench grafting also gives you the chance of producing a fully feathered tree in one season with excellent growing and management conditions, but the main objective should be to produce a good whip that will be headed the next spring at between 18 and 22 inches in order to push one bud strongly that will produce a well feathered tree in the second season in the nursery.

It is conceivable that there will not be adequate virus free scion wood of some varieties. Although spring chip budding is possible, the bud will start to push late and the growth will not be comparable to bench grafting. This is due to healing time required and the lack of reserves in the bud as opposed to the reserves in the scion of bench grafted material that has healed prior to planting. The best bet for success if adequate scion wood is not available for bench grafting in early spring is to wait and summer bud. I would like to qualify summer budding. I prefer mid to late August chip budding (T budding can be used if the bark is slipping well) because budwood is more mature and there is time for healing. Budding in early August allows time for the placed bud to actually grow and it may be subject to winter damage. In the case of summer budding, the rootstock is stronger and has a good complement of roots to be able to push the single bud the next season, compared to spring chip budding on relatively newly planted rootstock where significant root volume has yet to develop.

To recap, place orders now for roots and sleeping eye material and indicate how many you need for early February for bench grafting and how many you can accept for late March for summer budding. Stress consistent caliper of 8 to 10 mm for most purposes. It is important to have good roots, but most growers cut back the roots hard to allow for ease of planting, particularly into plastic. There are dozens of root initials on the stock that will start growing shortly after planting. It is also good to have relatively smooth rootstock to work with. It is important to have good consistent clean stock - but the difficulties people experience are largely to do with management, i.e. handling, grafting techniques, storage conditions, planting techniques and subsequent handling in the field.

• Return to Tree Fruit Newsletters
• Return to Tree Fruit Page