Just curious if any home gardener has had success in grafting say a
hybrid peach, plum, pear twig to a volunteer tree, ie, one that grew
from seed. If so, what are the critical points in the process that
determine success or failure?

Jerry Small wrote:
Just curious if any home gardener has had success in grafting say a
hybrid peach, plum, pear twig to a volunteer tree, ie, one that grew
from seed. If so, what are the critical points in the process that
determine success or failure?
The most critical thing is to get the diameters correct. Both the
graft and the branch you are grafting to must match up almost
perfectly. The cambium layers have to be aligned so the sap can pass
from branch to graft. There are many different types of grafts to use
and can be found on "Google" but I generally use the "whip" graft
because it is both strong and it's easy to tape. I use electrical
tape to hold the graft in alignment and provide a seal to keep the
joint from drying out. Best time to graft is in the early Spring when
the sap is starting to flow. All of your mentioned varieties take to
grafting quite well.
Bill

The weirdest graft I have done is a pear grafted to a mountain ash. The
mountain ash grew wild next to a cedar tree. I cut down the cedar tree
and later grafted the pear. It is big enough now to produce a nice crop
of pears. The original tree, that provided the scion wood, died before
it produced. Less winter injury on the one grafted to mountain ash.
You would never guess by just looking but mountain ash and pears are
actually related. (they can be hybridized as well)
Many years ago I tried to graft things to some choke cherry sprouts. You
would think they would be compatible with the other stone fruits. I
grafted several kinds of plum, Manchurian apricots and a couple types of
tart cherry. Every graft grew and most grew very fast. By fall, 90% were
dead and by the next summer, all were dead. I had to give up on that.
I have wondered if any of the other wild cherries might allow a graft.
We have black cherry and pin cherry. There are none near my yard and I
never did try it.

Steve in the Adirondacks (where we have not been above zero for 2
days... again)

Jerry Small wrote:
Just curious if any home gardener has had success in grafting say a
hybrid peach, plum, pear twig to a volunteer tree, ie, one that grew
from seed. If so, what are the critical points in the process that
determine success or failure?

On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 21:39:33 -0600, Jerry Small
wrote:

Just curious if any home gardener has had success in grafting say a
hybrid peach, plum, pear twig to a volunteer tree, ie, one that grew
from seed. If so, what are the critical points in the process that
determine success or failure?

Make sure the variety used for the rootstock is suitable
for your soil and zone.
Cheers!
B.K.

One critical thing is to consider the plants in question. Grafts
usually work only between very closely related species. Examples:
Plum, peach, nectarine, apricot, and cherry are all _Prunus_, which is
why you can make a tree with a different peach or plum variety on
every branch. Pear, while in the same family (Rosaceae--rose family),
is in a different subfamily and would probably not be compatible with
Prunus. Mountain ash (which someone mentions downthread) is in the
same subfamily as pear, so it's not surprising that a pear graft on it
would flourish.

Monique Reed
botanist, Texas A&M

Jerry Small wrote:

Just curious if any home gardener has had success in grafting say a
hybrid peach, plum, pear twig to a volunteer tree, ie, one that grew
from seed. If so, what are the critical points in the process that
determine success or failure?