Methley Plum x Bruce Plum x Texas Star Peach grafting!

[Montray Davis]

Hello guys! Hope you're as ready for the upcoming summer/spring grow season as I am !

I found out about grafting a year or so ago and was never really successful. I've tried dozens of grafts from veggies to roses and trees. Never a success.

I've always thought grafting was way underrated and it's always been fascinating to me how it's even possible, let alone actually works very well. So I decided to give it another go. It has now been a month and creeping into 1.5 months since the grafts were put into place. I grafted them just right before dormancy started to kick-in.

This time around I used the Whip graft method. To my shock, 100% of the grafts seem to have taken -- at least thus far. I have not taken the grafts off to see what's happening below, but the stems look exactly as they did when cut from the parent branches. I can see redskin for the peaches, and hints of green in both plum variety grafts.

I now have three trees with Methley Plum, Bruce Plum, and Texas Star Peach on each tree. Isn't that fantastic?
I've attached some photos to show my amazing project.

Any thoughts or suggestions on what I should graft next to my stone-fruit trees?

 

[Chuck]

Hello guys! Hope you're as ready for the upcoming summer/spring grow season as I am !

I found out about grafting a year or so ago and was never really successful. I've tried dozens of grafts from veggies to roses and trees. Never a success.

I've always thought grafting was way underrated and it's always been fascinating to me how it's even possible, let alone actually works very well. So I decided to give it another go. It has now been a month and creeping into 1.5 months since the grafts were put into place. I grafted them just right before dormancy started to kick-in.

This time around I used the Whip graft method. To my shock, 100% of the grafts seem to have taken -- at least thus far. I have not taken the grafts off to see what's happening below, but the stems look exactly as they did when cut from the parent branches. I can see redskin for the peaches, and hints of green in both plum variety grafts.

I now have three trees with Methley Plum, Bruce Plum, and Texas Star Peach on each tree. Isn't that fantastic?
I've attached some photos to show my amazing project.View attachment 31891 View attachment 31895 View attachment 31898 View attachment 31903


Any thoughts or suggestions on what I should graft next to my stone-fruit trees?

You can forget cherries and apricots are just about impossible because of their chilling hour requirements being so strict. I have a friend who has 2 large apricot tree at least 25 years old and he has never seen the first apricot and very few blooms. Not saying you can't but I would use my time and resources on something else for your cocktail tree.

 

[Montray Davis]

You can forget cherries and apricots are just about impossible because of their chilling hour requirements being so strict. I have a friend who has 2 large apricot tree at least 25 years old and he has never seen the first apricot and very few blooms. Not saying you can't but I would use my time and resources on something else for your cocktail tree.

Great advice! I did not realize Apricots had such chilling requirements and I definitely don't want to waste any time.
Do you think even Sour Cherries are too strict for Texas?

 

[Chuck]

Great advice! I did not realize Apricots had such chilling requirements and I definitely don't want to waste any time.
Do you think even Sour Cherries are too strict for Texas?

Cherrys. Have you ever seen a cherry tree around Austin? I didn't think so. There is a reason but for the life of me I can't remember what it is. Cherry grafts might work but I don't think so.
On you TexStar peach. Don't be surprised by it not fruiting. It is a 450 hour tree and Austin is about 600 hours on average.
On the apricot it isn't the chilling hours required so much as it is the lateness of the hours required. Here in Texas it seems that the apricot needs a lot of its chilling hours later in the year, like in March or April.

 

[Chuck]

Cherrys. Have you ever seen a cherry tree around Austin? I didn't think so. There are a few cherry trees up around Dallas though. Also there are 3 or 4 types of cherry trees that are native in a couple of counties in South Texas. You could check out the USDA Native Plant Database and find out what they are. Cherry grafts might work but I don't think so.
On you TexStar peach. Don't be surprised by it not fruiting. It is a 450 hour tree and Austin is about 600 hours on average.
On the apricot it isn't the chilling hours required so much as it is the lateness of the hours required. Here in Texas it seems that the apricot needs a lot of its chilling hours later in the year, like in March or April.

 

[Montray Davis]

Cherrys. Have you ever seen a cherry tree around Austin? I didn't think so. There is a reason but for the life of me I can't remember what it is. Cherry grafts might work but I don't think so.
On you TexStar peach. Don't be surprised by it not fruiting. It is a 450 hour tree and Austin is about 600 hours on average.
On the apricot it isn't the chilling hours required so much as it is the lateness of the hours required. Here in Texas it seems that the apricot needs a lot of its chilling hours later in the year, like in March or April.

So you're saying the Texas Star Peach won't fruit either ? Or are you saying that Cherries won't fruit on the Texas Star?

I sure hope the TexasStar will fruit considering it is sold right down the road from me.

 

[Chuck]

So you're saying the Texas Star Peach won't fruit either ? Or are you saying that Cherries won't fruit on the Texas Star?

I sure hope the TexasStar will fruit considering it is sold right down the road from me.

TexStar peach will produce IF it doesn't frost after it gets 450 hours of chilling But Austin usually gets a lot more than 450 hours which means that once the TexStar has reached the 450 and it is showing blooms/buds and freezes again there will be no fruit because the blooms/buds have frozen. And once a peach tree has blooms/buds no more blooms/buds until next year. Who knows, maybe some Global Warming will arrive to save the day.

 

[Chuck]

Check out this map
https://ask.extension.org/questions/163580

 

[Montray Davis]

Check out this map
https://ask.extension.org/questions/163580

Thanks for this! With having that said, I think my best bet is to graft far more plum branches than I currently have in case I don't get peaches. I'd hate to have such a beautiful tree that can't thrive well and reproduce.



Cheers.

 

[Chuck]

Thanks for this! With having that said, I think my best bet is to graft far more plum branches than I currently have in case I don't get peaches. I'd hate to have such a beautiful tree that can't thrive well and reproduce.



Cheers.

Just make sure that everything you graft is of the correct chilling hours. And don't forget that even with the correct chilling hours some varieties just don't grow as good as others. Find out from someone there who knows what grows really well.

 

[Montray Davis]

Just make sure that everything you graft is of the correct chilling hours. And don't forget that even with the correct chilling hours some varieties just don't grow as good as others. Find out from someone there who knows what grows really well.

Thanks.

Do you think Plums/Peaches that require about 300-450 chill hours is sufficient for my zone?

 

[Chuck]

Thanks.

Do you think Plums/Peaches that require about 300-450 chill hours is sufficient for my zone?

No. I would go nothing less than 600. That map shows Travis and Williamson counties as 800. Even with so called global warming/climate change 450 is too low. 450 is what the Houston area is.

 

[alp]

Why not apple - Pink Lady is a good one!?

 

[Chuck]

Why not apple - Pink Lady is a good one!?

You cannot graft different types of fruit. Peaches, plums, apricots etc. are stone fruit and have a single seed. Apples are not stone fruit because they are multi-seeded.

 

[Montray Davis]

No. I would go nothing less than 600. That map shows Travis and Williamson counties as 800. Even with so called global warming/climate change 450 is too low. 450 is what the Houston area is.

Oh ok awesome thanks.! I'll be sure to stick with chills around 600.