Here's a photo of about 300 of last year's grafts - all starting to leaf out. I love when that happens!
That's a major collection on it's own K4.....WOW! they've suddenly sprung up quick.I remember recently you being glad your maples were behind others here,now you've overtaken us.I hear parts of the US are experiencing some hot weather already.
Our temps have been in the 70's to low 80's (22-27 C) and show no signs of stopping. Nightime temps have also been warm. In those conditions, JM's can push out in a matter of days. That's the problem here in the South - the change from cold or cool temps to warm is usually very sudden. This means we don't get to enjoy the spring colors as long as others might. Still, I can't complain. As long as we don't get any late freezes we should be fine. Right now it feels like heaven to get out in the garden and dig!
Really?!...that seems quite alien to me ha...no wonder you get a longer growing season than us.Yes must be nice to get out&about already,we've got a short warm spell now but it's unusual and won't last long.Since the Katsura there's still nothing else leafed out properly yet...now I'm glad! The grafts are coming along now,here's a few of 'em....I've adopted the K4 tents :) as the greenhouse idea was impossible to keep the moisture high without too much heat.My only usable windows are also sunny windows.They spend a few days in the solid bags then finished off in the perforated.
Looking wonderful! A trick I use on sunny windows (I have those too). So I take a white trash can liner and tape it over the window. Its opaque enough to cut out quite a bit of the light, and the plants seem to get along well. I don't cut it or anything, just flatten it out and tape it up there. The front and back layers of white poly combined must block out 60% or more of the light. Perfect for new grafts!
Here's a pic of a trash can liner (13 gallon size) taped over the French doors in the den. It's cloudy today, so its hard to tell, but this is a South-facing exposure that gets brutal sun in the springtime. No leaves on the trees to give shade. This method does the trick! You can also reuse the bag for trash when you're done grafting, so nothing goes to waste.. :)
Ah,I'm using frost fleece doubled up but it still heats the greenhouse too much.Also heats solid bags too much too,I've frazzled a couple of Red Filigrees already.The trash bags look more opaque than my fleece so I'll have to get some(ours are either black or clear)cheers for that idea K4
Took the first 1/2dozen off 'life support' today YAY!...hope I'm not premature.Have been watering with a spray bottle all thru.Didn't realise how mean I was being 'til I measured it today....about 1tbsp each time. Have any of you guys grafted AKA Shigitatsu Sawa?(I'm sure you have)....does it usually come out bright green on a new graft,or could I possibly have a mislabled Shigitatsu Sawa?
Congratulations! That's wonderful that you have some of your babies out of 'intensive care'. I have a number of mine out of the bags as well. Just watch them, and if they show any signs of stress put them back in immediately. A lot of cultivars do not color up well when they sprout indoors in low light. I have some red leaved varieties that are green until they get outside in the sun. Your Aka should show some reticulation, however, no matter what the light level.
Trouble is that with several of these grafts,this is the first time I've laid eyes on the leaves.I grafted AKA and Ariadne the same day but wasn't 100%sure which was which(that'll teach me to buy late in season)Now the other has leafed out,I think maybe the green one was actually Ariadne and I've labelled it wrong.....here's both,what d'ya think?
Houzi, you think you got it bad....Most of my permanent marker I used turns out to be not so permanent on my vinyl labels. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack on some of these....
Phew!..cheers K4,just hope the other's Ariadne. Ha ha,sorry stephen didn't mean to laugh.I bought a Mitsibishi pen for writing on cds,haven't tried it yet though.We've got confused already so I suppose it's not hard to see how cultivars get mixed up in the trade occasionally:)
UPDATE: Here's those same 300 grafts 2 weeks later. Amazing how quick these little buggars grow when the March temps are in the 80s!
holy crap thats awsome, i have a few that i think are going to make it hope i can scale my operation up next year like you guys!
Looking good!! Yes, a few tiny azaleas I got online somewhere. Will probably pot them up this spring.
Got a couple of trays of slow-poke grafts still in the Stuido, but everything else is outside. (see pic). Probably will wind up with about 275 of 500 grafts because of the understock deaths this year....
Wow K4 that is quite a loss in root stock. Mine all came from Heritage as well and all 200 of mine made it. Are you going to try Summer grafting this year? Here are a few of the many I have coming out... Stephen
Yes, I do plan on trying some summer grafts. I guess I could use some feedback on technique, as I have not had much luck with it in the past (summers are VERY hot here).
