Scion Wood: What Wood to Collect and Why

[Kent Eddy]

The best scion wood is wood from the sunny side of the tree, up in the
canopy, coming UP off the main branch at about 45° to 60°. Avoid wood
hanging down, growing horizontally or straight up (water shoots).
Watershoots have a lot of auxins (hormones) which slow down the
fruiting of your new tree plus they are too vegetative and contain
fewer carbohydrates. Terminal buds produce auxin so cut off the
terminal bud and don’t make it part of your three-bud scion.
Horizontal branches have lots of FRUIT buds and you want LEAF buds to
make your new tree grow in the first year. Wood which hangs down is
weak wood. If the new growth is only 2"-3", this will be weak wood and
it is difficult to get a good three-bud scion.
Also, to avoid collecting the wrong wood by accident, collect your
scion wood BEFORE you winter prune...not just after pruning from
branches laying on the ground.

Bag and Label your scions as you collect them. Don't rely on your
memory. They all start to look like little sticks after awhile!

[MrWhitetail]

I have read one university paper that said not to use water sprouts, but I know of one highly respected and sought after professional grafter that routinely uses water sprouts. He and his crew have grafted literally millions of fruit trees (mostly apples I believe) over the last 40+ years so it seems like water sprouts would be fine. I actually think they would be preferred because of their high vigor from the auxins that would produce plenty of vegetative growth. Since the hormone levels change with branch angle I don't think the high levels of auxins would have any bearing on the future fruiting capabilities of the newly grafted tree.

Anybody have any thoughts/opinions on my line of thinking here?

[Brian Lynch]

If you want to graft a three bud scion, the wood from the water sprout will typically be longer (since it was growing faster) than the wood Eddy is suggesting. Larger scion grafts seem to be more likely to dry out and/or break off before the union heals.

That being said, I'm just happy when the scion wood I have is A) correctly labeled, and B) roughly matches up with the size of branch I want to graft onto.

--Brian

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[Prof. Kent]

Water sprouts have less carbohydrates. Think of it as lest fat on the bone. The scions are more successful if they have more energy in them to help them stay alive and heal into a graft. I have used water sprouts when I didn't have other scions the of variety I wanted.

[MrWhitetail]

Have you noticed any difference in your success rate when you used water sprouts?

If I do a scion exchange with anyone on here or otherwise I think I will try to follow your guidelines if at all possible, but regardless I will give all the details on exactly what kind of scionwood I am collecting so the other person knows exactly what they are getting if they want to swap.

[Kent Eddy]

No, I haven't noticed any difference in your success rate when I used water sprouts. I never label what kind of scions are cut (water sprouts or otherwise). Like I said earlier, I choose scions other than water sprouts when available. Also,when grafting I choose the scion with the correct diameter first (cleft graft)). Non-water-sprouts also have closer buds.

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- Kent Eddy

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