How long do scions remain viable for?

[Mvule101]

Hi there

I live in Uganda and after this crazy season of COVID I was wondering when I visit the US if it would be viable to bring back some scions of named fruit varieties to graft on to my own trees.

The fruit I was thinking of were:
1. Mango
2. Annona
3. Star fruit
4. Loquat

So I was wondering. How long would they be viable for as it is a long journey and I live far from the international airport. They would need to remain viable for three weeks or more.

Secondly, given that I dont have experience grafting are these fruit fairly easy for a newbie to graft?

Thanks for your help!

John

[palingkecil]

Loquat is one of the easiest I've tried. I am a newbie with shaky hands, and my success rate with loquat is above 90%. One loquat scion was in the fridge for a little over a month, and it still made it well. Just need to keep the scions moist and in low temperature.

[JakeFruit]

Truly Tropical did a little video experimenting with mango scion viability under different time/temp conditions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEIATEPT0cM
I can't recall exactly what the results were, but I generally think anything over a week old (even if wrapped properly) is facing an uphill battle to take.

[Mvule101]

Thank you this is helpful

[Mike T]

Wow I had better not send any lychee or atemoya scions to California then if they have no chance.

[shpaz]

Mango scions will not survive for 2 weeks and I have tried 3 times. I know that Guava scions will survive 2 weeks easily.

[fruitlovers]

All depends on packing and temperature. If you could keep them cool in an ice chest it would help a lot. But 3 weeks is too much for most. If you could cut the time down to 2 weeks you could have a lot of success. You might also want to practice grafting before you make the trip.

[Mvule101]

Truly Tropical did a little video experimenting with mango scion viability under different time/temp conditions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEIATEPT0cM
I can't recall exactly what the results were, but I generally think anything over a week old (even if wrapped properly) is facing an uphill battle to take.

Thank you this is a really helpful video. From this video scions up to two weeks in the fridge will take.

Thank you for the link!

[Mvule101]

All depends on packing and temperature. If you could keep them cool in an ice chest it would help a lot. But 3 weeks is too much for most. If you could cut the time down to 2 weeks you could have a lot of success. You might also want to practice grafting before you make the trip.

Yes! definitely I do need to practice!

 Two weeks may well be possible. It all depends on the program of other family members!... and getting the supplier to ship them close to the day of travel. Definitely food for thought! Do you think this is true of most fruit species? or just mango?

[fruitlovers]

All depends on packing and temperature. If you could keep them cool in an ice chest it would help a lot. But 3 weeks is too much for most. If you could cut the time down to 2 weeks you could have a lot of success. You might also want to practice grafting before you make the trip.

Yes! definitely I do need to practice!

 Two weeks may well be possible. It all depends on the program of other family members!... and getting the supplier to ship them close to the day of travel. Definitely food for thought! Do you think this is true of most fruit species? or just mango?

Mangoes and loquat should be no problem. Don't know about the annona and starfruit.