Top working project

[sunworshiper]

Hi all. I've decided to top work my cogshall. Pretty tree but the fruit don't ripen well - jelly seed and soft nose.  I'm  making the cuts for e top work and would love some opinions on where to place them.

Tree before I started with some frost damage.



Bulk off so I can see the scaffolds



Some big cuts made leavin a nurse branch on the left




Had hoped to keep the y half of the biggest cut in this pic. But there was some dead wood - I took off half the y to get to healthy wood - so opinions - leave half the y or cut clean below it leaving a stub on the primary scaffold? Here's a close up

[sunworshiper]

Here's the close up

[mangomongo]

I have a general question on topworki to slow growing cultivars.

It you were to top work a vigorous type to an Established slow growing type. I.e. peach cobbler or the legendary Orange sherbert to a Cogshall on a turpentine root stock would you still get vigorous growth on your new cultivator, as in would the Cogshall trunk grow fast enough to support sustained vigor? Or would the new cultivator reach a point where it is significantly slowed with a dwarfing effect from the Cogshall?

[skhan]

Here's the close up

I'm a sucker for symmetry (or as close to it as i can get)
I'd remove that lateral nub and graft the varieties to the new lateral shoots that emerge from the vertical nub.

Then I'd remove the nursing branches next year.

[skhan]

I have a general question on topworki to slow growing cultivars.

It you were to top work a vigorous type to an Established slow growing type. I.e. peach cobbler or the legendary Orange sherbert to a Cogshall on a turpentine root stock would you still get vigorous growth on your new cultivator, as in would the Cogshall trunk grow fast enough to support sustained vigor? Or would the new cultivator reach a point where it is significantly slowed with a dwarfing effect from the Cogshall?

I always wondered this myself.
It doesn't look like my Cac/Coc grafted onto a Kiett on Turp is slowing down though

[Squam256]

I have a general question on topworki to slow growing cultivars.

It you were to top work a vigorous type to an Established slow growing type. I.e. peach cobbler or the legendary Orange sherbert to a Cogshall on a turpentine root stock would you still get vigorous growth on your new cultivator, as in would the Cogshall trunk grow fast enough to support sustained vigor? Or would the new cultivator reach a point where it is significantly slowed with a dwarfing effect from the Cogshall?

It will likely grow just as vigorously.

[sunworshiper]

Skhan- thanks for the input! Glad you think the vertical looks good.  Because I'm a zone pusher I want multiple graft points to hedge bets against cold years. So I am planning to try to retain all three existing primary scaffolds. The grafts will become the secondary scaffolds. I'd graft to two this season, then stub the nurse branch back next year and graft to it. I've had good results with this approach on the last tree I top worked. I was really glad I had extra graft points as hurricane Irma took out an entire scaffold. I like symmetry too, but like you said - when you can get it!

As far as I know grafting a vigorous variety onto a slow grower will still be vigorous- would love for that to not be true since I have to keep my trees small enough to cold protect. But I am limiting my top working choices to varieties known to be able to be maintained small. So I gave no personal experience to relate.