You're welcome! Before doing anything, you may want to take some canes you were going to prune off anyway, and use your budding knife or single edged razor blade to practice lifting the bark to expose the cambium layer. You can also practice slicing out the buds so you will have a bit of experience removing them from the rose you wish to replicate. You need cambium tissue on the back of the scion (bud you wish to insert into the stock) and on the surface of the stock for the scion to grow to. Once you see what it takes to have cambium tissue on both pieces, you are ready to move on. Preventing the bud from drying out is so easy, you'll probably wonder why you didn't think of it. Do you have any jar lids you're about to throw into the trash? How about small, shallow saucers you can put some water in so you have something to keep the buds wet until they are inserted? Yup, that's all it takes. Mel Hulse, who was the Volunteer Coordinator for the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden in San Jose, CA, used to keep them on his tongue until he inserted them. It works, but isn't something I would suggest for a variety of reasons. Not the least of which is, do you really KNOW what chemicals may have been used on the rose you are putting pieces of into your mouth? A jar lid or saucer works just fine and doesn't potentially expose you to any harmful products. I also like wetting the exposed cambium on the stock before inserting the bud, but I also live in a very hot, arid climate (inland valley, just north of Los Angeles, where it is to be between 100 and 107 F for the next five days). I've found by wetting the exposed cambium and the bud, they stick together quite well while I fumble with the tape I'm wrapping them with. As long as you have good cambium to cambium contact; you don't let the bud dry out prior to inserting it; it's tied in tightly to prevent movement and water loss before it knits; you don't let the stock dry out while it is knitting, you should see success in the three or so week period. The only caveat I can think of outside of this is, September may be a bit late for budding in your climate and particularly with your stock. I don't know which stock was used to create your standard, nor how long it remains suitable for budding in your climate. If the sap isn't flowing sufficiently in the stock, it may affect how well, how quickly, or even IF the pieces will knit together. Anything you can do to keep the standard actively pushing new growth during this period should help. If you can get the buds to knit to the stock, you might want to wait until next spring to sever the budded mini. I don't know whether the buds will push between now and winter on the stock you're using, nor whether you will be easily able to root the budded mini this time of year. The buds will successfully hold until next spring as long as they are knitted to the stock. Next spring, you can sever them from each other, the buds should begin pushing as the weather warms and the budded mini may be easier to root in the warming weather. Just some thoughts. Not that it can't work. I'm just not sufficiently familiar with attempting what you want to do in your climate. Good luck with them! It will be an interesting experiment. Kim

If the recipe contains honey, adding commercial pectin won't help because (with the exception of Pomona's) honey+pectin=syrup. Honey presents some challenges in jam-making. Generally it doesn't react with the fruit and acid in the same way as sugar. It has a different structure and the results will also be different. Honey is acid. In one way it's an advantage in that it makes honey a less-hospitable environment for bacteria, but the acid in the honey can throw off the sugar-acid-pectin balance. Honey is more liquid, and you have to cook the jam longer to a higher temperature than sugar to achieve a set. So the best option at this point would be to put the jam back in the pan and cook it some more. It might be safest (less risk of over-cooking and getting a scorched or caramelized flavor) to put it in a shallow pan in the oven and a fairly low temp and cook it until it's the thickness you like. What you'd basically be doing is "dehydrating" the jam but it's the least-invasive best-control method for driving off any excess water remaining. For future reference, the rule of thumb is with added pectin you can replace up to one cup of the sugar with one cup of honey. If its a "no-commercial-pectin" recipe, you can replace up to half the sugar with honey. Honey does have more sweetening power and at higher levels not only are there problems with the gel but also the flavor of the honey tends to mask the flavor of the fruit. Good luck and let us know how things turn out. Carol

Seysonn, Here's a few examples. Not of kiwi in all cases, but the basic problem of not verifying what "experts say" on the Internet or taking statements out of context: Wikipedia's article on Vinegar - surely an authority, yes? "The pH of apple cider vinegar is typically between pH 4.25 and 5.00 if undiluted." Or you see one of those little excerpts under a returned search engine link that reads "The kiwi fruit has an average acidity measured at 9.5 pH." or "...kiwifruit...pH of 5.0 to 6.5..." Um, really? 1st example is dead wrong and the second is taken out of context highlighting only search terms and references a soil pH for growing kiwis. Does everybody click on the link to read the WHOLE article? Not likely. Then you get into the whole alkaline vs. acid food thing where the food ash (after you digest it) is determined to be alkaline (good) or acid (bad) . Like this one: ALKALINE FRUITS Apples and Cider Apricots Avocados Bananas (speckled only) Berries Breadfruit Cacius Cantaloupe Carob - pod only Charlmoyes CRANBERRIES Cherries Citron Currants Dates Figs Grapes Grapefruit Guavas Kumquats Lemons - ripe Limes Loquats Mangoes Melons, all Nectarines Olives, sundried Papaya Passionfruit Peaches Pears Persimmons Pineapples PLUMS Pomegranates PRUNES & JUICE Quince Raisins Saponins Tamarind Tangerines Tomatoes Are they "wrong"? In some cases, blatantly so. In others, acid vs. alkaline are used in a different context than we use here for determining safe canning procedures. I'm sure, when you do your own research, you will find many more alleged examples. This post was edited by malna on Tue, Nov 5, 13 at 9:36

I would recommend a mixture of Boiled Linseed oil and Turpentine. The mixture is sometimes called Bloturp or Blopentine. It will treat and protect the raw wood and prevent drying out. It's a 50/50 mix and apply your mix liberally especially at open grain...let sit for a few minutes then wipe off the excess with a paper towel or rag. If you get Pure Gum Spirits of Turpentine it will have less of a smell than your standard turpentine. Some variation add 20% penetrol (40%/40%20%) to the mix to add penetration into the wood. I've also seen formulas that add bees wax to the mix. Let it dry and if desired you can wax the jambs with a hard bees wax. Be careful as rags with oil can ignite if balled up and thrown in the trash. Spray with water and let sit out to dry.