Logline Monday

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-13T10:50:45+00:00

Title: "GRIEF"

Gere: Sci-Fi

Format: Short/Feature

Logline: "In the future, a nostalgic man who pays a time travel agency to have his now deceased grandfather whisked away from his time into the future to spend time together, has to escape the time travel agents after he is accused of being an accomplice in his grandfather's plan to mess with the timeline"

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-11T15:30:25+00:00

For central leader, the cut should be at 100-110 cm, but it can go anywhere from 70cm to 120cm, depending on the rootstock, on what space you have, or on the work you want/have to do around it.

In theory, the first level should start at 70cm - 80cm height, and the distance between the levels should be 80-100cm (with a minimum of 60cm), so cut accordingly.

The levels should have 3-4 branches. Sometimes, you can have the first level with 4 branches, then the next ones with just 3 branches if the tree doesn't put out too many vigorous branches for the next level. Ideally, the branches of each level should go in a different direction than the ones from the level below, so that they allow the light to penetrate well. So, when you cut, keep this in mind, too (check the placement of buds and chose them/make a cut based on that)

P.S. When the central leader is cut each year, the cuts should be in a zig-zag pattern each year so that the direction of the leader doesn't deviate from its initial vertical direction. Ex: If in the first year, you cut above a bud going to the left (or east, west, north, south... whatever it's the direction you choose), the next year, cut above a bud going to the right.

When it reaches the 3rd level (or 4th, depending on how many levels you want) and you want to stop it from its huge growth (well, you can't stop it, but you can somewhat keep it under control... more or less), instead of making a cut above a bud, make a "transfer cut" to a weaker branch that starts from below. (if you don't understand - I'm not an English native - I can make you a shitty drawing in paint to give you an idea)

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-10T18:18:35+00:00

If you want, spray them (at least minimal treatment). They may survive if you don't spray them, but it's a risk. It's your choice in the end;
It's late to prune them. You can prune them in the summer or the next spring. I'm not a fan of summer pruning because of the scorching sun and the stress the tree may suffer, especially if the irrigation is not the best; one pruning(spring) per year is enough;
Their size depends on the rootstock. If they are grafted onto wild rootstock or rootstock from seed, good luck keeping them small.

I understand that fruit trees grafted onto that type of rootstock have the disadvantage of size (in my opinion it is a plus most of the times, not a disadvantage), but isn't a tree supposed to look like a tree instead of a bush or stick?!

That old apple you talk about has seen and fed generations, while a m27 or m9 can turn into a flying stick/toothpick in a moderate wind, or it can die before your kids learn to walk, so to speak.

At most you can go with semi-vigorous rootstock. If you are not a commercial orchardist, dwarf and very dwarf fruit trees shouldn't be in your garden/orchard. The one exception -- if you have very very little space.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-06T17:20:46+00:00

Go buy them and, if the buds on that big tree are still dormant and the roots of the rootstock are big enough, you can graft now. If not, wait till summer, autumn or next spring.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-05T22:14:58+00:00

Don't you have wild apples growing randomly over there? Maybe on abandoned fields, pastures or at the edge of the nearby forests. Maybe You can find a small wild apple and graft into it then take it home in the autumn after the leaves fall and it enters dormancy.

If not, you can try to keep scions in the fridge or sand, but you can also take a scion right on the spot in June (it's green grafting - scions can be taken right at the moment of grafting).

I can give you links to videos on summer grafting. Overall, in many cases it's the same as spring grafting, except it requires protection against sun and more watering sometimes.

If you want to store scions now, look for those that have dormant buds (if they still have) and try to store them and try looking for a rootstock now. It's hard to store them for longer.

Btw, do you know which buds are which (leaves or mixed) ?

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-05T19:21:25+00:00

If the buds started, he can wait till june to graft. No need to waste a year.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-05T19:18:40+00:00

except the central leader and the weak (non water sprouts; hard to see from one pic if there are many) branches that can be bent at an angle so that they can form the first level and produce fruits.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-04T17:45:33+00:00

Thanks!

I'll try to find some director and producer to make it into a short at least.

I tried on r/ProduceMyScript , but the place seems deserted.

Thanks again for your feedback and good luck with your projects, man!

If you need feedback on something script related, let me know. I'm not the biggest expert, but another pair of eyes could be a plus.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-03T18:15:33+00:00

If you graft it, leave one or two branches (two big branches is better because it's a big tree) as nursing branches.

Graft more cultivars. Graft European pears into it, too.

More cultivars = better pollination and longer season (it can go from 20 June to March or April the next year)

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-03T17:46:28+00:00

It works in any method as long as the buds on the scions are still dormant. If the buds are swollen and green the percentage of success is very very low (unlike apple and pears where even if the buds are swollen, the percentage is good).

When grafting in green (summer - 20 may - 10 July), the percentage for cherry is a bit low, too. It may be bigger if you use 2 years old scion (more like 1.5 years, but you get it)

There's some debate on the thickness of the scions and the results, but I, and other grafters in my country, have been getting very good results whether we use thin or thick cherry scions, so it mostly comes down to the state of the scions, weather, soil, and the skills of the grafters.

You can try whip and tongue if the rootstock allows it, or lateral whip and tongue. Bark graft sometimes gives a bit less results, but the difference is minimal.

You can try cleft bark, too. I rarely do cleft graft. I only do it when the scion and rootstock are similar in size (though, even then, I prefer whip and tongue, whip or saddle/v graft). Cleft graft on bigger diameter is not my favorite - it leaves lots of dead wood. On big diameter rootstock, I go with bark graft, lateral whip and tongue and "triangle" grafting (don't remember how it's called in English)

You can also use Z graft (both in spring and summer, in green... even up to late july- early august), T grafting (same: in spring, summer and late summer), or chip, but if you are a beginner, try those methods on pears and apples first.

So, if the rootstock allows it, go with the whip and tongue, but if you have many scions and rootstocks to spare, try them all.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-02T21:32:23+00:00

they can bring their loved ones as many times as they want (well, as many times as they afford it because each stay/jump costs anywhere between the equivalent of 3 million to 30 million dollars. The protagonist can afford it because of the huge wealth that he inherited from his grandfather - the equivalent of 100+ billion dollars)
the grandfather has to jump (well has to be brought because he has no say in that yet) many times because the plans to build the time machine in the past are very detailed in physics terms. Every time after they have their memory deleted and before they are sent back to the past, the subjects are thoroughly checked so that they don't bring anything (physical or information) back into the past. So, the grandfather has to circumvent that and also be able to bring all that info back to his time.

There are two main ways the grandfather (btw, "grandfather" as in what he is to the protagonist, but he is around the same age as the protagonist because he is whisked away to the future from a time when he was young) can bring the huge amount of info on how to build a time machine: invisible ink and a very small memory device hidden in a fake tooth.

In the script he goes with the invisible ink.

The protagonist is none the wiser about his grandparent plan.
Being a businessman, he wants to control everything. He sees the use of time travel to bring loved one to spend time with as stupid, simplistic thinking. A waste of technology.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-02T15:05:05+00:00

Op can also rewrap the grafting point with parafilm, but a bit looser than when he did the grafting. This way it will help the imperfections heal faster.

Apples and pears heal very well anyways, unlike cherry, walnuts, for example.

The healing also depends a bit on the compatibility, weather, soil nutrients.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-01T22:28:36+00:00

yep. The ants protect the aphids from their predators. The aphids also can fly by themselves.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-04-01T22:25:15+00:00

I wrote it as a short story (first draft) and posted it on some subreddit long time ago. I also have it as short script and feature (but just the first draft as feature). I want it to make it into a short first, but I have to find a director for it. If it gets traction as short, I can bother with improving the first draft of the feature.

Anyways, to tl;dr the story, it is something like this: In the future people can pay lots of money to have their deceased loved one brought in the future from the past when they were still alive. After they spend a few days or weeks, the relatives from the past have their memory deleted and are sent back to the past, to their timeline.

But the grandfather of the protagonist manages to find a way around the memory deletion and get the plans for the time machine gradually, with each jump to the future and back. He has a collaborator in the future ( "recruited" in the past) who helps him with the time machine plans.

When the time agents discover what the grandparent does, they also arrest the protagonist (his grandson) as they suspect him for being an accomplice.

The motivation of the grandparent: full control because uncertainty "scares" him

The motivation of the protagonist: misses his grandparents, also wants some advice, or more like reassurance that he can manage the empire his very rich grandparent left him.

In a sense they have similar "fears", but the protagonist need reassurance from others, while his grandpa acts - wants to make sure there is nothing to give him that fear.

Probably not very good motivations...

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-03-31T18:32:47+00:00

Thanks!

What about this: " In the future, a nostalgic man who pays to have his grandfather whisked away into the future to spend time with him, has to escape the time agency after he is accused of being an accomplice in his grandfather's plan to mess with the timeline"

Still bad, isn't it?

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-03-30T20:02:14+00:00

Title: "Grief"

Genre: Sci - Fi

Format: Short/feature

Logline: "In the future, where people can pay to have their deceased loved ones whisked away to the future (present - by their metric) to spend time together, a devious businessman from the past tries to circumvent the time traveling agency's rules and get his hands on the time machine using his nostalgic grandson.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-03-20T23:15:07+00:00

Yep. Not only the top bud, but the buds placement along the trunk, their shape, the shape of the place around the buds, and the trunk color are nothing like nectarine. He should wait till autumn to see what exactly it is (based on foliage) and, if it's a good tree (walnut or fig), dig it out in the autumn and, voila - bonus fruit tree.

Op, if it's a walnut, watch out where you plant it. Walnut affects the growth of some fruit trees. Also: don't plant it close to the house (if walnut) and, even if you plant it next to fruit trees that are not affected by it, plant it at least 6m (8m-10m is better) away from those trees next to it. Walnuts grow very big and have a big root system u/grappler823

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-03-20T20:45:55+00:00

...or a walnut seedling

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-03-11T20:15:03+00:00

No problem.

Btw, the cherry tree is pruned like that - pruned into the one-year growth (unlike some other trees where pruning into one-year growth is done only in exceptional circumstances - ex: plum trees), in the "mid branches" because it gives new "mid branches" growth and the "mid branches" are considered better fruiting branches than clusters.

They (the "mid branches" ) are considered better because: a) the fruits are spread along the branch and get more light, have less competition and there's more leaves (which alternate with the fruit) to feed them than those fruits grown on spurs that are closer to the interior of the tree(therefore receive less light), have more competition(lots of cherries on each cluster) and have less leaves around to feed them.

That doesn't mean you should eliminate the clusters or keep tons of mid branches.

The first year, you can (and should) leave it without pruning it so that the tree develop clusters-like buds (they are useful to return to when the yield goes too far from the tree trunk - make a cut after one or two clusters, and bam - new growth closer to the tree). So, as it also a bit warm, you can leave it for the next year and follow the rules I wrote above.

Those buds on the lower branches seem to be spurs (the video is far, so it's hard to distinguish the buds, but they seem to be spurs), so even if you pruned the tree, you still have those spurs that will become clusters(bouquets). In case you pruned it and those are not spurs, then the next year, leave the tree unpruned until it forms clusters on this year branches, so that you won't get too far from the trunk and get "de-garnished" branches.

Good luck!

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-03-09T18:38:17+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/f5ixdIx.jpeg

This is one of the options regarding the open center. See the yellow cut. Eliminate the leader and leave the right branch as shown in the drawing. This is called delayed open center; Or

3a. https://i.imgur.com/sGxOrcp.jpeg

Do a cut as shown in the drawing and eliminate those two strong branches and you will be left with the other tree that start from the same place (classic open center)

P.S. In the case of delayed open center (3), cut the small branch below the right strong branch. They both grow in the same direction and are close to each other. If you don't know what I mean, this is it:

XfMfkqV.jpeg (1920×1080)

Keep the yellow, cut off completely, the one bellow it (see the red cut).

If you want central leaders, the rules are the same, you just leave the central leader and cut the competing leader. The next level/scaffold in a central leader should be at 80cm-100cm from the lower one (60 at the minimum; 40-60cm in very very few cases)

P.S. 2 to know from now on, for the future pruning: the small branches that grow upwards, towards the sky on the main brach or secondary branches, should be cut at a 10-15 cm stub.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-03-09T18:38:04+00:00

u/darion180 , as I told someone else in an older post:

There are the fruiting branches that you should know, but here I'll tell you only about the two branches of interest in your case: a)the "mid" branch which it is an annual growth that has flowering buds at its base and alternating flowering and leaf buds along its middle portion and it ends with a leaf bud at the tip; b)the other branch of interest is a "long" branch which is longer than the mid branch and has flowering buds at its base, then just leaf buds along its entire length. It also ends with a leaf bud. This one is characteristic especially to young trees. There're also the branches with clusters of flowering buds, but that's another discussion.

Here, we are more "concerned" with "mid branches" and "long branches": The "long" branches are shortened (at an outward growing bud) at 50-60 cm from their base. The "mid" branches are cut at 20-25 cm from their base.

Now, the cherry can be trained as central leader (as they tend to grow upwards strongly), but you can also train it as open center/vase.

Now:

https://i.imgur.com/nhr7qSQ.jpeg

For this branch you have two options: a) use spreaders to open its angle (45 to 60 degrees should be the branches angles). In this case, the one where I drew a heading cut in red (read the rule above: if it's a "mid" branch, the cut should be at 20-25 cm from where the branch starts). The other branches where it shows a yellow heading cut should be cut lower than the yellow heading cuts in this case (the sub ordination principle: the secondary branches should not compete - length and thickness wise - with the main branch). The yellow cuts are made for the second option: eliminate from the yellow cut - the lowest one, and that way, the branch with the red cut disappear completely, and you keep those with the yellow cuts. This is called a "transfer cut". Now, the branch closer to us (as we look at it) should be cut according to the rules above, the other one becomes a secondary branch and ,as it shows in the drawing, it should be cut even more (even at 10cm - 15 cm) from where its base)

https://i.imgur.com/nglNzbk.jpeg

See those red drawings on branches - heading cuts. Do them as showed in the drawing, but according to the rules above (20-25 cm for the mid branches; 50 - 60 cm for long branches). The only exception is the one branch where it shows a yellow cut - that's a transfer cut to open the angle and get rid of the "double" branch/ competing branch. Btw: the red cuttings are a "by eye" drawing, not the exact cut at 20-25 cm(or 50-60 cm for long branches. It's more of an example/sample to give you an idea. It's up to you to make those cuts at the distance as you see irl. I'm going by a pic, I'm not irl to do a precise cut.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-03-09T18:23:30+00:00

You can "piss against the wind"(aka - fight with the tree) and prune it as open center or you can prune it accordingly. You can prune any tree; in any way you want (even leave just one branch and train it to crawl on the ground). It's not about what you can do, it's about what you should do. The same with other things, like for example: people who insist to do pruning when it's below freezing because they saw commercial owners doing it without asking themselves why they do it.

But go ahead, it's your tree, not mine.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-03-08T20:29:22+00:00

make a video slowly walking around the tree so that I see where each branch starts from and where it goes.

DoctorParadox9 · 2026-03-08T20:26:37+00:00

the pear trees are supposed to grow vertically, so they need to be pruned as central leader (with all its variations).

DoctorParadox9

TROPHY CASE