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nday_gw

Jade grafting update

nday
13 years ago

Hey everyone,

A while back I posted a question about if grafting jades was possible. I didn't get a conclusive response, so I decided to experiment and see what I could do. People knew it could be done, but no one that responded had successfully done it.

Either over Christmas break or spring break, I whacked one of my large jades. I also lopped a branch from another one of my jades and cut both at a diagonal. I matched up the segments and wrapped twine around the stem since I only had a night to do it and had no quality grafting materials around. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of that stage of the process.

I just got back home yesterday, and over those few months it looks like the graft took. Here are the pictures:

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This is the plant with the twine still attached. The entire top foliage is grafted on.

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Closeup of twine & graft.

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Twine removed.

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Closeup on graft after twine. Note the aerial roots it tried to develop before (I assume) the graft took.

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Another closeup. Here you can see where the real meat of the graft took.

With the success of this project, I really want to try a FrankenJade with branches of hobbit, gollum, compact, normal, hummel's sunset etc. It would take time, though, and right now the only other variety I have is a small gollum. Someday, though...

Comments (10)

  • nday
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Sorry about the huge size of the pictures! I thought image shack resized them, but apparently not.

  • nday
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Also, here are some pics of another project. I'm trying to graft these two trunks together while growing it around a hunk of granite. We'll see what happens. The granite is already starting to get swallowed around the edges.

    {{gwi:550145}}
    The whole plant.

    {{gwi:550146}}
    A closeup on the granite chunk.

  • blutarski
    13 years ago

    neat. some questions:

    before removing the twine, did you notice the leaves on the grafted on part swell when you watered the entire plant? i'm guessing that's a good way to tell if the graft took.

    how sturdy is the link between the two pieces?

  • nday
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    The leaves are mostly plumped back up now, but I can tell that there's not enough space for enough water to get completely through, because some are still sort of wrinkly, while on a normal jade I'd think they'dve plumped up by now.

    The link is fairly sturdy - after I removed the twine, I transported the jade out of my room, down the stairs and out onto the porch without supporting the top part. This morning I noticed that the weight of the leaves was bending the top part at the graft, but it still held. I reinforced it with some wire and am going to whack the top later this evening.

  • norma_2006
    13 years ago

    I tried grafting four different with no success. Norma

  • nday
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Norma-

    Do you mean you tried grafting four different kinds of jades together, like Gollum and regular?

  • gehidore
    10 years ago

    I realize this is an old thread but it gave me hope that I could save my broken Jade that met with gravity and the floor yesterday, I fear if the graft doesn't take I'll have to prune the other side to balance it out or keep it with a permanent crutch.

    This was my first attempt last night using only a pink shotgun shell hull, black string, kabob skewers, toothpicks and some black electrical tape.
    {{gwi:550147}}
    {{gwi:550148}}

    This is my second attempt and I'm sealing the seams of the wound with wax the same as I have with hybridized fruit trees to keep it from oxidizing and sealing off the capillaries before the graft takes.
    {{gwi:550149}}

    I really hope this takes, I grew this baby from a little pair of 1/2" leaves I found at my folks ship center in a box of packing peanuts 18 years ago.

    -Beaver

  • gehidore
    10 years ago

    Well as I suspected a 90 degree graft was a bad idea...
    The wax cracked when I moved it days after the first post I made and I noticed that the edges had already contracted...

    I noticed a few days ago that it appeared that *if* the graft had taken it was only thru an area just smaller than a pencil...

    Then yesterday morning I came out to the studio to find the graft had fallen off completely.

    {{gwi:550150}}

    {{gwi:550151}}

    Decided to try *once* more this time with an offset V cut, and using a small miter gauge to assure the cuts were 100% straight.

    I used medical wrap, latex free, that sticks to itself and wrapped that sucker as tight as I could get it. When done I couldn't wiggle the grafted branch at all.

    {{gwi:550152}}

    {{gwi:550153}}

    {{gwi:550154}}

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    I ended up adding a single strand of black tape at the center most point of the graft as it appeared that overnight the cooling of the house had let the medical wrap loosen a little.

    Hopefully this time it takes, if it does I think next summer I'll dock the dangling branch on the left and the new plant at the base and graft those to the central stalk of this plant see if I can't rebuild some of the lost foliage.

  • gehidore
    10 years ago

    Nearly Complete failure on this one. I think it got a little too humid out here and she rotted.

    {{gwi:550158}}

  • kaktuskris
    10 years ago

    I am beginning to think grafting a Jade is not possible. I have not heard one story of a successful attempt.

    Christopher

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