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gardener365

Grafts....

gardener365
9 years ago

This is me not going to graft conifers this winter. A year ago "I had made up my mind" I was done!

It's slow here. Greenhouse overnight temps are anywhere from 41-51 and finally the daytime temps are rising so grafts are breaking bud.

Grafts are not seeing as much light as I'd like them to be seeing, additionally.

Dax

Comments (30)

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Juniperus virginiana 'Lebrotni' on a rooted cutting of Hetzii

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Pinus cembra cultivar grafted as a wedge graft (2 of 2 wedge grafts I did were a complete success)

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    wedge graft explanation

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Pinus cembra var. siberica cultivar graft
    *supposedly "var. siberica" is still "cembra"

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Pinus koraiensis cultivar

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Abies concolor 'St. Patricks' to Canaan

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Abies concolor 'Rex #1' to Canaan

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Abies koreana 'Silberpearle' to Canaan

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Pinus pumila 'Blue Note' to strobus

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Abies balsamea cultivar to Canaan

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Abies concolor 'Jeni Rae' to Canaan

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    First pecan(s) I've ever grafted. Scion had "full leaves" so I lopped off the rootstock recently:
    'Hark'

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Pecans grafted a week ago today. Today I came thru and cut off all the rootstocks above the graft which is what you do 7-10 days after they are grafted. (Last photo.)

  • tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
    9 years ago

    Once its in your blood, you just gotta do some more.

    Good luck with those, Dax.

    tj

  • taxo_man
    9 years ago

    Some great looking stuff there.. I especially love the Pecans.

    Jeff

  • mrgpag SW OH Z5/6
    9 years ago

    looks like our "nut" is nuts about nuts

    Marshall

  • sluice
    9 years ago

    Wedge graft - wow! First time I've seen that. Like the firs, and the pecans too.

  • Simoni
    9 years ago

    Dax
    Thank you for sharing, congratulations on your success in grafting needles and deciduous trees!
    L+M S

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you, all.

    Dax

  • maple_grove_gw
    9 years ago

    Very nice, Dax, I love the concolors, especially 'Jeni Rae', interesting foliage on that one.

    I didn't know you could get away with a wedge graft on a pine, nice work there! I guess the critical part will be whether the scion alone will be productive enough to feed the root system.

    It's nice to see that you're not done grafting conifers yet :o)

    Alex

  • alley_cat_gw_7b
    9 years ago

    Really cool Dax, Great work and super job with the photos...Nice

    Al

  • hungrymind
    9 years ago

    Dax, great job not grafting conifers this year! I bet your pumped with the pecans pushing. Your photos are worth a thousand words for me,thanks!

    Rob

  • davidrt28 (zone 7)
    9 years ago

    Wow, very impressive.
    I'm trying my third conifer graft this year...my first two attempts did not work. I think 2 things might have gone wrong: I might not have gotten the cambium layers tightened closely enough to each other, and the wax I used to seal it might have been well above 212F, damaging the cells. This time I tested the temp. and it was 160F. I feel like an idiot not to be able to do this! David Parks of Camellia Forest did a couple grafts for me about a month ago. He makes it look so effortless, and they are already taking. (But fwiw he doesn't do the grafts he offers, still too time consuming. A wholesaler does them for him)

    I have an old Abies concolor in my yard that is dying. Amazing it lasted this long, and the very wet summer 2013 really caused a lot of the top to die back. It won't be a great loss, but I thought I'd try to preserve it on Abies firma.

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Well I'm looking at 95+ percent takes on my conifer grafts it appears. It just takes a little time and for me I graft very slowly.

    Dennis Dodge who taught me how to graft (over emails - mainly words and maybe 20 photos over a period of five years) ... one day he told me that the scions I had sent to him to graft for me (a year I wasn't grafting) - he said to graft the 30 oaks and maybe I'm guessing 5 cultivars of conifers at three scions per cultivar..... (45) grafts - he said it took him all day. And that's how I graft. Very slowly, cautiously, and intentionally.

    That rubbermaid up there has 19 pecan grafts. I spent eight hours grafting those. I'll tell ya though the reason it took a very long time. They were bare-root and not straight nearly anywhere on them. Plus the scions don't flex the slightest. I'd get one side to finally touch all the way from the top to the bottom of the cut with the bud strip wrapped (with gaps) and then I'd look at the other side and it wasn't touching/"making contact." Let me tell you it was the biggest nightmare of my life. Bud strips were breaking, I know I put too much pressure when I doubled up on bud strips - I felt I was girdling "the graft" but I really had no other choice but to wrap them extremely tight... it's much easier to work with 1/4" caliper and especially straight rootstocks. Then, try to imagine wrapping something that isn't anchored in a pot and is three feet tall with a 24" root that I clipped to a respectable 12-15". It was difficult and I'll leave things at that.

    When I was finally done I felt like I would be lucky to get 25%. It will be interesting.

    Thanks for your comments.

    Dax

  • unprofessional
    9 years ago

    You and I are going to have to talk nuts/oaks some more this year.

    I've got an ash broom I'm chip budding with your name on it, buddy.

    Jonathon

  • bengz6westmd
    9 years ago

    I'm impressed too. Takes some effort & practice to get reliable results like Dax & maple-grove.

    I like the Juniperus virginiana 'Lebrotni' -- quite dense foliage for VA juniper.

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Anytime, Jon, and thank you.

    Dax

  • Cher
    9 years ago

    Great shots. That wedge graft is very interesting to see. Sounds like you are going to have a pecan grove. That will be wonderful.
    Cher

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Lebrotni is real neat. Birds build a nest in it every year, too.

    I received it as a 4" cutting a decade ago.

  • gardener365
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Hello Cher,

    I'll have (5) pecans spaced for 60' diameter (landscape). That deciduous patch viewable in the Lebrotni photo is quite large and I'm going to add pecans after I remove patches of junk trees. That soil is "hickory loam," it's like it was meant to be all along.

    Those (5) landscape pecans will be perfect for additional income and for snacking year-round, and for wildlife. One of my grafts will be planted as a pollinator for a pecan I purchased this spring called 'Dumbell Lake.' Nolin River Nut Tree Nursery is where I bought it & they shipped a superb (roots = A+) 5-6' tree.

    Dax