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wildforager

My Fig Tree Grafts

wildforager
13 years ago

Hello,

I just wanted to show everyone my successful fig grafts! I tried to graft my large Strawbery Verte tree last season but none of the grafts took. Two things that I learned from that are... 1. Don't graft too early, graft when the buds on the mother tree are just starting to swell. 2. Use a plastic bag to increase humidity and minimize the drying out of the scion/ cutting. Check out the pics below. Hope this inspires others to try to graft some of their fig trees!

Thanks,

Little John

Comments (7)

  • Dennis AKA Snaglpus
    13 years ago

    Great success Littlejohn! I've been thinking about trying grafting but not sure how, what or why. I need to read up on that and give it a try. Can you expand on what you did? What did you use to hold the joint together? I got 2 Black Madeira growing strong in superpots and they have figs on them. I recieved some Black Madeira cuttings weeks ago. All rooted but one but I have faith! So, now I will have 5 Black Madeira trees. I have a 2 year old LSU Purple that is growing too fast for its container. I'm going to plant it in the ground this afternoon. I may graft one of my Black Madeira trees to the LSU Purple and see what happens. Again, good job! Dennis

  • Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
    13 years ago

    Why would you graft? Like to get 2 or 3 varieties on one tree? Just curious. Grapevines MUST be grafted to phyloxerra (evil root eating bug) resistant root stock, but Figs are hardy on their own roots.

  • giants_2007
    13 years ago

    Real Nice John How many different varieties and what are they
    Sal

  • wildforager
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I grafted one other variety onto the mother tree for more variety. The mother tree is kind of a slow grower and produces green figs with red flesh. The scions that I grafted onto some of the branches are black figs. I'm calling the new variety cuttings "Black Israel". The cuttings came from a friend of my fathers in Florida. She has a large tree in her yard that the previous owner originally got from Israel. Next year I'll graft on another kind as well. I'm on my way to making a franken tree! This is also beneficial because I have limited space in my greenhouse and I want diversity with my figs. I hope to have quite a contrast of colored fruit on the tree.

    Thanks,
    Little John

  • dieseler
    13 years ago

    Hi Little John,
    first Way to Go !!!
    It must be very exciting wondering how the main crop eventually turns out heck im excited to see pictures one day of your crop of figs. ; )
    Sounds like your having a ton of fun and thats great.
    Martin

  • wildforager
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks for the encouragement Martin. Yup, I'm having fun!

    Dennis, the type of graft that I used was a cleft graft. You can see a good tutorial from another fig forum member through the link below. I used rubber electrical splicing tape (not vinyl tape) to bind the union and covered it with a tar like substance aka tree wound sealer. The plastic bag was something I found from another source for grafting trees. It eliminated one of my problems last year of the cuttings drying out. Hope this info is helpful. I look forward to seeing your future grafting pics too!

    Thanks,
    Little John

    Here is a link that might be useful: Fig Grafting '09

  • eukofios
    13 years ago

    Glad to see that others are trying their hand at fig grafting.

    I never followed up on my earlier post due to life's travails. The result with my grafting attempt was growth of the tips through the summer, but not much. I stored the potted tree indoors. The new grafts died.

    I also had some that I grafted on the tree branches of another fig tree. They also grew a few leaves, but died during the winter.

    I wanted to try some more this year. I have some ideas about why I failed. No time, however.

    Good luck, please keep posting!

    Daniel

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