Bark Inlay Graft
With no ripe fruit to eat right now, I decided to go around the yard and unwrap all my grafts from back in March. I had top-worked my Meyer lemon into a multi-mandarin tree with Fairchild, Pixie, Kinnow, and Dobashi Beni mandarins/satsumas, and I top-worked my container Everhard navel to a multi-blood orange tree with Ruby, Moro, and Tarocco blood oranges.
I had ordered citrus budwood from the Texas A&M Citrus Center in Weslaco, Texas, and another TXRFG member was kind enough to give me some Dobashi Beni budwood. I used cleft grafts and Joe Real's citrus bark graft method, with almost 100% success. I had one Dobashi Beni cleft graft fail, but the others took with no problems. I also used cleft and whip grafts on my plum tree to add Santa Rosa and Beauty to my Methley plum.
One thing I learned is that I shouldn't wrap the grafts so tightly. Especially on the plum grafts, I could see where the rubber bands and green plastic wrap was constraining growth. In the future I'll try to wrap the grafts snug but not tight, and unwrap them sooner. However, in spite of this all the grafts healed very quickly, and I've been amazed at how vigorously they've grown. If I ever sell my house, the new owners will probably be very surprised to see different kinds of fruit coming from one tree.
This winter I plan on grafting several more varieties of citrus, figs, persimmons, pears, and apples to my trees. I'm thinking of hosting a grafting class/demonstration in the spring as well. It would be kind of like the class taught by John Panzarella in Lake Jackson, only it would have to be smaller, and I don't have near the experience and expertise that John does. However, I do have 20+ trifoliate rootstocks, a source for citrus budwood, and plenty of grafting tape. Send me an email and let me know if you'd be interested, and if there are enough takers I'll try to set it up.
I had ordered citrus budwood from the Texas A&M Citrus Center in Weslaco, Texas, and another TXRFG member was kind enough to give me some Dobashi Beni budwood. I used cleft grafts and Joe Real's citrus bark graft method, with almost 100% success. I had one Dobashi Beni cleft graft fail, but the others took with no problems. I also used cleft and whip grafts on my plum tree to add Santa Rosa and Beauty to my Methley plum.
One thing I learned is that I shouldn't wrap the grafts so tightly. Especially on the plum grafts, I could see where the rubber bands and green plastic wrap was constraining growth. In the future I'll try to wrap the grafts snug but not tight, and unwrap them sooner. However, in spite of this all the grafts healed very quickly, and I've been amazed at how vigorously they've grown. If I ever sell my house, the new owners will probably be very surprised to see different kinds of fruit coming from one tree.
This winter I plan on grafting several more varieties of citrus, figs, persimmons, pears, and apples to my trees. I'm thinking of hosting a grafting class/demonstration in the spring as well. It would be kind of like the class taught by John Panzarella in Lake Jackson, only it would have to be smaller, and I don't have near the experience and expertise that John does. However, I do have 20+ trifoliate rootstocks, a source for citrus budwood, and plenty of grafting tape. Send me an email and let me know if you'd be interested, and if there are enough takers I'll try to set it up.
Multi-Blood Orange Tree - Before and After
Multi-Mandarin Tree - Before and After
Bark Inlay Graft
Bark Inlay Graft
Bark Inlay Graft
Healed Whip Graft
Cleft Graft - Wrapped Too Tight
