Grafting - it's fun!!!

[Growanything]

Hi, folks!

I have watched a few video clips on Youtube about grafting - grafting apple trees, grape vines etc. It didn't look too difficult, so I have tried to do it myself:

In March I dug up two young Hawthorn saplings - the wild Hawthorn trees that have single white flowers ( their stems are about half a pencil thick ) - you don't need to keep the soil in tact, but try to dig them up with as many roots as possible. I also cut 2, 3 small cuttings ( about 4, 5 inch long ) of red double flowered Hawthorn tree.

I planted the Hawthorn saplings in pots with compost and STRAIGHT AWAY:

I cut them down to 2 or 3 inch high. I split the tops with a sharp knife down to 1 inch deep. Using the sharp knife, I shortened the cutting to 3 inch long and tapered the cut end into a V shape. I insereted this V end into the split top of the Hawthorn sapling. I then used a postman's rubber band to tie the grafting up tightly. I covered the cutting and grafting loosely with a piece of cling film to keep them moist and fresh.

I then placed the pots into a big garden waste green clear plastic bag, blew it up a bit and tied the top up to keep the warmth and humidity in and placed it in the shade. The humidity helps the graftings heal faster. After 3, 4 weeks, the graftings started to grow - you can see the leaf buds have developed into green leaves. After 2 more weeks I will remove all the rubber bands and bags before they choke the graftings.

I have also grafted very dark red eating apple cuttings onto young wild plum saplings, double flowering cherry onto wild cherry saplings, pink flowered Horse-chestnut onto Conker saplings - all graftings have healed and are now growing nicely.

You can try it. It's fun! You can do it now - March, April, May - when the weather is just warming up, the trees are still bare and dug-up saplings are quick to regrow once potted up.

Tip: If you watch a few video clips on Youtube about apple grafting, you'll see how it's done and how easy it is. They even show you how to graft cucumber seedlings onto pumpkin seedlings for stronger plants.

[starloc]

Ive grafted a few apple trees onto hawthorn last year, 2 out of 3 survived but have not flowered this year

Ive given up doing it with a knife now and have bought a grafting gun that chops the 2 bits to fit together perfectly for a few types of graft , seems to work well , i bud grafted 20 citrus with it and 18 seem to be growing fine

I have thought about heading off to hedges and randomly grafting bits of apple and pear onto hawthorn bushes to see what happens

[veggiechicken]

Maybe you'd like to join this experiment? http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ide_64218.html

[digon]

Ive given up doing it with a knife now and have bought a grafting gun that chops the 2 bits to fit together perfectly for a few types of graft , seems to work well , i bud grafted 20 citrus with it and 18 seem to be growing fine

Where did you get the grafting gun? Gurgle comes up with nothing useful when searching for Grafting gun!

[Garden_Chris]

I've done some grafting myself - Pitmaston Pineapple to M26 Rootstock.

I don't want speak too soon and jinx myself, but it looks as if 2 out of the 3 have taken so far. I can really see the green of the buds right now (I've had others verify this, just so I know it's not just me being desperate to see results!)

I'm desperate for more assured signs of growth, it'd be fantastic if even one of the grafts actually took. In fact, I've read that Pitmaston Pineapple is biennial, so it'd be superb if two took, that way I'd never miss a season!

EDIT: I used the saddle graft on all three rootstocks (all 1 year old, fresh from Blackmoors, they arrived in Jan/Feb - M26) and binded them with cling film.

[Peas'n'Kews]

The OH has a book about propagation, which includes good chapters about grafting. So this year he took a cherry plum "sapling" and grafted some of our ancient but delicious plum onto it.

We'll see what happens, but he is keen to preserve the old fella (just like me, then!! )

[starloc]

Where did you get the grafting gun? Gurgle comes up with nothing useful when searching for Grafting gun!

When i got it it came up under grafting gun, but now it seems they are grafting pliers , theres a few types on ebay ,

i got the one that does a few types of graft but there are some that do one type as well

[Growanything]

Starloc, that's a very useful tool. Thanks. I'll get one myself. Talking about lemon grafting - I will sow some lemon seeds and then graft giant fruited lemon cuttings onto them. ( Pssst... Birmingham Botanical Garden has a very big lemon tree in them glasshouses. This lemon tree has many giant fruits, as big as a Pamelo grapefruit...)

Digon, I watched " One acre Napa Valley 5d grafting " posted by Oneacrewine on Youtube - they used a wood cutting machine to cut the ends of the cuttings/rootstocks like joineries do to make tables, chairs.

Veggiechicken, very unusual grafting - potato onto tomato? How can tomato's roots produce spuds?

Peas'n'Kews, the grafting will heal and grow nicely. I don't know, but it's not really too difficult to graft plants.

Garden Chris, I didn't know Pineapples have rootstocks. Sounds very interesting. In my country, we just plant the baby plants found at the base of the mother plant as these will produce big fruits. Most farmers plant baby plants. If we don't have baby plants, we just plant the green tops - these will produce smaller fruits but then the mother plant will produce baby plants.

Anyway, folks, have you ever wondered how can they produce enough rootstocks for fruit tree grafting? I thought rootstocks grew from seeds and took many years to grow big enough for grafting. No, the farmers just use "suckers" from the mother plants - and this is the fast commercial way how they produce so many "suckers" each year:

Youtube " Propagating clonal rootstocks Kuffelcreek "

[starloc]

Talking about lemon grafting - I will sow some lemon seeds and then graft giant fruited lemon cuttings onto them.

For a rootstock if you are planting seeds dont bother grafting to lemon , instead use poncirus trifoliata , or poncirus trifoliata flying dragon, they are much better for citrus rootstocks than lemon , the giant lemons are probably ponderosa lemon ( more of a citron than a lemon ) and are easy to root to grow own root but again there own roots are not that good so trifoliata is better

The best way to get seeds for p.trifoliata is to get it from the fruit, there is a map on the net of uk trees , at fruiting time the fruit is generally everywere , i also bought some seeds from tradewinds fruit in the usa

[veggiechicken]

Veggiechicken, very unusual grafting - potato onto tomato? How can tomato's roots produce spuds?
"

Think that's upside down thinking, Growanything! The tomato plant stem is grafted onto the potato Stem/roots. Thought you might like to join the challenge?

[Matt94]

i cant find any vids on grafting cuc's - has anyone on here done it before - where did you get the rootstock seeds from?

[binley100]

Garden Chris, I didn't know Pineapples have rootstocks. Sounds very interesting. In my country, we just plant the baby plants found at the base of the mother plant as these will produce big fruits. Most farmers plant baby plants. If we don't have baby plants, we just plant the green tops - these will produce smaller fruits but then the mother plant will produce baby plants.

Anyway, folks, have you ever wondered how can they produce enough rootstocks for fruit tree grafting? I thought rootstocks grew from seeds and took many years to grow big enough for grafting. No, the farmers just use "suckers" from the mother plants - and this is the fast commercial way how they produce so many "suckers" each year:

Youtube " Propagating clonal rootstocks Kuffelcreek "

Call me inquisitive but do they grow pineapples in good old England ?

[veggiechicken]

Call me inquisitive but do they grow pineapples in good old England ?

Just to confuse us, I think the original post was about Pitmaston Pineapple - an apple!!

[starloc]

And the other pineapples ( not the apple tree ) these days they are usually grown in vitro by micro propagation to ensure virus free identical plants, the farmers buy trays of the tiny plants to plant , the other way gives differences in genetics something commercial fruit growers dont want

[Growanything]

Matt94 - on Youtube, video clips on how to graft cucumber tip cuttings onto courgette seedlings (rootstocks):

-SINGLE COTYLEDON GRAFTING uofazcalsmisc.
-J_RAP vol 1 Fukushimajrap.
-J_RAP vol 6 Fukushimajrap.
-J_RAP vol 10 Fukushimajrap.
-Suikamaster grafting.

They sow cucumber seeds and courgette seeds or pumpkin seeds at the same time. When the seedlings have 4, 6 leaves, they are ready for grafting. You can try it now.
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Starloc - Oh I know, that's Bitter Japanese Orange tree - very cold hardy. In fact, they should be sold more widely in garden centres in England as they can gow into big trees full of little orange fruits, then our gardens would look like those in Spain!

Folks, this is a very interesting website by an English citrus fan about Citrus plants. Some photos show you very big, tall and old Bitter Japanese Orange trees growing around the UK, full of orange fruits on them in winter:

Google: Homecitrusgrowers.