For winter grafting, the root stock seems to be topped immediately after securing the graft. For summer grafting, however, I see people recommending to wait variable periods of time prior to cutting off the rootstock above the graft -- some people say wait for bud swelling in the graft, some people say wait until dormancy, and others say top it immediately. Is there expert consensus on best timing?
We only grafted in summer in our 17 years of operating our nursery. We would not cut off the root stock above the graft until the following spring. We always felt this helped protect and feed nutrients up into the graft during the fall / winter months. Also added another layer of protection as the young graft is so fragile over the first few months.
Very interesting, as Tim over at MrMaple has a summer grafting tutorial in which he explicitly advocates the exact opposite approach -- he tops all of the rootstock just prior to grafting time. Given that they're a large scale commercial grafter, I'm wondering how they would counter your argument.
@MapleZen Perhaps I am misunderstanding your question? We trim our root stock limbs just prior to grafting leaving only a couple sets of branches to feed nutrients up the stock, but I thought your question referred to post grafting once the graft is secured to the root stock? I do have a 4 part video series on our complete grafting approach ( a complete grafting playlist) as well on my youtube channel. We cover every aspect from start to finish, including how we prep root stock pre and post grafting. The video's may give a more thorough answer to your question.
Hi Otto, Thanks, I did look at your videos; for example, you leave quite a few leaves and small branches at the top, as you say, "to feed nutrients up the stock"; the MrMaple grafters, on the other hand, immediately cut off the rootstock above the graft (for example, see this video here: ) You also mention watering the root stock twice a day, while they advocate the opposite -- drying out the root stock as much as possible, without killing the tree, in order to promote "white root" growth.
@MapleZen Yes, another approach, and I am sure that works for them. Our approach was very successful as overall thru the years we averaged a healthy 70% grafting success rate. The lack of watering can sometimes yield the graft being dried out and dying. Watering was done twice a day as we had the root stock still in small 4" pots which dry out very quickly during the dry hot August weather. And no lack of white root growth when it came time to transplant into 0ne gallon pots. Also aside from the actual watering, we would mist the actual graft union up to 6 times a day to ensure constant moisture on the union during the first couple of weeks. And on top of that, we also had the entire grafted trees covered with a layer of Remy cloth 3' ( 1 meter ) above to minimize the intense heat of the sun which would help keep the moisture level up. Think of it as the "intensive care" period Every year we would graft 700 - 1200 Japanese maples, which all depended on the scion cutting available from the mother trees on our property. And yes, we were a very small commercial grower, as every tree was sold direct to the consumer, no mail order. I believe there is more then one approach to grafting
Since we are on the subject, does it matter whether the tip of the scion is up or down (tip toward the root stock's roots)? I recall it being recommended in this forum to place the scion at an angle with respect to the root stock's axis as this would pretty much guarantee cambium contact, whereas one might miss making any contact when the scion is aligned with the axis of the root stock stem. So, I wonder,, can the graft possibly succeed if the scion is at right angles or (as I said above) even when the scion points downward? Have you @Otto Bjornson, or anyone here, tried any unorthodox ways or have thoughts about such?
@Osoyoung We have always grafted with the scion tip placed down into the root stock ( scion facing upright) Often the scion did not quite line up with the cambium layer so a quick fix for that is to always ensure one side of the scion is matched to one edge of the root stock when inserting the graft. I do show that example when I graft in part 4 of the video series. Often the ideal scion wood is smaller then the root stock for a good grafting matchup, especially with some of the dwarf upright varieties. Just the nature of the tree growth and size of the good usable scion wood I suppose. The success rate was always pretty much as good with one side of the scion matched compared to a perfect match. Another key to the process is applying uniform pressure when applying the grafting elastic to close up the graft union.
Thanks for your insight -- two more questions: you seem not to use wax on the graft? Also, you only expose the cambium on one side of the scion, rather than making a cut on both sides.. any reason?
The quick answer to waxing is that I had never seen wax applied among all the growers I knew. Even as a teenager working at a large nursery in the summer months all the grafting / budding was done using elastic to seal the unions. Elastic has always worked well for us so no point changing that routine. With the scion wood exposing the cambium layer on only one side is that a good union only really requires one side for a good contact. Exposing the outer side can lead to a greater chance of contaminating the union, especially when using elastic to seal up the graft. And again this would be a reference point for summer grafting. Making a cut on either side of the scion wood can also put a lot of stress on the fragile scion wood and damage the cambium layer even before applying it to the root stock. I believe with winter grafting, while everything is dormant, would allow for less stress on the scion wood and be more feasible to cut both sides of the scion wood.
I make a pretty good angle, at least 45°, by not making the wedge symmetrical. The inside has a larger angle, the outside is almost straight. That's how Dick van der Maat, where I learned, cut (or how I remember it, long time ago now)! I cut the understock to the next node above, with a good stump to dry out. Also, Tim had the buddy tape, but never used it. Keith Johanssen, the truncatum guy, said he just used Buddy Tape, so I tried it, and find it much easier than the rubber bands. I'm not very good at tying, Buddy tape is a lot easier. But I do winter grafting, so maybe not the same. You don't have to worry as much about humidity. I agree the understock should be dry. Many people seem to favor summer grafting now. This wasn't a good year for me, down to a variety of reasons I think. -E P.S. Wax is used a lot in Eastern EU nurseries, and some Spanish nurseries. A good friend in the US uses wax, his grafts are very successful usually. Don't use it myself, I think the Buddy Tape eliminates the need to seal off (if there is one). Most fruit tree grafters use wax here.
So to clarify, you cut the rootstock the same day that your graft, and you leave a sap stump (but no leaves/branches above?)
In the early 1970's, elastic wrapping for grafting / budding was the only option when I tyed. In later years I never tried buddy tape but I know several growers that do use it. I got pretty good and fast with elastic wrapping, and honestly I had so much of it on hand ( still a couple boxes of it in the shed) sitting idle for almost 20 years now. @emery when I visited Dick van der Maat, it was early January and he was in full grafting mode. He mentioned he only did winter grafting at that time. He had a real nice setup, beautiful nursery. I was amazed at how many trees he could have on that small parcel of land, extremely organized!
Yes, unless it's commercial rootstock, in which case it's already cut. Though I might cut again, if the internode isn't a good shape. @Otto Bjornson He was one of the greats, perhaps the best of all the grafters. A very sad loss. Did you know his nursery was the site of an industrial spill? He cleaned it all up with EM, then sprayed with EM throughout the season. He and Marjan also used to travel to various nurseries, and graft for them on-site. Almost all of the stock plants have been dispersed now.
I did not know that, really sad to hear that. I was at his nursery back in January 1999 We shipped 16 trees back then from his nursery, bare root, 4 different varieties, all survived. One in particular was the "Marjan", named after his wife of course. I see it was finally listed in vertree's Japanese maple book 3rd edition. We still have one of the original Marjan grafts and it has been container grown since day one. I hope to create a video on that tree this year as it is quite interesting. I refer to it as a "dwarf Bloodgood"
I am confused, had started to write to @emery asking what we should do about the resource page entry for Dick van der Maat - Japanese Maple Nursery but the link still works, looks like it has been updated recently. If you're talking about the same nursery, I don't think we should leave the impression here that it has disappeared. Or if it's different, is there anything that should be added to the resource description? I've updated just the date confirmed, as the website is still there.
Hi Wendy, Well first, I see I expressed myself poorly. Long ago, there was an industrial spill accident at the nursery. It is an old story, and long past. Dick died suddenly last year. I don't think the nursery is trading, I don't know about the website, there's no point in changing the link. I still gives information about his many introductions. I do know that the stock plants have been sold, because I know some of the people that bought some of them. I don't know any specifics beyond that, but I don't think the nursery is grafting (not that Marjan is not capable, so who knows) but that is what I was told. -E
