Propagation: What trees can I graft too?

Discussion in 'HortForum' started by Ben N Deb, Oct 18, 2010.

  1. Ben N Deb

    Ben N Deb Member

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    Hello. I live in Tropical North QLD Australia, and am looking at grafting my fruit trees (I have oranges and mangoes) onto another tree which we have growing quite wildly in this part of the country.

    It is called (I think) a 'chiny or chinese apple' It grows into a huge tree, and is covered in thorns, but profusely grows tiny apple like fruit about an inch in diameter.

    I was wondering if this might be possible, as they are nearly impossible to get rid of (even burning them out doesn't always work!), and I thought I might be able to put them to some use.

    I have never done any of this sort of thing before, so any advice would be helpful.

    Thanks!
     
  2. thanrose

    thanrose Active Member 10 Years

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    I do not know what your tree is. A photo would help.

    Looking up either chiny or chinese apple trees, there are a couple of species including a jujube and a pomegranate. I don't know that either of those is what you have.

    You probably can't graft without finding out what exactly you have. Sometimes you can nail the genus then graft based on that, but finding genus and species would be best.

    Once in a while you can graft within a family rather than the more defined genus.

    If you are looking to get some fruit production, it's also possible to graft a more desirable tasting variety of what you already have onto your persistent roots and stems. So if you had poor quality loquats, but a sizable tree, you could graft a limb of a good tasting loquat onto it.
     
  3. Ben N Deb

    Ben N Deb Member

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    Having a look on google, I found it really hard to find a clear picture. But then I found a picture which looked like it, and found the 'name' of the plant....ziziphus mauritiana

    It is classed as a noxious weed in Western Australia, and Probably here in Queensland too.

    http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/imported_assets/content/pw/weed/decp/chinee_apple.pdf





    It is a horrible sort of tree which grows absolutely everywhere, and as I said, my parents burnt a huge tree out at the roots, and about 8 years later, a whole pile of saplings have sprung up again. It has long thorns which will puncture a tyre if you drive over it, and of course, you will get infections if you get them in you.

    The fruit is tiny, tho some people do eat them, so they're not poisonous.

    I'd thought that you might be able to graft other trees to it, but my husband said that they need to come from the same sort of 'breed' of tree, so grafting a citrus, or a mango wouldn't work. I would need a tree with the same sort of seed type? is that what you mean by genus? What sort of fruit could you graft into it?

    I'm just learning about this sort of stuff, So I'll probably ask heaps of stupid questions.

    Cheers
     
  4. thanrose

    thanrose Active Member 10 Years

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    Your husband is right. That's pretty much what I said, too. You can't graft just anything to it.

    The fruits from this Ziziphus mauritinia are edible as you've noted, but there is a related Ziziphus zizyphus that is probably more palatable. Where I live we'd call them jujube.

    There are others in the buckthorn family that are edible, but Plants For a Future's database on the Rhamnaceae doesn't show a lot of promise for potential grafting with other fruiting trees. http://www.pfaf.org/user/DatabaseSearhResult.aspx

    Grafting with any on that list would still be a long shot, even done with utmost care. And it wouldn't necessarily stop thorny shoots from sprouting.

    You are better off finding other ways to eliminate what you consider a troublesome pest plant.
     
  5. Ben N Deb

    Ben N Deb Member

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    I think I'd better give up on the Chinee Apple graft until I know a bit more about grafting! It was just a wild crazy idea that popped into my head, and didn't really think it would work anyways. Oh well.

    Thank's for the info! I've already learned heaps in the last few days!

    Cheers.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 2, 2011
  6. Thean

    Thean Active Member 10 Years

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    Good Morning Ben N Deb,
    Please take a picture of your tree with the fruits. A picture is worth a thousand words. Nevertheless based on your descriptions, (fruits like a small apple, long thorns) I'm more incline to guess it's a hawthorn, Crataegus pinnita major. Hawthorn also produce root suckers, another charateristic that was mentioned in your description.
    Having guessed it's a hawthorn, I'm a little puzzle as hawthorn is a temperate plant but you are in the banana belt of Down Under. So maybe Thanrose is corect in thinking it's jujube. Jujube is also known as Chinese Dates. Hawthorn has fairly big white flowers borne in clusters on short lived spurs and last years wood?
    Peace
    Thean
     
  7. Ben N Deb

    Ben N Deb Member

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    Thean,

    I did an internet search for the plant, and it's name is ziziphus mauritiana. It's common name is 'chinee apple'. If you were to do an internet search for ziziphus mauritiana you will find pictures - more than I could put on here. If you do a google search, the first two pictures are very accurate. It's not fruiting at the moment.

    The website below gives you all the information about it. It is Western Australia's Government information. It is in the same class here in QLD.

    http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/im...inee_apple.pdf

    They wanted to put it into the category 1 weeds, but at the moment, it is a category 2 meaning we don't have to eradicate it, but keep it under control, so even if I could, I'd probably better not tamper with it.

    Cheers!
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2010

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