Propagation: Easy summer grafting technique for Japanese Maples

Just had another chat with the professionals,they say they keep their grafts in the humid grafting frame for about 3weeks(yet another mistake I've been making,I've been putting them outside after just 1 week)When the petioles drop of at the slightest touch is a good sign that the scion is now taking liquid from the rootstock and the graft has taken.
Right,hopefully no more mistakes...here's hoping for better success this year :)

 

Oops, i made the same mistake too by taking the cloche off too early. I guess it is too late to put them back now.
BTW, we will have some rain this afternoon and tonight, do you think it is OK with those plants that are not covered by the cloche?. or do i need to put them back?. I was told do not water the root stocks for at least a few weeks to prevent the sap to flow too strong to the graft area, so will this rain water becomes negative for these grafts?. Thank you for all your input.

 

Well as you can tell,I'm still learning but I wouldn't argue with the experts.I'd say put them back in(I have)stop them drying out any more,hopefully they haven't failed in the meantime.I'm not going to water them 'til the 3weeks is up unless they desperately need it.Just done a handful more with some dubious scions ha and a couple of A.Cmptre.pulverulentums(makes a change)which as a trial I've bagged individually and stuck outside....s'all good fun :)

 

Hi Houzi,

Great to hear that some of yours have made. Mine are failed most of them. I either see the dried or black dark scion at the graft places. I think it is late for mine to go back to the cloche although i have about 12 of them are still in the bag but I don't see any humidity like it was at the beginning. Well, it is a learning experience until next time. Please keep me posted, best of luck.

 

Hello Houzi,

I have not talk to you for awhile and would like to get an update of how are your summer grafting turned out?. Mine was failed since i did not provide a right environment for them after grafted. It is a lesson learned for next time. The method sounds very simple and made sense. I will try again next year.
Hope yours are come out much better.

 

Hi Atapi,well not great news here either.All the grafts in the propagator bit the dust,couldn't keep fungus under control in there.However the 'pulverulentums' look more promising and two more have definately made it,perhaps a third.All these were simply individually bagged with elastic round the pot.I think only one of these was done using the 'T cut' method as I personally find it easier using the normal method...guess I'm more used to it.I may do a few more in September when I seem to have better success but will save the bulk of my rootstocks for winter grafting when I can pick any branch for scions.Wishing you luck next time :)

 

Hello all,

I've checked this thread a couple times and thought I'd contribute my experiences on the T-cut method. I figure I'm at about 50% with the few I've tried, but then again I'm also around 50% using other techniques when summer grafting. The few that took really took well. It is an ugly graft with all the callousing that envelopes the scion but I'm sure this will "clean up" once the plant puts on some girth in later years. If this technique turns out to be easier with a decent success rate I'm guessing the reason the pros don't use it much is because a cleaner graft sells better. Most don't even know their newly purchased tree has been grafted but an ugly graft might tip them off.

I cut the scion on one side, gently scrape the bark off the sides of the scion where the flaps of the T will touch in order to get better cambium contact between the scion and T flaps. This is what I do when grafting persimmon as instructed by this article: http://www.qdma.com/uploads/pdf/Grafting-Persimmons.pdf
This brings up a question. Perhaps JMs are different. I read previously in this thread that the cambium of the root stock stays on the trunk after the T cut. I thought the cambium peeled away with the bark. I can't find anything on the internet regarding this. Can anyone in this forum firmly clarify this? If I'm wrong it means the few of my grafts that have taken simply calloused to the root stock at the cut edge of the scion making my extra step superfluous.

I Clip the leaves off the scion leaving a short petiole. If your not bagging the scion this would seem to be mandatory.
I completely wrap the graft with Buddy tape to seal in moisture. No rubber bands to remove.
I Leave the root stock in it's entirety to grow for the rest of the summer and only cut it back in late winter (down to the graft) to force the spring growth out the scion. Typically, due to apical dominance I assume, the scion doesn't leaf out that summer but the petioles drop exposing healthy buds.


I have also experimented with not bagging the scions (T cut or otherwise) and have yet to come to a firm conclusion but I suspect it isn't as necessary here in my humid Georgia summers. I just put the pot in full shade. Having said that, sometimes I wrap the scion in buddy tape in lieu of a bag. I saw this on a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtC5eJte0TY

The biggest thing I've learned (re-learned) this past summer, regardless of the grafting technique used, is that you want a healthy, vigorous, preferably one gallon pot for your root stock, which seems to cover for a lot of sins by the grafter and God knows I need the edge.

 

As you've probably gathered from reading my previous posts,I have little success doing summer grafting.This is so annoying as when speaking to a major nursery the set up is really simple.They just have an 18" wall forming a large rectangle over which is some sort of shade plastic/cloth.
Regarding the T cut grafting method I can only say what I've gleaned from the web having never actually seen someone doing it.I might have got it completely wrong but looking at how T budding(the original use of this cut)and bark grafting is done,no cambium is exposed on the outside of bud or scion.(infact probably impossible to do on the bud)This leads me to believe the cambium remains on the stem.It may be that cambium cells are present on the bark too,I'm not sure, but these two methods don't seem to utilise them if they are.Therefore I can only speculate that it was unnecessary to scrape the scion.However I don't think it would do much harm as long as it was covered as I've had a few grafts where the flap on the rootstock hasn't taken but the graft survives similar to a regular veneer graft.Why the Persimmon grafting seems to emphasise using the outside of the scion I don't know.
Regarding 1gal rootstocks,It'd be nice to have large rootstocks and scions to play with but as I'm sure you're aware,most nurseries use tiny 9cm or so pots so it isn't a necessity when you know how.
Sorry can't be of more help,would love to know all the answers myself :)

 

Hi everyone and thanks for all the informations!!
I'll try summer grafting in July!What about if i try with a classic veneer graft whitout the T cut??do you think it will work??is the T cut so necessary??
Can anyone send some photos?
Thanks
Francesco

 

Yes continue with the side grafts as you are successful,it's still the most commonly used method any time of year.A few people have found the T cut method easier (I don't) so it's worth trying to see what suits you...hope you have better luck than me :)

 

Has anybody used these new grafting tools which have appeared on the web recently?

 

Hi, I’m just getting started at summer grafting. I tried to wait until August 1st but couldn’t. I’m in humid central Virginia. So far I have grafted three Kokyo’s a couple days ago and will try another cultivar this evening. I have fifty trees to use as rootstock and maybe thirty to choose from for scions.

I am using from this video I found on YouTube that is very informative:
Here’s another video using the same technique:

Just checking in to see if anyone is grafting yet this summer. I’ll report back later with my progress.

 

Experiment in summer grafting.
I removed leaves from scion and then wrapped entire scion with Parafilm grafting tape (wax). "T" cut into bark on understock. Scion slid in under flaps of the "T" and locked into place with more grafting tape. It will receive no additional care.

Keith

 

I tried the summer grafting using the "T" cut technique 3 weeks ago. No luck so far. For this technique to work I feel like you need to use, at an absolute minimum, 1/4" diameter rootstock. It was very difficult to
work with anything even slightly smaller. I don't have any problem with the side veneer graft using 3/16" rootstock. The bark is just so thin on smaller rootstock it was very difficult to feel like the "T" cut would work.
I did about 30 grafts, so far nothing!

 

Upon completion of summer grafting , I see buds on grafted plant. Will leaves develop & produce this year?

 

Hello Ronald
Over the years we have only done summer grafting. And yes, you will have leaves develop in most cases. I grafted approx. one month ago. Here is a photo taken this morning, from left to right, seiryu, pixie, atrolineare.
Also I have done a complete 4 part series on Japanese maple grafting on my youtube channel. You may find it useful as well:

 

Can you point me in right direction for the complete 4 part series. I think it would help me achieve some success in this endeavor.

 

Here is my full channel, just click playlists, then click how to graft japanese maples
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRsGI2UrUljsS9bPtjsXRQ