Summer Grafting Japanese Maple

Discussion in 'Maples' started by uhlawstu1, Jul 9, 2006.

  1. uhlawstu1

    uhlawstu1 Member

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    Has anyone had experience grafting japanese maples in the summer, as in now, the beginning of July?

    What would be the best practice at this point? if the scion and rootstock are in leaf, should I clip the leaves off of one? both? should they be misted indoors under lights, or placed in a shady spot outside. (I would bag the graft union either way)
     
  2. Layne Uyeno

    Layne Uyeno Active Member 10 Years

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    Hi,

    I am about to attempt summer grafting myself. I'm not too sure about the details, but I would leave the leaves on the scion wood and remove the leaves on the rootstock. This will force the rootstock to send moisture and nutrients to the scion.

    It might be a good idea to keep the new grafts under some shade to reduce the plant's water needs. Morning sun afternoon shade or under 50% shade cloth would be good I think.

    Good luck and let us know how it goes! I'll do the same.

    Layne
     
  3. uhlawstu1

    uhlawstu1 Member

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    Re: Summer Grafting - Lessons learned & Questions

    Well, I finished my first grafting project several days ago. I was hoping someone can comment and give me some insights about a few things. Maybe someone else can learn from this too.

    I did about thirty trees. The rootstock was shipped to me a few days in advance and came bascially bare root- some soil but no container. The trees were not in good shape. I potted them up in 4"X4"X6" pots in a mixture of 40% pine bark, 40% turface MVP, and 20% peat.

    The next day I received about 30 scions which I had shipped overnight. Several different varities: Iijima Sunago; Katsura; Green Hornet; Fireglow; Calico; and Coral Pink. They were cool and moist when I got them and went immediately into the frig. There were no leaves on the scions. Most scions were considerably thinner than the understock, some dramatically so - particularly the dwarf coral pink which was about the diameter of #2 pencil lead (not the entire pencil).

    I did the grafting over the next two days. My method was the side veneer graft. I bound the graft union on most with plain rubber bands. I ordered some grafting tape from AM leonard, but i didn't like it. It was not adheisve at all. (just a thin white plastic strip) I used ziplock bags which I cut up and taped together with masking tape to cover the graft union. I sprayed the inside of the bags with water and very diluted fungicide. I tried several blades:A large 'cold steel' pocket knife (I thought it would work because it is scary how sharp it is, but its too big and unwieldy for this); A small swiss army knife (Just ok in my opinion); I was most comfortable with a folding utility knife that you load with razor blades for the understock. The scions were easiest free hand with just a razor blade.

    The trees are outside on a potting bench in the shade. The bench is on casters so today I rolled it out into morning sun for less than hour, but otherwise they've been in the shade for several days. I mist them several times a day with the Fogg-it nozzle.

    Right now, I think slightly more than half will take, maybe more. But I don't know how to tell because I've never grafted anything before. On a few of the trees, the terminal bud is already dried out and defintely dead. On these, the scion is starting to dry out beneath that bud. I know these are done for.

    (1) I have a question about the rest: On most of the trees, the petioles at the end of the terminal bud have dried up a little. some have fallen off completely, and there is a small fuzzy point under there. the scion itself has not dried out. I wonder if the tree is trying to leaf out again, going dormant, or just slowly dying? Any thoughts?

    Some lessons I learned -

    (a) have understock ready well in advance. I think I made this harder for myself using trees that were already under stress.

    (b) Next time I'll use budding rubbers, or adhesive grafting tape, alone or in conjuntion with wax.

    (c) The bags were a ton of trouble and not working as well as I hoped. I'll need to find something better, or maybe use nothing and put them under a homemade mist system, which is my next project.

    (d) the project took more time than I thought. I thought I would breeze through these, but it took a few hours.

    Any thoughts?
     
  4. Acer palmatum 'Crazy'

    Acer palmatum 'Crazy' Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Congratualations on making it thru your first grafting session.

    I am a beginner also, and find it thrilling and aggravating everytime, LOL.

    I have used poly bags which work nicely, but are a little hard over scions with leaves or stock with leaves in the way. My last two sessions, i have found something i really like better. Look for the new product Glad Wrap. It is a plastic wrap, made to seal just by touching two sides together. The add shows two pork chops lying on once sheet, then another on top, and seals made around them just by running the tip of a finger around them.

    I cut it into 2 inch wide by the width of a sheet, about 12 inches. I take this and wrap around the graft after tying with the grafting rubber and mistimg a little. It is easy to really get a good tight seal, just by really smushing the wrap on every turn. I then cut the sheet to a size a little larger than the scion, say 6-8 inches by the width of a sheet. I then place that piece around the graft scion, bringing the top together and sealing, then wrap a little smaller around the bottom, then spray in some water(fungicide, etc), then seal the side of the sheet to form the bag. This makes a nice ready made bag, that is very easy to seal around all sorts of hard trees. Make sure you get the newer stuff, i dont think regular plastice wrap seals good enough. It runs about 4$ for a roll. I think it might it even breathe a little, but holds in moisture well.

    I just did about 12 this weekend, and can take some pictures, but i am out of town in Wy for the next two weeks. If you would like to discuss techniques, give me an email.

    Where did you end up getting your stock? Did you get your scions from friends or did you order those also?
    Since i didnt have much success at first, i am still using some of the stock i got from Dale Berrong, who was nice enough to teach me. I also have started using my own seedlings. Since i have collected or sown over 300 of them. I will propably pot them up this fall, for next year. They are in the ground, and not quite as straight as you would want, but free.

    Good luck
     
  5. Elmore

    Elmore Active Member 10 Years

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    You must be Crazy...heh heh...check this out : ( compliments of Dale Berrong )http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/fallpot.htm

    Summer grafting. Make sure that your under stock has a well developed root system. Choose scion that is firm at base. Not pliable. Choose scion with one to two pair of buds plus terminal bud. Remove all leaves but the terminal pair, leave petioles attached to stem. Reduce the size of remaining two leaves ( trim or cut out about half ). After joining the two pieces, under stock and scion, tie firmly with rubber strip. Place poly bag over scion and seal with twister tie. Place in a relatively shady location. In about four weeks time, if successful, the first signs you will notice is that the remaining petioles, sans leaf, will be pushed off of scion. They will litter the bottom of the poly bag. After new leaves emerge remove twister tie but leave bag on for a week or two.
     
  6. Dale B.

    Dale B. Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Try uline.com as a source for the plastic bags. I use 2 x 9, 2 mil bags for most of the grafting and 2 x 12 for scions with large leaves.

    A Tina 605 is my favorite grafting knife sharpened with a 8000 grit water stone.

    I advise against using grafting wax with laytex grafting rubbers. The laytex will break down and fall off on their own after the graft heals if you don't cover them up with grafting wax. If you use wax, you will have to take it off and manually remove the rubbers or they will stay on and girdle the new graft.

    It's best to bring the rootstock in in early spring right after the danger of frost, pot them up and let them grow for a couple of months before you graft. They can almost double in caliper by June.

    Dale
     
  7. Layne Uyeno

    Layne Uyeno Active Member 10 Years

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    Hi all,

    I was wondering if it would be okay to use just Buddy tape in lieu of poly bags and rubber to seal the graft?

    Thanks,

    Layne
     
  8. Elmore

    Elmore Active Member 10 Years

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    I don't think so. Not without an intermittent mist or another enclosed containment to hold moisture. Buddy tape alone may work if budding said maple.
     

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