Grafting - it's fun!!!

[Peas'n'Kews]

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

Thanks for that Starloc - the OH was just getting very frustrated with Google/eBay when "grafting gun" was coming up as "greeting gun" (and no, I have no idea what that is!).

He now has links to grafting pliers and I feel a bday pres coming on!!!!

[Garden_Chris]

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.

I don't think we do grow Pineapples in England! I may be wrong, perhaps under a purpose built glasshouse?

I was referring to (as pointed out by VeggieChicken) a particular type of apple variety, that apparently tastes similar to a pineapple. I've heard a lot of good things about its taste (sadly, not so good things about its ability to have heavy yields, hence three rootstock gratings) to warrant a little experiment!

Sorry for any confusion

[veggiechicken]

Be aware of Cox's Orange Pippin - that's an apple too. Some wonderfully misleading names

[Peas'n'Kews]

We have this in the garden! Never thought about it like that before - thanks VC, I think!!

[Matt94]

as ive never done grafting before - ive just looked at the clips online, however most of the people in the clips use 'grafting clips' - but i cant seem to find any - so where do you guys get yours from?

[chris]

Have you tried ebay? Grafting tape, electrical tape, or even clingfilm can be used - as long as you can get it as airtight as possible

[Matt94]

all i found on ebay was grafting tape and it wasn't cheap- but no clips - i may try doing it wil electrical tape though - thanks chris

[Growanything]

In those Youtube clips, for binding he grafts of soft, delicate and small plants likes cucumber etc. (or maybe for mass production, to get the work done faster) they use mini plastic clips - these clips are the same ones that you see on potted Orchid plants in the shops - they have claws and wings like a mini butterfly. Dutch flower growers use these clips to clip Orchid flower stems to bamboo sticks. The shops should stock these clips, people can buy them and use them for various tasks.

I have seen one video clip of Duth nusery workers sitting at a long table, busy grafting mini rose cuttings onto wild dog rose cuttings like this: both cuttings are about 2 inch long, they trim the ends at an angle, stick the trimmed ends together and use a mini plastic clip (looks like a cloth peg) to hold them together securely, stick the cuttings into liquid rooting hormone, then stik them into pots of compost. Spray and keep them in glasshouses with humidity, and they just grow away. They don't use wild dog rose saplings with bare roots as rootstocks - too expensive.
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Graftings I've done so far (I only started to try grafting early this March after coming across grating video clips on Youtube by chance!): 2 apple grafts on wild plum saplings failed because done too early (in early March, still cold)

In late March, warm: 3 red double flowered Hawthorns onto wild Hawthorn saplings, 2 very dark red apple onto wild plum, one orange flowered Horsechestnut onto wild Conker - all healed/growing. I used saplings with stems about 1/2 pencil thick.

They say: graftings should be done in Spring when plants start to grow, full of sap making their skins/barks sticky which helps healing/sticking. And that graftings can be done later in Summer, but you should remove the leaves.

[Bigmallly]

Graftings I've done so far (I only started to try grafting early this March after coming across grating video clips on Youtube by chance!): 2 apple grafts on wild plum saplings failed because done too early (in early March, still cold)

I fancy having a go at a plum fruit cocktail but it's too late for this year, maybe next if I remember. I thought the genus had to be the same for grafting and wondered if that's why your apple on plum failed.

[zazen999]

Growanything - perhaps it might be wise to put 'West Midlands but hail from the Tropics' or something in your location so that people know when you mean 'where I am from' they don't think 'Birmingham'?

[ladylottie]

I fancy having a go at a plum fruit cocktail but it's too late for this year, maybe next if I remember. I thought the genus had to be the same for grafting and wondered if that's why your apple on plum failed.

I didn't think you could graft onto a different genus either, but then I've never tried!
I'm sure that FB will be along soon to let us know what can or can't be done.

[Bigmallly]

I didn't think you could graft onto a different genus either, but then I've never tried!
I'm sure that FB will be along soon to let us know what can or can't be done.

Good point LL, wonder if he's on holiday as he doesn't usually miss out on his fav topic.

[Growanything]

Edit: I've checked with some plant grafting websites - they say: if you graft an apple stem onto an apple tree, it will heal faster and be more succussful as they are the same family, but that you can also graft an apple stem onto a plum tree - it might heal but not guaranted. They say some people have managed to create a cocktail fruit tree. As you can see, my apple onto plum have healed. But you're right - same genus heals faster (like my double red Hawthorn onto wild Hawthorn).

[rob the roller]

There is a delicious plum tree and a cooking apple tree at my allotment, which I would like to propogate by grafting. Where can I get suitable root stock? I don't want them to grow much higher than 8'.

Rob

[Garden_Chris]

Blackmoors are usually good.
You're probably better off going for a Pixy rootstock if you want that kind of hight, but it requires deep fertile soil and plenty of water to thrive.
I don't believe they've got any in stock right now (could be wrong) so it might be worth a google search.