Che, mulberry, osage orange, fig grafting

[clarkinks]

I know che can be grafted to Osage orange and mulberry, fig, che are cousins. Does this mean I could graft che to mulberry and mulberry to Osage orange or fig to mulberry? I have my doubts its that simple. What are your thoughts and experiences?

[Lucky_P]

Clark,
I've tried che on mulberry - with no success - and know several folks who've also tried that combo with no luck.

Have not attempted any of the other combinations.

[tonyOmahaz5]

Clark,

I asked one of our member to do an experiment by grafting an Osage Orange on a mulberry stock to see if it is compatible then graft the Che on that interstem. It would be awesome if it works. I have plenty of wild mulberries growing on my property. Clark, you can do this experiment also if you have time and update Us with the result.

Tony

[clarkinks]

Tony,
Yes I have tons of these rootstocks I can use. I got a hold of cliff at England's a couple of years ago and got some che and mulberry scions did some experiments without success. I suspect my method was the problem. I tried dormant grafts. I think with these I need to handle them like stone fruits and wait until the tree is fully awake. I learned che is a very hard wood and I dulled some grafting knives.

[clarkinks]

Lucky,
I know edible landscaping uses osage orange on che. That is the only one I know with certainty should work.

[clarkinks]

Tony,
I searched around for the thread. This must be it http://growingfruit.org/t/che-fruit/1133. I bought a couple of che from edible landscaping and they died during winter. Odly the rootstock died in zone 5.

[Derby42]

I have two mulberry trees that I plan to top work in the spring. I will collect some Osage orange and see if I can get a take. With the hopes it will make an inter stem for a Che

[KlecknerOasis]

Isn't che listed as maclura now, probably why those two are compatible and the others are not.

[clarkinks]

Yes Osage orange is (Maclura pomifera) , Che is (Maclura pontifera) , figs are ( ficus carica), Red mulberry (Morus rubra), white mulberry (Morus alba) which are all part of the Moraceae group. Ficus are a part of the moraceae family that is multiple species . They are interesting see these links http://www.britannica.com/plant/Moraceae

Ficus | plant genus

[clarkinks]

I know I left off the tropical cousins of these fruits that are zone 9 and up only such as jack fruit etc. . There are actually many more tropical members of the Moraceae family than non tropical. For my purposes I'm focusing on zone 5-6 only. If anyone has che scions as we get closer I have plenty of mulberry and Osage orange. If not I will order more from England's.

[Lucky_P]

I've had Che grafted & growing on OO for years here.
Tried grafting Che onto mulberry a couple of times - just as I do when grafting mulberry cultivars, or Che onto OO - no takes
I'm not likely to expend any effort to repeat it, or to try grafting the ubiquitous OO onto mulberry.

If Che has actually been reclassified as Cudrania, it would be C.tricuspidata, as demanded by the rules of nomenclature... the specific epithet would not change...

[clarkinks]

@tonyOmahaz5 @Derby42 Trying to make heads or tails out of some documents such as this one http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/TAPA/64/Ancient_Grafting*.html . Fig on mulberry is an interesting concept. It would be a short term graft if it would work you could force rapid growth and fruit.

[tonyOmahaz5]

Clark,

It doesn't hurt to try it. I will Bark graft a couple of fig scions to mulberry to see if they take.

Tony

[ampersand]

I read that somewhere (Nikitsky?) made a hybrid between paper mulberry and fig.

[clarkinks]

Nikitsky

I've heard like you rumors of a fig x mulberry hybrid.. I keep a close eye on California rare fruit growers and others were such a thing would turn up http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/mulberry.html or http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/fig.html or http://apiosinstitute.org/morus-x-hybrid-mulberry or http://eafghanag.ucdavis.edu/a_horticulture/fruits-trees/mulberry/Man_Fruit_Mulberry_CRFG.pdf or http://www.woodlanders.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&plant_id=1988 so far as you can see there are plenty of hybrids but crossing a fig and a mulberry will take some doing. Likely it will be done later using GMO's but at this time I see no proof such a thing exists.

[clarkinks]

Hope we know what we are doing Tony. You can see why we call them hedge in Kansas instead of Osage Orange.

Che is similarly thorny when it's small . I have pears that are the same way so I don't suppose it's to surprising. The fruit of some cultivars is apparently very thorny for a time http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/che.html. I'm assuming the che Norris female is what Englands has for che scions at the moment http://nuttrees.net/assorted-scion.pdf

[tonyOmahaz5]

Clark,

Wow! Those mean looking thorns will make Us bleed. I probably use a nail clipper to clip off those thorns before doing any bark grafts.

Tony

[clarkinks]

I de-thorned yours but they won't stay that way for long if the grafts take. Been looking for a self fruiting Che but have had no luck finding a scion yet. Was going to try a stick on the wild hedge trees here and check compatability so we know it will work as an interstem. If I get a chance I will try mulberry on hedge and hedge on mulberry. Osage orange like Che wood is very hard so it's tough on knife blades. I may try fig on both, again if time permits.

[tonyOmahaz5]

Clark,

I can cut for you a couple of sticks of a male and a female Che that I ordered from Hidden Spring for you if you want to graft them to your OO. Plz let me Know.

Tony

[clarkinks]

Sure that sounds like what I have been looking for. I won't need real big pieces. It will only take a little to find out if they are compatible.