Che, mulberry, osage orange, fig grafting

General Fruit Growing
#21

you needed some thornless oo, that would have been easier to work with.

1 Like
#22

kleckner,

You welcome to do some grafts of OO on mulberries too to help out. The large scale experiment is better than few.

Tony

2 Likes
#23

Clark, the scions I just sent you are from edible landscapingā€™s self-fruitful Che.

1 Like
#24

Thank you that will give us several che varieties to test in total which will tell us a lot about their compatiility. Iā€™m thinking that if the figs will take on a mulberry or OO that could save us months of growing and add to our fruiting times in colder climates. This experiment could benefit us and many others in more ways than are obvious currently.

1 Like
#25

Anyone have any grafting tips youā€™ve learned on these through the years? Donā€™t try to graft any of them dormant because I have been down that road. This family of trees seem tobe more like grafting cherries in terms of their needs than like pears or apples.

#26

So what day time temps do you think they are going to like?

#27

Derby42,
Iā€™m not sure I can answer that question because our temps are all over the place during any season. What I can tell you about grafting is the tricks with stone fruit and all difficult to graft trees is its not as much about temperature as it is about sap. We die without blood flow and sap is a mulberries blood. The reason I say donā€™t graft dormant is that graft dies without the sap running through it like its life blood. Trees are all different like maples sap runs early hence why we use their sap for maple syrup. I tap them with snow on the ground and they even bloom sometimes with snow on the ground. Apples and pears are later but Iā€™ve grafted plenty dormant because the sap flows and the scion does not dry out. Mulberry if grafted to early the sap is not running. If grafted to late it could flood and not heal so donā€™t wait until June either. The ideal time with mulberry is when they are pushing leaves but its not real hot. Iā€™m not an expert on it and I donā€™t know anyone who is but the method discussed will work. See this old thread http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1441773/best-timing-and-methods-for-grafting-mulberry from gw

1 Like
#28

Great thread, I plan to do some mulberry grafting this spring so it was very helpful for that as well.

2 Likes
#29

With any luck we will get a success or two and can narrow down what to focus on next year.

1 Like
#30

Clark,

Last weekend I cleared all the weeds off the 7 large 4 inches diameter wild red mulberry trees in preparation for a large scale bark grafts of OO on mulberries and OO as an interstem for Che.

Tony

2 Likes
#31

Tony,
That sounds great the weather should get things moving pretty soon. Iā€™ve prepped a small osage orange ( the one we will use as a long term interstem in the experiment) for several types of che scions. I took mulberry and osage orange cuttings and have lots of rootstocks of both. I also have fig cuttings for the experiment.

#32

Clark and Jason,

I am gong to do some Bark grafts with fig on mulberry, Che on mulberry, Osage orange on mulberry. I will update the results in a month or so. I hope you guys will do the same and with this large scale trial that We should have a solid results for the record on what take and what not. Good luck my friends.

Tony

1 Like
#33

I will be doing my grafts in a week Tony. Iā€™m still finishing apples and pears. Thanks

#34

Hey when do you folks graft mulberries? This is my first time grafting them. The buds are very swelled now but no leaves yet. With persimmons I found I want to wait a bit longer than that to get better results.

#35

Scott,
Iā€™m not going to say itā€™s the best way but I graft them like peaches or apricots.

1 Like
#36

I have been wondering how much heat they need. I have some mulberry scion wood and the trees I plan to top work are just making little leaves.

1 Like
#37

I would graft them anytime now.

1 Like
#38

Maybe tomorrow I can get it done, I still have s couple of apples to graft too.

#39

Iā€™m still grafting apples and pears as well. We have rain coming so I will likely wait until next weekend on cherries and mulberries I think.

1 Like
#40

Do you think the rain will be bad for the grafts?