Cleft grafts and how they’re healing

A couple Apple cleft grafts on a Frankentree. Not the prettiest healing…but good growth.

‘Hawaii’


Freyberg

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The Hawaii seems to be callousing over the “blind” side pretty well.

The Freyberg has this odd lump of callous on the side opposite where the cambium touched, and there appears to be dead tissue on the upper part of that same side of the cleft. Any feedback? Should I assume they will both end up fine?

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I think so. I’ve had worse take and better fail. I’ve gotten to where I try to cut my scion pretty skinny, and with a definite shoulder, so as to not spread the stock any more than need be. Not sure whether it helps, but it works.

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They look good to me :+1: I was looking at some of mine this evening and need to take a couple pics, most look similar to yours but I really need to look at more of them up close :thinking: :blush:

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When did you make the grafts and did you wrap them with rubber bands or something to keep pressure?

I’m not very experienced with grafting but if you just made the grafts this spring, they should still be wrapped.
Otherwise they look a little gnarly :sleepy:
But plants can do crazy things, so don’t give up

They were wrapped in parafilm. The expansion and growth has already broken it off.

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Gotcha. In my experience with cleft grafts, it’s necessary to tightly wrap the union with a rubber band through the first growing season. Otherwise the callous tissue will push apart the graft.

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I’ve had good luck with a whip & tongue “side graft” when the scionwood was somewhat thinner than the rootstock. But, same as the cleft, it leaves a big scar, though of a different sort.

I’ve tended to avoid cleft grafts, but the ‘take rate’ seems to be good as any other method practically. Sometimes I do two tiny twigs in a cleft, and they both take…then I have to decide which to eliminate. I have a ‘King David’ I am going to have to make that choice on, and then I have one where I inadvertently put two different skinny twigs in a cleft and they both are growing great…not sure about that, as it’s on my Frankentree…might let them both grow awhile

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I know these aren’t the prettiest grafts, but cleft grafts and bark grafts are the only ones I can cut and have successfully take.

I can’t cut a W&T for the life of me. I just can’t do it. I never get the smooth angle, it always ends up jutting back outward.

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For a long time I only used w&t. I switched to almost all clefts and side grafts a few years ago with no regrets. Cleft is so much easier although not as pretty.

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When you say the growth has already outgrown and pushed off the parafilm, that to me means they are successful, and will “end up fine.” They look like they are growing magnificently to me! How long were the scions, 2 or 3 buds? I can’t tell by the pics.

Anyway, you can’t do anything about it if something were to happen and they would suddenly fail anyway, right? You’d have to wait until next year to try again, right?

So, when trying to W&T graft, what kind of knife? Single edge grafting knife, or double edge? I use single edge and have to get the slit started, first, and when it’s deeper–and begins trying to jutt back outward–I adjust the angle dramatically to prevent it, stopping before I am too close to the edge. I think it is also a matter of where to start the slit, too. Perhaps a little closer to the middle, rather than the 1/3 normally suggested in all the readings might help? And perhaps a pair of cut and puncture resistant gloves might help would help when practicing those W&T grafts–and when using a “scary sharp” knife?" I think the added bit of confidence has helped me somewhat–and $15 isn’t too much to spend for the added safety I don’t think!

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I think a whip is just as strong, a lot easier, and really fast. And, you can cut both sides of the graft with nippers. If you have a piece of temflex or electrical tape already stuck to the stock it is over in no time.

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About three buds each, I think. The scionwood was very skinny, but has about tripled in diameter since pushing, so it pretty much split the parafilm lengthwise. The size difference between scion and stock has shrunk, as well. Both of those pieces of scionwood were less than 1/3 of the width of the stock originally, but now it’s closer to 2/3.

My knife wasn’t super sharp, and it is a double-bevel. I tried sharpening it more, but I really didn’t have any luck. I do think I need a better knife.

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I think the issue with the Freyberg is that I pushed it a little too deep into the cleft.

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All I can say about being unable to do whip and tongue…is you don’t have all your digits, or you just haven’t practiced. Try ‘playing around’ with various sticks, even weeds.
Some you end up getting perfect, and there is not a scar and it’s hard to tell the tree is even grafted if the bark of the rootstock and scionwood happen to match in colors.

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Box cutter knife work great fo me. Never need to sharpen blades again.

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I’m the same Byan. i have shaky hands and so far the cleft graft has worked for me . had 11 grafts on a y. transparent apple, sargents crab and pear scions on my mountain ash. all done with cleft. only 1 didn’t take. if it aint broke, don’t fix it! :wink:

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before i had a quality single bevel grafting knife, i used a sheet rock knife. works well but tends to cut bows in the cut if too much pressure is applied as the blade flexes. once you practice with it and get the technique down though, it works pretty good.

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I get a pretty good success rate on grafts but I think just as important as the cut is it might be even more important to get the alignment right and then getting a tight wrap that will hold the limited amount of moisture inside until the scion starts to grow.

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Wow. Sure sounds like they’re growing just fine, if they’ve grown that much! No worries at all, I should think.

I was gonna say before how it may be easier to make that slit for joining the W&T with a double-edged blade–so it doesn’t try to jutt out the back–but since that is what you are using, hmmm, maybe you should try a new knife or find a way to make the one you have “scary sharp.” I use a leather strop on mine to sharpen it, and it seems the sharper you can get it the better it works. It is not easy, for sure, to take your time, don’t get rushed, and to “rock the blade” back and forth. Sometimes it works best to slice by pulling the blade towards the handle–instead of rocking it–as you increase the depth–and even stop and start again to get the needed depth (because the knife is not long enough).

I do like my “Tina” brand grafting knife, but the single edge does take some getting used to.