The question was posed last year in this thread, by @Chonas . Has anyone tried this yet?
1 Like
I would be interested to know the answer as well.
That said I wonder what benefit that might have since own-root honeyberries can already mature pretty quickly and vining honeysuckles tend to sucker from below ground which would create a management mess with them twining through the honeyberry.
Grafting shorter varieties of honeyberry onto long shoots from tall honeyberry varieties sounds really interesting though. Perhaps a way to get them at a better height for hand harvest in the home garden setting.
4 Likes
I attempted it on the invasive bush honeysuckles near me with 0% success. Now that I have honeyberries in ground I’ll try again next year.
8 Likes
This would be so cool to see. It would definitely take some frequent pruning but the convenience of an already established root system might be worth it.
2 Likes
I’m going to try this maybe in the summer or next year when my bushes have more cuttings to share. What varieties did you try to graft and when did you attempt it?
3 Likes
The indigo ones @steveb4 can confirm specifics since he supplied the cuttings. April (most trees/plants are in or past budbreak in Alabama at this point). However, I didn’t take special care sealing the scions. I’ll do that and banana graft next year I think.
2 Likes
Also following. As discussed in the other thread, with very fragile bark I wonder if specific grafting methods would be best for success… My parents have tons of bush honeysuckle in the woods, I’d love to try this once my haskaps are big enough.
4 Likes
I hadn’t known what honeysuckle looks like. Apparently we have some growing over our back fence. Lovely flowers. My hasty picture doesn’t capture it:
Apparently some honeysuckle have poisonous fruit.
4 Likes
@murky
According to GRIN there are 72 accepted species with Honeysuckle as a common name, spread across 13 genera. Most of these are in Lonicera – a worldwide genus.
4 Likes
I had asked a state conservation group that posted a video on YouTube about removing bush honeysuckle if it would be possible to graft honeyberry to it and they said they are not sure but would still recommend removal because the sap is toxic and will likely make the honeyberry fruit toxic as well.
I would still like that to be confirmed either way just out of curiosity, though.
2 Likes
jeremybyington, that’s one of the things I’d wondered about when I learned that honeysuckle often have poisonous components. I wonder if toxic sap would lead to toxins in fruit? It makes me wonder what other effects root stock may have on fruit.
2 Likes
I cut a few scions this spring with this in mind, we have a few species of honeysuckle around. One or more are small and bushy and grow well in the shade, one is a vine and the other one is a larger shrub. Maybe I can Id the species by keying them out with a field guide. Anyway for other fruits I’ve found the best graft to use with small scions and potentially tricky cambial contact is the modified cleft, so that’s what I’ll use. Will follow up if any take.
1 Like
Lonicera maackii. Literally under every tree here.
1 Like
I did a few of these grafts today onto two species of honeysuckle, will know if they take some time in June and post a follow up. Reminds me of grafting grape or kiwi, a vine with thin peeling bark and a hollow pith. I might prefer to graft vs planting trail side to get the bushes higher up where they’ll get more light. Photo is a modified cleft graft, it cuts into the cambium at a steep angle and gives you more contact than a cleft in the middle or a whip & tongue, JSacadura on youtube recommends these and has some grafting videos with vines.
5 Likes
Would think chip buds might do well. There are some in this thread mixed in with the tbuds.
Did these ever take?
4 Likes
I didn’t have any take but it’s worth some more trialing. I used dormant scions in early summer with modified clefts and some whip & tongue and did maybe a dozen grafts onto various wild honeysuckle, I don’t think the scions even leafed out or if they did the leaves dried up before I checked them. I suspect adjusting the timing or providing more shelter would improve results. Budding in August might work better. Using an envelope or bag to keep the direct sun off the scion until it leafs out might help, or maybe grafting actively growing material in early summer is worth trying. Actually looking at my post from the end of May last year, the stock plant already has 6" of new growth - so grafting earlier like the start of May before that new growth pushes and trimming back some of the other stems would help.
4 Likes
I imagine taking scion extremely early would be beneficial too. My honeyberries are already leafing out as of last week.
3 Likes
All interesting to see. However from a grower who eats haskaps every day and grows them in northern Canada, keep in mind a few things. A) some varieties can grow 8 feet high and 12 wide relatively quickly. B) the fruit is delicious and addictive so you will want loads of them so a few branches hanging off of a less vigorous rootstock plant will not fill your freezer or your bellies. C) You can strike hardwood cuttings or softwood to grow more as needed, that is well worth playing with. Good growing!
6 Likes