This topic asked the question, of what graft to use for 1/8th " scions, onto thicker stock.
I prefer chip budding. Thus i made some pictures to show how you would do that with really thin scions onto thicker stock.
before i post the pictures. I would like to link to 2 excellent video’s that teach you how to chip bud.
Thinnest scions i could find. Thinnest is around 2mm (1’'=25.4mm so roughly 1/12 inch)
The measuring tape is SI (metric)
1cm =10mm
1"=25.4mm
cutting the chip. You need proper technique and a scharp grafting knife. All force during cutting should come from the muscle between your thumb and index finger of your knife holding hand. If done properly you need verry little force and it’s a really safe graft. If “using your arms for force” it could get verry dangerous.
the chip on the right on the white pvc tape. And the slot cut to match the chip on the thicker twig.
chip inserted in the slot
Here you can see, that the “spring action” of the slot, holds the chip in place. For easier wrapping.
i prefer to wrap the top first, with a thin strip of parafilm M.
side
fully wrapped side picture
first graft is done
Picture of cutting the 2e chip.
here you can clearly see how thin the scion/chip is.
red arrows roughly point to the cambium.
Top arrow points to where the bark/cambium separates from the wood. Where it separates is the cambium.
I purposely cut the slot for the chip bigger than it needs to be. Since this is done quite easily when there is a large size mismatch between scion and stock.
wrong line-up of cambium.
(parallel, with space between. Not touching/crossing)
Correct line up of cambium.
Notice top right of the chip, it’s over the “cambium line” of the slot.
And bottom right of the chip you see some wood, thus the cambium line is next to the chip. This means that between the bottom and top of the chip there is cambium “crossing” somewhere. (crossing at a very small angle, almost parallel)
here you see again, that the slot holds the chip in place.
first wrap top and bottom. So you can see if you moved the chip while wrapping.
fully wrapped and next to it, the scion out of which the chip came.
3e example
Last 2 examples where with a scion from red fleshed apple (thinnest scions i could find)
3e example is a slightly thicker scion. But is from regular white/green wood. So might be easier to see the cambium line etc.
cutting the chip. Knife is a bit out of focus. Sorry, was hard to take pictures this close up.
chip after cutting.
chip wrong side up, inserted in slot. So you can roughly see the match.
chip inserted correctly.
wrapping the top first. You see some space between the chip and stock. This will disappear after wrapping.
wrapped a bit more.
fully wrapped.
I wrap with parafilm M. You can wrap most parts of the graft 5 times or more if you want. But i usually wrap over the bud only once or twice.
I hope this helps someone.
Let me know if you have any questions.
