I’ve never grafted before but I was thinking of trying it for the first time this year if I can get my hands on some Pippi Scion Wood from @JohannsGarden . I have 2 Carmine Goumi that will be on their 3rd leaf next spring so I think they are plenty big enough for me to try grafting pippi onto them. any and all help/tips/tricks are greatly appreciated!
If you are a truly experienced grafter, you likely won’t have a lot of problem. Goumi trends downward in success rates compared to other things, and really likes to take it’s time from any sort of cutting, but once you have something established it is likely going to show you what it has got quickly after that. Thus, my advice is to graft more than you want to end up with.
My goumi grafts are on autumn olives. I think I had about 20% take. The ones with a bit more sun seem to have given me more growth than the ones that were buried in the new growth. (As it is windy here, that was against me, as most of my grafts were on the house-side of the bushes, or close to the trunk.)
Whether sticks, grafts, or air-layers, don’t assume success in year one for this genus.
I tried 2 Pippi scion on some A.O, didn’t take. Maybe I’ll do more next time.
I planted a ton of seed though!
I should have specified, I’ve never grafted Anything before. So I guess I should expect to have a lot of problems lol
a.o root easily if put in ground in fall. ive never tried goumi but they should be similar. i just scraped down to the cambium at the bottom and push in the ground where you want them. cover with mulch. Pull back mulch in spring. ive got near 100% takes doing a.o that way. maybe try some both ways.
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I got some scion of carmine a couple springs ago… grafted them to my red gem and sweet scarlet.
3 grafts… 1 mod cleft, 2 w/t…
All very successful… 2 of them even bloomed and set fruit that year.
They grew 4 to 6 ft long that first season and gave me a good crop of carmine berries this spring.
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I’ve attempted to root goumi scion wood like I do for my figs had had no success on all 6 cuttings that I tried
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Maybe an air layer would work?
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I started this air layer attempt back around July 1.
That branch is one of my carmine grafts on my red gem bush. I plan to cut it off end of Sept… and hopefully have carmine goumi to plant at our new home site.
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I’m not exactly sure what you mean.
The variety I want is only available as scion wood, so long term I would want to initially graft it onto one of my existing Goumi Plants, and then air layer it so I could get it to grow on its own roots, but I don’t have the option of air layering it right from the get go, and air layering my existting Goumi would be just adding extra steps because I would need to graft the scionwood from pippi onto it anyway.
Figs root so easily that most other plants can’t be rooted that way. Steve’s suggested method sounds like a good one. I’ve done something similar with some tough-to-root things (Luma apiculata, feijoa) and had pretty good success.
My only attempt to root goumi so far was trying something pretty different, more like my avocado rooting method, which only can form roots if the cutting has leaves on it (so not typical scionwood). I posted a photo when I took the cuttings in mid-May here:
I neglected them in their jar of water for longer than I meant to (almost a month) and then put them in a community pot of soil near the start of summer. I’ve removed any that died, but still have quite a few with green leaves, but no new growth yet, so I’m not sure about this method compared to what Steve recommends. I figure I’ll unpot them in spring to see if they’ve rooted yet by then.
I’m sure that @JohannsGarden could send you cuttings with leaves on them as well, if that’s what’s necessary to root them successfully rather than normal scionwood with leaves removed. Incidentally, those cuttings are from a bush that I got from him, and it is a seedling of Pippi.
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Oops! Nevermind. 
ive had bad luck rooting in pots. i learned to root in ground from laziness. didn’t feel like babying cuttings in a pot so id just stick some cuttings around the mother plant when i pruned. they took ok in the spring but did 2xs as good if stuck in early fall. they put down roots over winter while the cutting is dormant and they take right off once they warm. ive even had luck doing it with sour cherry, honeyberries and blueberries though not as much so as elder, currants , cane fruit and aronia. i now have a dedicated nursery bed just for rooting cuttings. if i wasn’t worried about patent infringement id expand my bed and sell them online. also been growing out my best hazels and have grown out butternuts and black walnuts in there as well.
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Nice tip. Do you have a rough take/root rate? I would like to have one Tillamook on it own root. My other three are grafted and doing well.
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I do, then pull it back a few inches in spring .
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well like said above, some have tried rooting goumi with no luck. i suggested it because a.o was so easy to root. i assumed goumi would be the same.
I think I’ve had 100% takes grafting dormant goumi scion to goumi and to autumn olive. Probably whip and tongue. something like 7/7.
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So I have quite a hard time trying to root spring hardwood cuttings. 2 years in a row with around 5% success on even willow and elderberry.
This being said, I have been lucky with black currant fall cuttings in the first week of november and I want to try other species out this year.
My soil is a sandy loam. I am curious to know what means ‘‘early fall’’ to you and if I should try to stick them in way earlier, such as the first week of october. Also, I am curious to know about the soil type of your cutting bed.
Thanks for your help,
Victor
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