I’ve been trying to get different varieties of jujube that are not grown on wild rootstock. I’ve been trying 2 different approaches. First, I have tigertooth growing on its own roots. I’ve been grafting other varieties to tigertooth. My success rate has been 100% in the field so far and about 66% when grafting to 1 year old container grown tigertooth rootstock.
The second approach I’m trying is to graft other varieties to wild rootstock in containers and then raise the sides of the container so the mix level is above the graft and effectively air-layer to get roots above the graft. My first step was the grafting step which was a total failure last year. I got sprouts from Roger Meyer, placed them in containers, allowed them to leaf out and grafted them. A couple never leafed out and all of the grafts failed. Several sent up new wild growth from below the graft. I kept those trees hoping to try to graft to them this year.
So, right now, I’m considering grafting them. They have been in these 1 gal RB2 containers for a full year now, so I’m sure the root system is well established. Because this was new growth sent up after grafting, the diameter of these trees is small. Here they are:
They are fully leafed out with 3"-4" of new growth. The diameters are 0.19 and 0.20 inches.
Do you think it is worth grafting these or should I wait another year? Sooner would be better for me.
If you think grafting has a reasonable chance, I’d be interested in 2 scions of the appropriate size from different prolific varieties. I currently have tigertooth, Admiral Wilkes, and Redlands #4, so I’d be interested in anything else. I only need 2 small diameter scions (0.19" and 0.20"). I’d be happy to paypal shipping or I have a few tigertooth scions I could trade.
(By the way, the other jujube in the background of the pictures are tigertooth sprouts. Some have begun to leaf out and others have not. They were dug up last fall and have been in these containers in my cold room for the first part of the winter. I brought them out when brought out all my jujube. The leaf out for these has significantly lagged trees with established root systems).
One is Sugarcane and the other is contorted both on wild rootstock for now. I may try grafting one of the other scions to one of my tigertooth seedlings.
These 2 were grafted to wild jujube sprouts I got from Roger Meyer last year. Last year I let them leaf out and tried to graft to them. All grafts failed. These 2 put out new growth from below the graft. I let them grow all summer. By now they have good root systems unlike last year. I’m hoping these grafts take.
You sent me a few extra scions of each variety so I could get a good size match. I have at least one tigertooth that was started from a root cutting last year that is large enough to graft. I’m considering grafting to one of them above the lowest branching. This way if the graft doesn’t take, I’ll still have enough leaves to keep it going and I can tray again. After one takes, I can eventually prune the lower branches.
Last year I also tried grafting other varieties (Globe, Admiral Wilkes, and Redlands #4 ) to tigertooth that were started from root cuttings the previous year. 2 out of 3 of them took and the smallest one failed. So, I’m guessing that the poor root system on the wild sprouts had enough energy to leaf out once but not enough to support the grafts while the tigertooth with the well developed root systems did.
I will keep you posted and let folks know if these grafts succeed and then if I can get them growing on their own roots.
Jujube seem to be in short supply right now and just when they were taking off. I have a rootstock jujube I’m considering propagating into several more this year. Its died to the ground several times but the last couple of years have been mild so its thriving.
I decided to graft one of the Li scions you sent to one of the Tigertooth Jujubes I started from cuttings last year. Here is the tree before the graft:
I think that should work. I’ve had a few grafts fail on my tigertooth in containers in previous years and with some plants the root system put up multiple new stems from different locations in the pot. I let them grow out for the season and then when they went dormant, I unwrapped the pot and shook off the medium. I used pruning shears separate them into individual trees and repotted them. They seem to be doing well.
I’m presuming yours is field planted. I’ve found that the wild rootstock is pretty aggressive at putting up new sprouts.
kind of felt bad i could only send a few twiggies of the caliper size you were asking for, but evidently, when you said you needed just two, you were really serious about using just two.
i guess you now have all three varieties grafted. At just one apiece, makes each so precious!
now i’m getting curious, will you be attempting to strike the leftovers as cuttings with rooting hormone?
I’ve never been successful rooting jujube scion cuttings. I have tried it. I’ve only been able to propagate them from root cuttings.
I’m thinking of parking the leftover scions on my jujube’s in the field after they leaf out. I’ll need to figure out a good way to label the branches so I can keep track of them. Then, next year, when my tigertooth sprouts in containers have a good root system, I’ll take those scions back off the field trees and graft them to my sprouts.
yes, I’m learning that it is high risk to graft to sprouts before they have developed a good root system. I only had 2 wild jujube that I wanted to graft as part of an experiment. I’m going to try to layer those 2 in containers and get the contorted and sugarcane on their own roots.
The only other tree I feel could be grafted is the tigertooth I grafted with the Li. My original plan was to plant it in the field and then bark graft it next year when it was established. I’ve had 100% success grafting jujube in the field so far and only 66% success with trees in containers with well developed root systems.
