spot on!
one of my oldest contorted(burntridge)seedlings ~8 yrs in its pot. This was dwarfed due to sparse soil just 5" deep and never amended since . The rootball is probably 99% roots and 1% soil, lol
if youāve received contorted pits from me and the crookedness isnāt exhibited by seedlings, it may just be a matter of time, as i realized it took 8 years before the crooked trait manifested on this specimen, as the old laterals(yellow arrows) and upright were quite straight the past 7 years. Growth this spring(blue arrows) show pronounced contortions). Also just this year that started blooming. Hoping the fruits are just as unique as its development and growth habit.
This was my first attempt at grafting and Iām thrilled that about 2/3 took. Big thank you to @jujubemulberry for the scions. Iām especially excited about this Vegas Booty:
I find that to be true. Those I have still in the pots do not exhibit the trait nearly as much as those planted in the ground. Those in the ground grow faster than those in the pots so I think a lot of it is a matter of time and growth
I hope your fruits are special!!
well you are obviously a pro
Hoping the flower buds produce fruits!
what i find remarkable about this specimen is that it did not exhibit a crescendo of increasing degree of stem contortions , unlike other contorted juju seedlings. It was regularly branched for 7 years. Below is a shot from another angle of the radical change in growht habit. Makes me even think might be a bud sport. Hopefully be able to coax it into launching another upright from near the base. If another upright grows and also contorted, then may just be a developmental/ageing process
wow! Quite the novelty that cultivar! Makes me wonder at what stage it might start going green.
Will be interesting to find out!!!
Will keep you informed!
post as many pics here (GF threads have unlimited storage, i think) ![]()
that reticulated vasculature is just out-of-this world! Reminds me of tropical crotons. Quite certain OGW would have trademarked that cultivar if it were up to them
This tree that has been reworked is one of the first ever juju grafts I did in 2017. I only have about 4 Li trees so I reworked this one and another I grafted. Here is the growth. It contains Big Melon, La Fleur, Porterville, Nanjing, and Baby Red growing well and Goose Egg and Iran with no growth. Itās looking good!
just love it!
This is V Lucky. A tiny little scion that I put at the top of a tiny little limb. Itās going to out grow that limb! I guess I should have grafted all these a little closer to the ground but you live and learnā¦. Hopefully.
And daily update of Baby Redā¦ā¦just because I enjoy watching it unfoldā¦ā¦
nice! flower buds on same yearās graft. Well-fed with sap that one! ![]()
Curious as to how the quality of fruits will be in your area, as the stems are quite juvenile, and the quality of fruits contyinues to evolve. On its first crop here(2 yrs ago) it had a much lighter texture and flavor. On its second year the fruits were denser, almost like its motherās(sihong).
me too! Have to say your channel is better than Netflixās and Huluās combined ![]()
Wow- you do a lot more prep than I do. I just rip off an inch or two. If it is a very small caliper, then I pre-stretch. Otherwise, I just pull it taunt as I wrap it.
Agreed- I used vinyl electrical tape a few time years ago and have no desire to go back.
While I think it will work both ways, I feel that the rubber tape is what supplies the structural support and is most able to close up any gaps in the graft. Then parafilm on top to seal it. Iāve wondered if the parafilm is even needed, as I would think that the rubber holds the moisture in on its own.
If you do parafilm first, it may not close the graft union all the way. Then when doing the rubber on top, it could catch parafilm in those gaps, causing issues. Not something Iāve tried, but I want the graft closed first. Maybe you make cleaner cuts that I do and donāt need to supply as much force to keep things connected. Once in a while I do that by accident, but I normally need at least some force.
I donāt cut it off, as I actually prefer it to stay as long as possible. Ideally many years, as it makes it easier to find where the grafts are. Once it falls off, it is too easy to not notice the graft when pruning and I havenāt memorized all of the graft (tough when you get into the thousands) locations.
I try not to break the coating with the tape. For example, I might pre-peal 5" of the coating and then rip off 2" the tape, leaving 3" of loose coating. Do this enough times and I look a bit strange with a pink/white (depending on which type I am using) streamer sticking out of my pocket by a few feet. It does help me remember which pocket the tape is in though ![]()
One pocket for parafilm, another for rubber tape, a 3rd for notes (or phone) to keep track of grafts and a 4th pocket shares the blade and pruners.
Iām guessing a lot would be dependent on how old and well established the roots are. If the tree is getting plenty of resources, then it can make better fruitā¦Does that match your experience? If so, grafting new varieties on old trees might be a faster way to evaluate, rather than leaving them to grow and age naturally.
How large are the seedlings? Most of my seedling grow very slowly- most are only a few feet tall after 3-4 years. The best of them (in-ground and babied) got up to ~5 feet after 4 years and produced some iffy fruit. I grafted the central leader about 3ā up this spring. I can give the lower branches another try, but itās time to grow some better fruit on it tooā¦
Nice- feed it plenty, as Iām sure lots of people will be hitting you up for scionwood, me included!
And yes, this thread slipped off my radar for 9 days, so that made for quite a large post ![]()
generally yes, as also noticed that at least one cultivar(vegas booty) seems to be happier on its own roots, even when potted and relatively deprived of soil nutrients
in full glory!
Big Melon and Baby Red really stand out.










