I will be grafting a couple of different fruit species this season. This is my first real try at grafting. I was wondering, in terms of producing a shoot growing straight up without a weird angled/ugly graft site, what is everyones preferred method? I appreciate any input.
The bud graft used by nurseries because of it’s bud wood efficiency tends not to be visible after a couple years. A 1/4" difference in trunk size isn’t very obvious on a 4" trunk. Whip and tongue or cleft grafts look prettier sooner if your rootstock and scion are similar size. They’re also easier when you’re still figuring things out.
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Are you grafting to a small diameter whip? Then the whip or whip and tongue will make an almost seamless graft in a season and disappear completely in a year, and a wedge is almost as good. But as @evilpaul says buds disappear after a couple of years.
If you’re grafting to stock that’s much larger than your scion then I favor clefts placed around the diameter of the stock and some people do great with bark grafts. (Clefts are also relatively strong before healing too.)
Buds inevitably put a little bend in the growth since they are on the side of the wood rather than in line with it.
Agree with the above. W&T is almost invisible after 3-4 years. On most of my older persimmons, the only sign of a graft is a change in the bark. On apples and pears, there’s not much more than a modest bump.
Here are a few whip/tounge grafts I did one spring… at the end of the growing season that fall (persimmon).
Amercans and Hybrids grafted to my wild rootstock.
TNHunter
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“Aesthetically pleasing” is not the most important concern when grafting trees. It is far more important to use the best method for the species involved and the method that gives highest probability of success.
As an example, my go-to graft for black walnut is always an inlay side graft. Aesthetically, it looks awkward for about 5 years. After that, it becomes invisible. I can do whip & tongue on walnut for smaller rootstocks with some level of success. For example, I grafted Fately #5 persian walnut on black walnut a few weeks ago using W&T. It appears to be growing normally now.
I generally don’t use “banana” grafts because the heat of early summer tends to make them fail in my specific climate.
- What works in your particular climate?
- What is the best method for the species?
- What is the best method based on size of rootstock?
- Which method gives highest probability of success?
- Which method heals fastest and looks best as it grows?
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Well, I agree wholeheartedly. “Aesthetically pleasing” may become a priority once you’re skilled enough to have success irrespective of method.
It seems to me that a critical question is whether we can match the diameter of the scion to the diameter of the rootstock. If so, then W&T seems the way to go. Granted, apples and pears are very forgiving; but if I can match the diameters, I get 100% takes with W&T. Also, the graft is inherently secure so there’s less risk of mechanical damage to the graft from a random bump.
Persimmons were always tougher for me, but this year I’m having a very high rate of success using W&T provided that (1) I wrap the scion to prevent desiccation; and (2) I warm the graft (e.g., hot callus pipe) to 75-85 F to promote callus formation. I’m sure that’s not a requirement in warmer areas. I’ve got 9/12 (75%) takes in 3-4 weeks so far, which breaks down as 100% on 2 DV scions, a Kaki scion, and 6 hybrid scions from two varieties. I’m just waiting on 3 grafts from another Kaki variety, so it could be the variety rather than the method.
When the rootstock is much bigger than the scion (e.g., top-working an established tree), my go-to method is the bark graft. But admittedly, it’s ugly.
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