I’ve done hundreds of successful grafts over the years but have a near 100% failure rate with root grafts over all this time.
Please provide me guidance as to what you do to be successful. Does the graft union stay above ground? Do you wrap the graft union with parafilm? Do you use a rubber band etc. to bind the graft union? How do you match cambium? What if rootstock and shoot are of different diameters? Do you wash the rootstock?
Please explain. With pictures if possible.
Hi Ram,
I also have failed numerous attempts. This spring I am trying a different method. Using dormant IE scions, I am trying my punch graft: I orient the root with the distal end down, proximal up, (as it would grow in the ground), then poking a knife blade thru the root, for correct polarity, then pushing the trimmed IE scion into the tight slit until it comes out the opposite side. Did these on Mar 5th, and planted them in a pot of soil. Keeping them indoors at room temps in a dark location for three weeks. Since the graft unions were very tight, I did not wrap it or use any parafilm. I did wash all soil off the root before grafting. Will let you know results by first week of April when they should be fully calloused?
Dennis
Kent, Wa
That punch graft idea seems brilliant.
I’m still unsure why wrapping is or isn’t a good idea. I’ve always wrapped with parafilm to keep the graft union clean. But perhaps that isnt a good choice.
Comparing my results with root grafting using cleft graft vs. bark/rind grafting, I’d encourage you to avoid bark/rind grafting. I’ve had scions get pushed off of the root when rind grafting because some cambium gets between the scion and the stock. It just seems harder to get the cambium to lift away from the woody core of the root to push a scion under it.
Some guy I know had 100% success with root grafting these mulberry. Here’s his before planting.
I love root grafting for mulberries. Then you know that every shoot that emerges from the trunk is the desired type and not something from a rootstock.
I would love it too if it worked.
Thank you @ramv for asking this question, and thank you to all who replied! I’m grafting mulberries for the first time this year and have been debating how to deal with the sap bleed problem.
I have used root grafting for mulberry successfully. Whip and tongue. Wrapped with both parafilm and a grafting rubber to cinch it up tight, the rubber had to be removed manually when I planted the graft out the following year as it was starting to girdle/strangle due to no UV degradation being below ground. Union was just under soil line. I found that using roots with decent size and branching seemed to help. Same caliper. I’d like to try it with other species but haven’t yet. Someday!
Thanks @JesseinMaine, What do you do to match cambium etc? What if the roots are a different diameter than the scion?
I think part of getting good cambium line up with root grafting is to use a root piece with a larger caliper than the scion. This is because the below ground “bark” on the root will be much thicker than the bark of the scion, so the actual woody core of a root must be looked at to see approximately where the cambium layer would be.
I have plenty of pictures for the root grafted mulberries, figs and apricots here
And the video of some resulting trees
I use cleft graft when caliper doesn’t match
I have yet to try root grafting. I may give a whirl this year once a tree gets dug out. Might as well put the roots to good use. In such a case, I think cleft grafts would be worth a go. I’ll take care to cover the gap well if the root is so big & scions so small that there is room for two scions in the cleft, and leave the graft union above ground. I have done many cleft grafts, cutting the scion into a long wedge. If the wedge has a wider side (often), that is the side I use to meet the stock cambium, trying to match the thin region between wood & bark.
If I get 50% success, that is the rate of my first try in 2010 & can work with that.
