Post your ugliest (successful) graft!

Lizzy · 2016-05-31T23:19:51.369Z

Wow! Structurally unsound, but you can’t argue with vegetative growth!

MisterGuy · 2016-06-01T11:16:40.695Z

I am probably going to be needing advice on how to shore it up if it keeps going. I was originally thinking about trimming a sliver off the inside and trying to rebind it, but if it takes how it is maybe I just need to brace it like it is and trim the unjoined side off.

Matt_in_Maryland · 2016-06-01T12:39:35.085Z

I would carefully trim and re-bind w/ electrical tape- waiting until next year to take off the binding. A splint is more work but would be added peace of mind.

MisterGuy · 2016-06-01T13:32:31.280Z

As in, today? My only concern is I am NOT a gentle giant. I’ve mostly knocked off plums trying to bag them, and cut myself multiple times (Blood is copper + nitrogen right?) grafting them in the first place. I’m hesitant to futz with a graft already clearly floundering. I was considering painting the whole durn thing with grafting sealant but I didn’t want to prevent any callous that IS filling in that gap from expanding.

Auburn · 2016-06-01T14:10:51.645Z

Just make sure it doesn’t get bumped until it is stronger then trim off the left tag. You don’t have to rush the cutting. Just let it grow. In a few months it will be much stronger. Bill

Lizzy · 2016-06-11T21:53:41.842Z

What Bill said! Plus, splinting isn’t that hard, just take a couple of bamboo skewers (the type for grilling shish kebab), put them on two or more sides of the graft joint. Tape them securely, a couple of inches above, and a couple inches below the graft.

MisterGuy · 2016-09-12T16:51:11.445Z

Update!

I didn’t touch it, and it’s filled way, way in:

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I should be able to snip the jutting out part this winter, if it isn’t swallowed up already.

markalbob · 2016-10-01T05:49:49.085Z

I dont have a photo but have an IE mulberry cleft graft where one side took and the other completely failed, with a huge (maybe 6+ inches) split down the rootstock. Next year i may try to saw off the half of the rootstock cleft that is now just a glorified clothespin helping pinch the scion in place…

murky · 2016-10-01T18:08:48.896Z

Better to snip it during the growing season so it can heal, unless you are only cutting dead wood.

markalbob · 2016-10-01T19:05:52.735Z

Probably but as it stands I’m afraid if I messed with it I’m gonna rip up clean off the other side where it calloused. next year I’m hoping to clean it up some

Daemon2525 · 2016-10-01T20:46:17.102Z

@MisterGuy wins the thread for ugliest successful graft.

murky · 2016-10-01T23:59:52.494Z

markalbob:

Probably but as it stands I’m afraid if I messed with it I’m gonna rip up clean off the other side where it calloused. next year I’m hoping to clean it up some

You should probably just leave it alone, it will be subsumed in a year or two.

Matt_in_Maryland · 2016-11-04T00:32:23.128Z

I heard you guys like ugly grafts.

Well @Lizzy… here is the Winter Nelis pear you sent me growing away nicely, but the union is kinda goofy looking. There are rumors on the internet that Winter Nelis has a “trashy” growth habit. Maybe that’s what we’re looking at. Before and after I took off the bandage:

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marknmt · 2016-11-04T01:31:33.480Z

I get a lot of that kind of callous sometimes- and others not at all. They all seem to work!

Nice tags, by the way- nice hand.

Matt_in_Maryland · 2016-11-04T02:13:08.036Z

Here are a couple of ugly saddle grafts:

Lowland Raspberry apple on Honeycrisp/ G.41.

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Tyson pear on Worden/ OHxF.87. This is truly one of my ugliest grafts.

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speedster1 · 2016-11-04T10:19:15.041Z

Matt I wouldn’t consider those ugly grafts. That’s very typical of saddle grafts from my experience and in a couple of years you’ll barely know it’s a graft.

AJfromElmiraNY · 2017-03-29T17:29:37.934Z

Side graft from last year. Not sure why this one built up so much callus.

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danchappell · 2017-03-29T23:31:04.703Z

A couple of ugly plums presented for your viewing pleasure.

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Lizzy · 2017-03-30T00:54:05.448Z

Oh my! Were those cleft grafts with just one side of the scion matched to the rootstock? I did a lot of those this year, basically because I was tired of being finicky about matching cambiums on both sides. I wonder if they will all look like that

danchappell · 2017-03-30T06:48:54.958Z

That is exactly what they were. The tree in the first photo began as a top worked 2" tree trunk but the callous keeps growing in the cleft, splitting the trunk on one side. Perhaps I should trim out some of the dead wood so that the scion can envelope the understock more rapidly.

It may be ugly as hell but it sure produces some fine tasting Mirabelle plums.