I’m curious about this technique, as I’ll be trying to graft mulberries for the first time this spring. I was thinking maybe something like T-budding would be better than cleft or bark grafts, for the reasons you mention above.
Do you use a single bud for your “side graft” (veneer/shield/etc.), or an entire scion (side cleft/side whip-and-tongue/etc)? Do you have any photos?
The section on side grafting in The Grafter’s Handbook lists a wide variety of different types of grafts under this heading, so I’m curious which one has worked well for you with mulberries.
Yeah, the cool thing about side grafting is that you have so much leeway in how you orient and execute them. I favor an actual scion, even if it only has one bud. I’ve done some bud grafting- both chip and t/shield- and it just seems more fiddley, plus there’s not much between the bud and the graft. Using a scion, no matter short gives more room for error and more options IMO. If you’re dealing with a difference in size between rootstock and scion, you can stay near the surface and make it more of a side veneer graft. In that case, I try to make it plenty long if possible, reasoning that more cambial contact can only help. I’ve been known to make them 2” or so long. I make a single downward cut, leaving the flap, and make 2 opposing cuts on the scion, so that doubles the surface area too. If the diameter is similar, I’ll do more of a side cleft. I’ve been known to cut obliquely most of the way through the stem, that way all of the sap going up the shoot passes literally through the graft union. The top growth that is left (it seems to me) keeps the plant fed and makes sure that growth is initiated up the stem rather than down nearer the crown, as often seems to happen with mulberries. I’ll dig up some photos and see about posting them
You can sort of make it out in both photos if you look, but the top self aborted by the end of the season on both. This seems common in mulberries, so grafting at the top of the stem (as is common in other fruits) can be frustrating
I’ve also observed something similar when grafting mulberries.
Your grafts look like they healed in really well.
I also did a couple of side grafts last spring. Some of them didn’t completely callous well together. I was worried about water getting into the union but they seem to be doing okay coming out of dormancy. Buds are swelling up.
The Ukrainian varieties Shelli and Galicia both seemed to sprout too vigorously too soon after I stuck them in soil, so I’m covering them with humidity domes until I’m more confident they actually have roots:
I wintered over several 1st yr grafts in my unheated basement this past winter. It seems a vole must have come in with one of the pots and had a field day munching at roots. I found my one ‘Gaylitzia’ tree had half or more of the roots eaten off at the crown. Luckily I had a big container full of rooted cuttings. I did several grafts even though the ‘Gaylitzia’ was pushing quite a bit. They’re all looking good, as is the patient- I.e. original tree, which I lopped all but 4 buds off if.
I’ve seen this variety (presumably the same) spelled several different ways. I’m thinking ‘Gaylitzia’ is probably correct, since it’s a place in Poland. Galicia, on the other hand, seems less likely since it’s a region in Spain. Sounds like this one has huge fruit. I’m looking forward to trying it.
It’s often not just one way a word can be converted from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin one. In the above link it’s spelled Galitsija. I got it from someone in the US who got it from Ukraine. This cultivar was selected in Ukraine. Any of the following should refer to the same cultivar:
Галиция
Галiцiя
Galicia
Galitsija
Galitsiya
But I would never spelled it Gaylitzia. You may have a different cultivar.
Makes sense. It’s phonetics, so not necessarily a correct spelling. Looks like I butchered the spelling anyway. I see now that Galicia is also a region of Poland/Ukraine, as well as an unrelated region of Spain.
I use bottom heat for at least the first week or two with almost everything I try to root, and I did for the mulberries above. I would leave them longer but I only have two heat pads and always need to make room for other cuttings or germinating seeds, so they only got a week or two this time.
I use an old chicken incubator that I have. I use a plastic bottle or pot. Sealed in a zip lock bag. No variety just a wild M. Alba. This was just to see if it would work.
Mulberry roots are pretty amazing.
What style of graft did you use? You’ve got lots of root there! I’ve tended to use smaller roots, more like matching diameter, and to include as many fine roots as I can. I’m not settled on my preferred technique by any means, though. It’s something I’ve played with and will continue to as circumstances allow/require. I’ll be curious to see how they do for you.
I’d be surprised if the ungrafted roots do much for you. I’ve not found mulberries to grow from root cuttings at all, and have even had it happen a couple few times that a rootstock dies back to the base of the crown, and even though the roots are alive for months on end, they do nothing. For such a seemingly tough plant, they can be quite tender under certain circumstances, it seems.
I did a mix of cleft and rind grafts. I don’t have high hopes for the ungrafted root sections, but had way more than I could use today so figured why not. A quick Google search indicated M. alba can sometimes sucker from roots. I don’t want more of the variety the roots came from so if they did form buds and stay alive they would probably get grafted over next year.
By the way, on the rind grafts it was very easy to distinguish where the “bark” of the root segregated from the woody core at the cambium layer and they slipped apart very easily to allow the scion to be inserted. If this works well I will do way more next year. I don’t care about the tree the root was harvested from so don’t feel bad about harvesting more roots from it to start better trees.
