Is this cutting to release the latex appropriate for mulberrys as well ?.
I had bad luck last year with my mulberry grafts
I am Trying the fig pop method this year, sounds good,easy winter project.
Get a real thin bit and go up a few inches off the ground and drill all the way thru. Then go up another inch and drill all the way thru again the other direction. Let them bleed for a few days and you’re good to go.
Da
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Great Video. I will make some cuts under the graft to bleed out some latex for insurance.
Tony
Good chip bud video
Do others here feel they need aluminum foil to protect their grafts ?
If so where , and on what ?
Is it very hot and sunny in Portugal?
I have seen others use it, and recommend it, I have never used it.
I have very good luck without it.
Just wonder where, and on what this is nessisary ?
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This shallow cut method works to release latex in all plants that have the phloem vascular tissue just under the bark.
In some cases you can drill a few holes (its done in walnuts, for instance), as Dax is suggesting, but they aren’t necessary more effective if there are no phloem and xylem vascular tissues in the center of the stem as its usually the case for most fruit trees.
When changing varieties with bark grafts these cuts are usually done with a saw, in order to pass the bark and reach the vascular tissues. I have done it in walnuts or the grafts would fail due to the great flow of sap these trees have.
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Tony,
If your tree was dormant when you grafted those branches the flow of sap will be minimal. In your case the cuts probably are not necessary, but you can always check it on one branch. If the flow doesn’t start immediately from the cut, i wouldn’t bother the plant. It needs all its energy to repair the tissues in the grafts.
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When grafting in the spring with bright skies and lots of sun, the parafilm will maintain the moisture in, but acts as a greenhouse when fully exposed to the sun and the grafts will suffer (yes, it gets hot, over here, in those conditions). The unprotected chips would dry out for sure and fail. I always keep the aluminium at least a couple of weeks and only remove it when the buds start to break the parafilm to avoid that greenhouse effect.
Fusing cambiums is not a process that needs light and excessive heat.
With other fruit types and when not using parafilm the problem doesn’t exist and the aluminium foil is not necessary. But it really depends on the fruit tree you are grafting and the time of the year.
I found out it helps in most cases, increasing the percentage of successful grafts and it has no drawbacks (if it’s removed or opened, when the buds break and start to need light). It also allows grafting later in the year, like late spring and summer. So i made it a part of my grafting routine.
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I really enjoy your videos and comments, Jaime. I finally had an extra few minutes to watch your video. I’m going to teach a young man how to graft next spring and am going to link him to your channel. It’s one of thee best if not thee best I’ve watched.
Sincerely, great stuff.
Dax
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Thanks, Dax,
If you are referring to the chip-bud grafting technique in the last video i mentioned, without any doubt i believe it’s the easiest grafting technique there is. But the trees must be growing and the sap flowing. The best chips to use are the ones that have a nice fat bud, ready to come alive, not the ones that are very small and dormant. With these, the graft can take but the chip might only wake up next season, depending on the time of the year we are doing the graft.
Also, with this type of graft we have to take extra care with the protection of the graft (from sun - wrapping it carefully in parafilm) and from dehydration (using the aluminium foil) as there is so little material that, until it fuses with the rootstock tissues, the energy and water reserves are very slim.
Thanks again for the incentive, i appreciate it.
Jaime
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Jaime,
I’m talking about all your videos. He’ll learn a lot from the others, as-well.
Best regards,
Dax
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An update on the fig cuttings i started 5 weeks ago. It’s clear that some varieties take much more time to root than others.
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Jaime,
Since you grow lots of figs, what are your top 8 best tasting figs?
Tony
That’s how I do some of my cuttings.
Most varieties in my collection are still very young and they haven’t produce figs yet.
But, until now, i would have to say that the ones that i like the most (in no particular order) are Col de Dama Roja, Sbayi, Asali, Grise de S’ Jean, Moscatel Branco, Paraíso, Preto de Torres Novas and Inchário Preto, although there are several others that are also very good.
Also, this list might change this year, as there are some real potential gems in the ones that haven’t produced yet.
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Thanks. Plz keep Us update with the rest taste down the road.
Tony
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Couple of thoughts on my experience with using this method:
I really didn’t like the process of transplanting from the bin with multiple cuttings to individual pots. I felt like no matter how careful I tried to be some roots were damaged, and there is the potential that if you wait too long to up-pot they will intertwine to the point where separating them would be severely damaging.
In the future if I try this type of method I will also use 32 oz cups as demonstrated in this video maybe with holes near the bottom to allow for media moisture balancing with minimal root escapement. I think this will have the added benefit of being able to check on the individual fig rooting progress without disturbing the neighboring roots.
Above criticisms aside, I manged to get a 100% rooting success rate with 9 cuttings and 3 varieties. Noticed a bit of wood rotting at the bottom of one RdB cutting but I just cut it off and a bit extra and stuck it back in and it proceeded to leaf out a week later. Honestly, I’m surprised things went so well considering the number of mold patches I saw growing on the top of the soil and even some cuttings… need to work more on moisture/humidity management next time.
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While rooting around (phun intended) on YouTube yesterday looking for grafting videos, I stumbled across your channel @Jsacadura . I really enjoyed the one I saw and next thing I knew, I binge watched them all. Great stuff. Very informative and your methods are very inspiring. In fact, when I grafted some of my last years fig cuttings yesterday, I rooted a bunch as well, using your method as a guide. Though the enclosure I had on hand was much smaller and I did not have coco-coir so I used Perlite instead.
I was happily surprised to find out that you’re a part of this community. I just joined the other day, and this community just keeps on giving. Keep up the splendid work.
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Hi dimitri,
Thanks for your comments on the method i am using. I also believe that using individual containers for each cuttings can work well although i usually remove them from the large box before they get entangled. I also allow for the coco coir to dry a bit, so they free themselves from the coir much easier.
I almost have no root damage from the roots being tangled unless the cuttings have very large roots and i don’t let them get that far. The cuttings that have no roots go back to the container until they root.
In my last batch i went overboard trying to test the limits of the method. I left the box on top of the aquarium lid from the 20th of December to the 3th of January (closed and unattended). I watered the base of the cuttings slightly, before i left them. The coco coir was being reused for the third time without any type of sterilization (it even had the odd piece of root).
To my surprise only one cutting had a patch of white mold on top of it but it couldn’t penetrate the parafilm, so the cutting tissues were intact. Not opening the lid for so long and the hot environment darkened the cuttings a bit,inside the parafilm, but i beliebe they are fine. At least they seemed so, when i was potting up.
i would like to refine the method regarding the potting up fase. I might even try to maintain some cuttings in coco coir (what might prove tricky when watering and will, inevitably need the use of liquid fertilizers) and maintain the others in a potting mix, to compare.
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Hi Peter,
Thanks for the nice words about my videos.
You have found the best community online for the fruit enthusiast. Welcome and enjoy.
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Status update on my cuttings. Up potted them directly to 1 gal most of these will be going into the ground (except Smith) so I feel like they will be able to fill that 1 gal decently over the next two months. 8/9 have rooted so far and are leafing out - RdB has been the only one that’s been slower to root (they are the three on the left in the photo below).
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