Whip and Tongue Questions

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In my case, I’m just trying to add another variety, so I’m guessing higher up would be best?

I had previously intuited that grafting lower down on the trunk would get hit with energy from the roots first, but I’m gathering hear that higher up gets more energy. Is that due to apical dominance?

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Energy comes from the sun, when it hits leaves and is used there to produce carbohydrates during photosynthesis. Lower branches, especially short lower branches, can have a tough time seeing the sun, given shade from leaves higher up in the tree.

Roots supply water and nutrients from the soil. Roots can also store some energy for use in spring budding. But roots are not generally a major energy source.

As you can probably tell, grafting is more art than science. Many different techniques are used, most are successful. As long as you get as much cambium contact as you can, the scion and stock are held firmly together and there’s no movement, and moisture isn’t allowed to evaporate away. It’ll probably be fine…

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Bingo!

Apical dominance is a biggy. But that doesn’t mean you have to graft high on the tree. It does mean that it’s a great help if after the graft has taken you make the new scion the highest place on the tree.

Think of a tree as a series of pipes. Typically one big pipe that forks off into a series of smaller pipes. Bigger pipes carry more water and thus will push more growth. So, for maximum growth graft onto a big branch/trunk and after the graft takes, cut off everything higher.

I’ve converted 4-5 inch diameter fig trees to a new variety by grafting onto a tiny shoot at the base and forcing all new growth through that new shoot. It takes a year to get a good sized tree of a new variety that way. A bark graft into a chopped off tree works the same and maybe easier than starting with a tiny shoot.

The big mistake I see is grafting high onto a tiny twig and thinking that will make something worthwhile anytime soon. Tiny twig up high may have dominance, but it lacks plumbing capacity to get good growth.

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When we say graft higher up, it means relative to the rest of the same tree. If you are changing the variety at the main trunk, then wherever you decapitate it will be the highest point.

So you can cut it below where you’d like your first branch to grow.

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How high you graft also depends on how tall a tree you want to manage or how high deer can reach if your tree is unfenced.

I’m not terribly interested in having a super productive new variety, as I just planted the tree last year, more just like the idea of multiple varieties establishing themselves over the course of several years. But I think I should still be more judicious now that I’ve gotten all this great feedback.

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