Seems like whip and tongue is a difficult graft for many and not one i use alot but have had many questions on through the years. What i do is number one slow down a bit and cut a whip just like normal about 3/4 inch or greater so i have more cambium contact. If i could line up an inch and a half id take it and have when i really care about the variety! Other varieties i make two cuts and if they aproximately fit together with a pear i tape it and move on and could care less about precision because for me speed can be everything when it comes to finishing. Once i cut my whips i cut a cut on each whip side towards me which means a great deal of chance to cut myself so im careful which is why i say slow down even though like me you feel rushed to get done. In this case i field grafted to a douglas pear because i have 4 douglas and really only needed 2- 3. Im adding less hardy varities to the branch tips to see what the fruit and disease resistance is like prior to adding a tree. In this case this variety i added is Ulitchka which noone knows anything about at all.
When i put the two cuts together i lift the tongue with a razor and slide the two together. Birds will not break these type of grafts off landing on them. Remember this graft is not practical most of the time for people like me who do hundreds of field grafts in a day. https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?id=1161724 . We all learn from each other so please feel free to add your own tips. As ive confessed i dont use this graft much but if i was a hobbyist doing a dozen or two grafts a year i certainly would use it all the time if time permitted me to do so. Im posting this so people have an ideal of how to do it so now instead of explaing it during my busy season i can say check out how i did it on growingfruit.org which saves me time and still helps friends needing to see a reference.
A mistake I made with some of my first whip and tongues was to jam the pieces together too hard, which makes the joint but adds a big, ugly, unnecessary bulge.
W&T probably works a lot better when bench grafting- if you’re doing a zillion all the same caliper, not ducking through other branches to get to your work, not perched on a ladder with the wind stinging your eyes you’re not going to mind taking a few extra seconds to cut the tongues. But in that case, why bother? I’m not convinced it ultimately makes for a stronger joint compared to a simple whip (although it likely does have more strength prior to full callousing.)
In any event those are nice grafts in your photos- they’ll be invisible by next spring!
I also like to graft close to the trunk, when feasible, to have more of the limb of the new variety.
When my rootstocks and scions are the same size, I almost always do the whip and tongue.
And if done well, it will work, and the scar will be the smallest compared to other types of grafts.
I use W/T even where there is a slight mismatch in stock and scion sizes. It only takes as long as a cleft graft and has potential for more contact points.
I got the knockoff grafting tool from amazon this year and I was really pleased with it 90% of the time. When it didn’t work, I mostly did W/T which is what I had always done before. Even if they aren’t the same caliper, you can fudge it pretty well as long as you get good contact and they lie flush together (true for W/T with the knife and the grafting tool when you correct the cuts with knife). I’ve started leaving an extra ribbon of bark/cambium at the tips and removing extra bark on the obtuse ends, the tips are so flexible that with a little careful trimming you can mate up mismatched scion size.
As far as tongue vs no tongue, once you’re used to it the tongue part only takes a few seconds. I cut and match/trim the whips, then I set both sides together offset about 1/8th inch (to account for them sliding against each other before they interlock), and make a bark cut across them in line with scion/stock, then extend the cut through each carefully and they mate up perfectly every time. When I first started, I’d have trouble getting the tongues to line up perfectly, but the scoring method fixed that for me. Not sure if that makes any sense, I might need to draw a picture…
On your modified WT method, do you make vertical cut at 1/3 from the tip(/top) too?
I make all my cuts with a double edge of some sort, which tends to give a “belly” instead of a smooth cut—it is why people like single-bevels for grafting. I whittle the cuts smoother and make do.
The OTHER thing my knives like to do, at least in my hands, is leave a bark “tail” at the end of the cut, instead of a clean bevel. I have taken to using that tag on one or both ends for evtra cambium contact, scraping the bark that tail will contact to green then wrapping the tail onto it as part of my parafilm wrap. It seems to join well and certainly increases contact on my whip and tongues
Yes, I cut to match scion exactly. I will be grafting again Monday and will take some more pics of the modified method. Hard to beat the scion connection you get with the whip and tongue!!
I only did whip/tongue grafts for many years. When done properly it is a beautiful graft. Although I have never cut myself grafting the w/t I always thought that the potential was there using this method. Safety concerns was my main reason for switching to mostly cleft grafts. Both methods have high take rates. I can also do the cleft graft faster.
I just don’t think I have steady enough hands to make these kind of cuts.
Those are beautiful!
Thanks Mark!
You are a pro Jon! What knife do you use? I used a utility knife for grafting last week, which even though had a very sharp blade, I felt it was getting dull after about 10 grafts. I did 30 grafts and had to change the blade twice. I was grafting peach and apricot; peach scions have soft wood and were quite easy to cut, on the other hand, apricot wood is very hard and was somewhat challenging.
It helps when you handle stone or brick, shovels, sledge hammers, pitchforks, and the like.
But being steady and confident can still get you a cut…if you get careless. (I got a cut from picking up the utility knife by it’s blade while holding a small graft with the other hand.) (But not from doing whip and tongues.)
Nice looking W & T graft. I agree that this is a good way to go for the hobbyist grafting less than a dozen or two per year and it’s easier at the bench.
The tongue adds so much more strength and cambial contact; I can’t allow myself the luxury of a simple splice. But that’s just me. I jam ‘em together gently because I’ll take an ugly successful graft over a Pretty failure every time. Again, personal preference. Manual dexterity varies.
Finally found an online source for Doc Farwell’s Grafting seal (yellow) and will reserve the green Seal & Heal for its intended label useage: sealing large pruning cuts. The yellow, labeled for grafting, will stretch and loosen a month or so along and will peel of with coaxing. The green wants to stay on for years while the big pruning cut heals. Not good for grafts since “hour-glassing” pinching can occur.
My experience verifies the labeling. For me, anyway. Good luck and have fun!
Well said,
W/T is only slightly harder than doing just a whip cut. And has better cambium contact and doesnt slip while wrapping.
Make sure to protect your non cutting hand until you develop confidence. There are dozens of ways to do it.
Very nice grafts. For sure, rocking the knife or razor with gentle pressure on the tongue cut is the way to go. I like single edge razors for the tongue cut. Purchased single-edged folding razors from Marble Cutlery and like ‘em. Blade folds into its own little handle like a pocket knife. Very nice for all cuts when the wood is less than 1/4 inch.
Hardly pro but thanks anyways. I use the Tina grafting knife and got it from Raintree and I really like it, but sharpen it every 10 grafts or so. I agree apricot is the hardest wood to work of the stone fruits I’ve grafted. The wood is very hard. I think a grafting knife would be safer than a utility knife, I have cut myself several times but never bad with a grafting knife.
Thanks Tim, That slow rocking pressure is key indeed. I really like my grafting knife for those cuts, maybe safer, but my brother uses the utility and they work for fine for him.