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I just rely on the angle that my knife is sharpened at for this. One swift cut works well, as long as I keep the knife sharpened at the right angle, that is. My bigger problem is getting the two tongues to line up right, itās like 50/50 so Iām constantly cutting off the end and redoing it.
I still mostly do cleft grafts, since I have fewer failures than whip or W&T, even if they sometimes are ugly. I like how well the cleft graft holds the scion when you wrap. But Iām trying to force myself to try other techniques more often.
Yes. Or even a couple years before snipping one of them if the little guys arenāt vigorous.
(The exposed end of the rootstock heals much better.)
Absolute mad man
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Tempted! I was going to say that knife did great job of cutting a long perfect surface and I should buy one just to make the perfect cut. But I will lose excuses of not having the high take rate if I used that knife. Well, I prefer keep my excuse openš¤«
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W&T works for pencil size scions. Most of scions I used were smaller or much thinner. If the scions are thin, it is very difficult to cut the tong without cutting through the scion skin. For thin scions, it is much easier to use cleft or side grafting.
I use utility knife which I can easily change blades. My difficult is not the sharpness of the blade , rather the long cut/ flat cut, scion wood is getting flexible( less wood to hold against the forces from the blade) towards the end so the cutting surface towards the end is not in the same plane as the surface it started.
Makin short cut has less problem but the cambium contact is short too which may not help the take rate.
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Yeah, those are cool, especially for people who arenāt comfortable with safe pulling cut, and prefer to push the blade away.
Even that nice flat cut is not symmetrical about the center. I tend to have the opposite problem with symmetry, the tip end is longer because as my freehand cut is being made, the tip bends away as it gets more flexible with less wood behind the blade edge.
Experienced grafters back the stick with their thumb, which takes some coordination and practices. I donāt usually do that.
That sort of block is more useful for bench grafting. I tend to mostly graft to existing trees.
If I could only cut them like that without that block.
I used that block some last year, on 4 apple grafts to purchased rootstock. It worked nicely all 4 lived and did well.
So far this year I have done 3 goumi grafts and one plumā¦ and believe me the cut did not look near that good.
Most of the very experienced guys I see demonstrating that on youtubeā¦ it takes them a few slices to get it right.
I am using that Milwaukie utility knife and it cuts really good. I think it would be pure luck if I happened to get a perfect cut in one try.
Yes, I usually prefer to do a bark graft if I have thin scions. But if I have a thin scion and thin stock, its usually not to bad to do the tongue if the knife is super sharp and clean.
But thatās also a case where it matters less. The wood is usually relatively supple and one can cut a very long splice cut. It doesnāt need to be perfectly flat because the wood is compliant.
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Ah that makes sense. I didnāt mean a lack of sharpness, more that the angle of the blade can change over time because I sharpen it by hand. I sharpen my blade only on one side, and find that helps it cut at a consistent angle through scions of various sizes. I had a lot of trouble when I tried using utility knives, which are usually sharpened on both sides.
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A āsaddle graftā is another optionā¦usually does fineā¦even thin scionsā¦if rootstock or limb is same size.
Utility knife is my usual grafting tool.
Also utility knives tend to have a short exposed blade. So it is difficult to get the compound slicing motion that makes cleaner cuts. One draws the blade through with some motion perpendicular to the the axis of the wood while also cleaving through like a chisel.
I think Skillcult show this in one of his instructive videos.
One can also get a grafting knife significantly sharper than utility knife blades.
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Certainly a sharp blade is better than a dull one.
I have absolutely no problems making correct cuts using a utility knifeā¦but
I still have big hands and a good grip for an old guyā¦
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If I made W/T grafts like Clarkās on pecan or walnut, most would fail. Fruitgrowerās grafts are very good and would mostly succeed. Technique and a very sharp flat sided blade are essential. Pecan and walnut wood both have long straight grain that tends to pull the blade away from cutting a flat angle. Also, when making the tongue, the wood can easily split ruining the scion. Very good hand control along with good whittling skills will get the job done.
I prefer an inlay side graft for black walnut or a bark graft for pecan. But sometimes the rootstock is not big enough for either inlay or bark therefore Whip & Tongue is the graft that gets the job done. I have about 50 pecan seedlings that are about 3 years in the ground. Most will be good to graft this spring. The largest of the seedlings is about 2 inches diameter a foot above the ground. The smallest are about 1/4 to 3/8 inch which is best for W/T grafting. Iāll graft all that are viable this spring. I want the grafts growing from this point forward.
Saddal graft is even more challenging. The scion has to cut into a cortect angle V!
My cleft take rate is pretty high except grafting peach which is only about 70%. However, I found that sometimes it has nothing to do with the techniques, the take rate has a lot to do with cultivar itself. For example, when I graft Flat Wonderful donut peach, the take rate is 100%. couple of years ago, I grafted a Red Heave. The scion wood is significantly thicker than the rootstock. The rootstock is in a very hard to reach , hard to see place. Without much options, I grafted it with inverted cleft which means I inserted the rootstock into the scion. Not knowing whether the cambium had lined up or not, ( because I only can barely reach by the hands, canāt see it closely ) I just wrapped them up blindly. At that time, I was pretty sure that the graft would not take. But to my surprise, that graft was a take. Whereas, other cultivars that had cambium layers carefully lined up, carefully wrapped, grafted on the same day had higher failure rate. I am convinced that some peach cultivars are just harder to graft.
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I agree itās depend on the variety. Here is my graft for Adriatic JH, I think this fig is vigorous because the one in the pot is also breaking out.
This looks like the splice graft took after 3 weeks, I see 3 tiny buds in this twig. I donāt recall these buds when I first graft it, it could be my imagination.
I might be able to confirm with my similar grafting technique with BNR in a few weeks.
I am a side veneer kind of guy myself.
New fruit tree delivered today from Starks
IKKJ Persimmonā¦ about 3 ft tall.
Looks like W/T graftā¦ to what looks like DV rootstock to me.
Will plant this baby tomorrow.
The graft union still had a small piece of parafilm onā¦ and looks like the rest of it was just recently removed.
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Yeah, learned tremendous from @Jsacaduraās grafting videos. Highly recommend everyone, who wants to learn grafting techniques, watch his videos.
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