hello all, Newbie here looking for advice. I am a fan of the Maples and have bought about 40 of them over the last few years from Oregon and locally at Metro Maples (in Dallas,Texas area). I tried to graft some plants from some stock I bought and nothing took. So now we are coming up on the winter of my second year at this and I need to get some good info from all you pro's out their. I need advice on where to get root stock and some sort of insight on this grafting process as I only get to try once a year. I am not looking to be a grower - I just think the process of creating another beautiful maple is a wonderful concept in this crazy world....
Hi, You might want to try mountainmaples.com. They have very good prices on root stock. I myself haven't tried my hand at grafting yet, but I have a couple of questions: Are you sealing off the graft well with a plastic bag, wax, grafting paste, or grafting tape so the graft doesn't dry out? Are you keeping the graft specimen warm? In order for the graft to take you it needs to be warm. Commercial nurseries keep them in heated greenhouses. Layne
I think Layne is on the right track. I would be in your shoes if and when I try grafting and from what I have been told, the success rate for summer grafts is much better. In summer you would seal the graft union with tape or wax, tape becoming more available and easier to work with and then you would bag the graft to keep it from drying out. In summer, it would be good to remove the leaves, but leave some of the petiole. This will decrease water loss to respiration. Winter grafting is more complicated in that you are trying to force growth from a dormant scion and the rootstock must be in good condition in a warm greenhouse. For collectors, summer grafts or rooting spring cuttings would be better. You might also look at Layne's other post about air layering, although if you have acquired your trees in the past couple years, many won't be large enough to make air layering easy. Michael
I have much better success grafting in the summer, June through September. I use latex grafting rubbers and don't use grafting wax. The grafting rubbers will age and fall off on their own a few months after you graft. If you put wax over the grafting rubbers it will prevent them from falling off and constrict your new graft. Use a sharp grafting knife. I use a 6000 grit water stone to sharpen the knife. A sharp knife will produce cuts that will heal much faster with less damage. Most people don't know how to sharpen tools. If the blade is not like a mirror, it isn't sharp. Search the web for instruction on using Japanese waterstones. Oil stones are for axes and lawn mower blades and can't give you the sharpness that you need. A grafting knife is flat on one side, follow the instructions for sharpening a chisel. Remove all but 2 or 3 leaves from the scion and place a small plastice bag over the scion with water misted inside. Secure it with a twist tie. I use 2 mil 2" x 9" bags that I get from uline.com. Place it in the shade and in 4 to 6 weeks it should be ready to cut the top off of the bag to slowly allow it to get accustom to normal humidity. You can tell that the graft is doing well when there is a lot of moisture on the inside of the bag after 4 weeks. The mist that you sprayed in when you grafted is long gone and this moisture is due to transpiration from the scion through the graft union. The majority of my grafts never loose the leaves left on the scion. The key is to keep the scion from drying out before the graft union is strong enough to supply the moisture that it needs. It's better to leave the bag on too long that to take it off early and have the scion dry out. Good luck next summer. I can email you pictures if you like.
winter grafting Hi, I only graft in late winter and have never any success in summer. Here is how I do it: I grow my rootstock from seed every year, so that I have plenty to choose from. The scion should be in a more dormant stage than the root stock. You can achieve that in two ways:The first is to move your root stock to a warmer place ( glass house aso.). I found that to time consuming. So instead I put the scions in the fridge for around two weeks before grafting. For me it has the same effect. When it comes to grafting I only do side grafts, meaning that my grafted scions have about them same height than the root stock. The advantage here is that if the scion did not take you can use the the rootstock the following year. (did anyone understood that?) I use plactic grafting tape. Works for me. A little plastic bag over the graft taped on both sided and a bit of water sprayed into it keeps the graft moist. Regards Wolfgang
Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but does one decapitate the rootstock before grafting, during the grafting process, or after the graft has proven out? It looks like you're enclosing the entire plant (rootstock plus scion) in a long, tubular plastic bag. Is this accurate? Bryan
Bryan: I think it is done both ways. The last and only quick grafting lesson I got was this past summer. The grafts were being done in late August or early september. In this case the rootstock was cut or "decapitated" about an inch above the graft union. Maybe 2" in some cases. I am not sure of Dale's reasoning for leaving the rootstock intact, but I would guess to help push the graft as the leaves on the rootstock will provide an area for photosynthesis and respiration. Seems to make sense. I would not have considered leaving the rootstock intact. In anycase, once the graft has taken the rootstock will be cut back as close to the union as possible for asthetic purposes and phisiologically once the graft has taken you would want to direct growth to the scion not the stock. I could see the process of leaving the rootstock intact useful in winter grafting where one might want an extra push to revitalize a dormant scion. I would think it would matter less in summer. This all assuming that leaving the upper part of the rootstock actually helps push the graft along faser. Nice observation. Michael
Bryan, I do not cut the top of the rootstock off until the beginning of the second season. The leaves help feed the roots and the scion for the rest of the initial season. The upper part of the rootstock also helps protect the new graft. I used to cut the rootstock back as soon as the leaves drop in the fall and I would loose a few during the winter due to sticks falling from the above trees and even from birds using the new grafts as perches. The scions being the tallest part would get all of the abuse and are easily broken. I now cut the top of the rootstock back just before the buds break in the spring. There is no reason to cut the top of the rootstock back when you graft in the summer. The plant has enough to deal with while it is healing the graft union with out having it's food source cut off and another large cut to heal. All of the sources that I can find, recommend that heavy pruning be done while the plant is dormant and not done during the growing season. Also, if the graft fails, you may have destroyed the rootstock plant. I put a small bag over the scion and twist tie them just below the graft union. The back drop in the picture is the side of my greenhouse. I do not put a bag over the whole plant. In some parts of the country, they put plastic over the whole plant, but in the hot and humid South you would just be asking for trouble. Keep the new graft out of the sun and let it rest while it's healing. Don't let the sun shine directly on the bag and scion. The inside temp. can get high enough to cook the scion. Just another reason to leave the top of the rootstock on to help shade the graft. Thanks, Dale
One More Follow-Up Question Dale, How do you get the bag tied off "below" the graft union? Do you put a short slit in the bag to get it to envelop the rootstock? Or, do you just "scrunch" the bag downward when you reach the "Y" between the scion and the rootstock and seal as best you can with the tie? Thanks, Bryan
Bryan, Good question. I'm sorry that my pictures don't show it very well. I cut a 2" slit in the side of the bag so that I can slide it down over the scion and wrap the loose ends around the graft union. I use 8" or 9" bags for most cultivars but I have 12" bags for large leaved cultivars like A. j. 'Woods #2' and A. j. 'Vitifolium'. I have to roll the leaves to fit them in the bag and need a longer bag to hold the scion and leaves. There are just about as many ways to graft as there are people that graft. Try as many ways as you can and keep asking questions. See what works for you. As for me, I have tried winter grafting and only have a 50 to 60% success rate. Summer grafting I have 90 to 95% success. Maybe there is something that I don't know or that I'm doing wrong when I winter graft. I figure that people must graft in the winter because they have nothing better to do and summer is their busy time. I'm going to spend my January and February potting. I will keep busy potting rootstock into 4" pots and I have enough 1 gallons that need to go to 3 and 3's that need to be in 5's and so on to keep me busy for a couple of months until it's time to sow the maple seeds that are stratifing in my fridge. Oh, then there are last years grafts that need to go into gallons. I'm behind already. Good Luck, Dale
Dale, Thanks. I think I've got it now. I've been successful with winter grafting before. I tried some summer grafting last August ( three plants -- not anything like the scale you're talking about ), and it was a big bust. But now, I have a much better idea of what I did wrong. Thanks, Bryan It is time to get those seeds in the fridge, isn't it?
