Grafting of garden plants

Your neighbor has delicious pears, or apples, or peaches, or any other fruit on his property. You wanted the same for yourself. You asked him for seeds, planted them, grew a plant out of them, but the taste is completely different. What is the reason? The reason is that fruit trees do not transmit their taste and other properties through seeds. If you want the exact same flavor, you need to vegetatively propagate the tree. One way to do this vegetative propagation is by grafting garden plants. Grafting is a method in which a part of one plant (bud, branch, stalk) grows to another. The part of the plant that is grafted is called the scion, and the plant that is grafted onto is called the rootstock.

Grafting garden plants has a goal get a complete copy of the mother tree, with all its signs. Also, with the help of grafting, you can save a tree variety if it is already old and does not bear fruit, a tree that has broken down for some reason.

Rootstock.

The stock can be any young tree (at least 2 years old), old and even broken.

Graft.

Only a young, healthy and strong plant can be a graft. It is better that the tree is no more than five years old. The graft should be of the same type as the rootstock, that is, the apple tree is grafted onto the apple tree, the peach onto the peach, etc.

How to prepare the scion.

Scion can be harvested twice a year: in late autumn and early spring. The stalk to be grafted should be taken from a one-year-old shoot, which was located on the well-lit side of the tree. The shoot should not be too thin, crooked, with poorly developed buds. The handle should have 3-5 buds. The dimensions of the appendix are approximately 0.5-0.9 mm in diameter, 30-40 cm long.

It is better to cut with a sharp tool, for example, a pruner, to get an even cut. Do not touch the resulting cut so as not to contaminate it. It is better to prepare a package or container in advance where you will put the cuttings for storage.

You need to store in a cool place so that the kidneys do not wake up ahead of time. It can be a cellar, a refrigerator, but not a freezer - they will freeze there. Together with the cuttings, be sure to put a piece of paper when you took it, from which tree and other useful information.

When to graft garden plants

Reproduction by grafting garden plants is best done in the spring, when the buds begin to open, the plant wakes up after hibernation.
But you can also vaccinate in the summer, the only condition is that there is no heat.

Tools needed for grafting garden plants

• Secateurs- needed for an even cut of cuttings
• Grafting knife- is needed in order to cut off the bark. If not, then you can use a regular sharp knife.
• Garden saw- needed for cutting thick branches.
• Strapping materialsuch as electrical tape.

Grafting methods for garden plants

There are several methods of grafting garden plants. These methods are used for different types of trees and in different situations. Make sure that the scion you grafted is facing up, this can be understood by the location of the kidneys.

Budding. This method is used for grafting cherry, plum, apricot and peach trees, and hedgehog can be used for apple and pear trees.

As a scion, a bud with a piece of bark and wood is used - the so-called peephole. A T-shaped incision is made on the rootstock with a sharp knife, about 2.5-3 cm in length. Carefully fold back the edges of the bark and insert a peephole there, while the kidney looks outward. Tie the grafting site so that the peephole is held, and treat it with garden varnish.

When tying, make sure the kidney is open. After about 3-4 weeks, the harness can be removed.The next year, when the scion and the stock grow well, the shoots that grow from the stock are cut off so that the entire aerial part begins to grow from the grafted bud.

Copulation. This method is used to inoculate apples, pears, plums. Not suitable for cherries, sweet cherries. With this method, the stalk and stock have the same thickness. Cut off a stalk containing 3-5 buds. Cut off the top of the stock and the cutting, obliquely.

We apply to each other very accurately, ideally we combine the wood, wrap it with electrical tape. To improve grip, cuts are made on both branches, something like a tongue. This method is carried out in the winter when the tree is dormant.

Ablactation. This method of grafting garden plants is used for plants that are difficult to graft. Consists in the fact that the scion is a young tree. A small part of the bark is cut off on the scion and rootstock, the plants are brought together and tied. After the plants have completely grown together, the scion is separated, and it grows on its own.

Grafting garden plants into the crevice. The method is used to graft a young plant onto an old one. The old plant is cut down under a stump. Then a cross-cut is made with a sharp knife and the scion is inserted. With this method, the plants do not need to be tied, the scion will hold on like that.

After three weeks, the established shoots will begin to grow. After five camp, it is clear whether the scion has taken root or not. If it does not take root, it will dry out. On average, the vaccine takes 2-2.5 months to take root.

Reasons for unsuccessful grafting of garden plants.

There are several reasons why the scion did not take root.

The most common reasons for unsuccessful grafting of garden plants are:

• The scion and stock were incompatible. Taken from different species.
• The stalk was grafted upside down. The vaccine was given at the wrong time of the year. Either the scion or the tree itself was sick. The graft is dry or frozen. The shoots were grafted immediately, they were not allowed to stay at rest.
• The grafting site of garden plants was poorly tied and the stalk shifted. There was not enough sun for the development of the shoots. That is, the grafting was done in a poorly lit area of ​​the tree. Not sharp instruments were used, the edges turned out to be uneven, the wounds healed for a long time.

To obtain a positive result, grafting of garden plants with the help of several cuttings is desirable. Be sure to keep an eye on the plant after grafting. If you failed to vaccinate the first time, do not be discouraged and do not give up. Try again and again until you succeed. Although the method is difficult, it is 100% effective. You will get the plant you want.