I did 14 mango grafts on July 28 using “Grave Digger” method – got the very healthy scions (Cat Hoa Loc, Cat Chu, Po Pyu Kalay, Jumbo Kesar, ST Maui, Sweet Tart) from Alex, and thanks to Simon for the info. I didn’t touch the grafts until after 4 weeks for fear of dislodging the graft union, but this almost turned out to be a disaster. I also covered all grafts that might be exposed to the hot summer sun with white paper. After 4 weeks I opened up the plastic tape (1/2” width strips cut from thick plastic sheet) and found too much liquid inside the tightly wrap and molding started and one graft rotted. Remember this is the Grave Digger graft and not Cleft graft with the former having a much longer and larger cut on the root stock than the latter, and so there was a lot of juice bleeding inside. Interesting that so much juice bleeding in the Summer as compare to in the Fall or Spring, but I think because the tree was in a vigorous growing time at the moment. With tapes removed and let the grafts opened to air for about 15 minutes to dry off, I taped them back but left open at the scion top and bottom ends to avoid collecting too much moisture inside. (Last time when I did the Grave Digger in October there was no issue of too much juice inside the graft.)
Today 13 grafts have pushed new growths and some with 3” long growths.
Lesson: In humid summer leave the tape open at both ends of the scion with Grave Digger. Don’t try to take a peek by open the tape until after 3 or 4 weeks to avoid dislodging the union.
Note: I asked Alex to select and cut the healthy scions, and their dormancy status is a non issue for me, meaning no bud prepping needed.
