Hesitant to graft seedling... anyone else have this problem?

[nullzero]

Well its been around 1 year since this 'Reed' seedling avocado was germinated. Originally, I intended to use for grafting a 'Reed' scion onto. I am now hesitant on grafting it, even though I know there is a small chance of a superior fruiting tree. There is a good chance it can be a Reed x Hass cross. Both trees are located right next to each other.

The seedling is very healthy and has a nice stout compact growth habit. Does anyone else have problems grafting a seedling sometimes?

Here is a picture, in a air pruning container (thats how attached I am to it now, lol).

[FlyingFoxFruits]

yes! I used to be that way, until I decapitated about 100 trees last year.

after you start to see success with grafts, you be more eager to cut beautiful seedling rootstocks to a stump, for promising new cultivars to be grafted on!

your tree is still small enough to cleft graft, or veneer or wedge!

it really isn't too large, or a candidate for top working quite yet!

I say graft it asap!!

and let me know if you need advice.

take care amigo!

[jcaldeira]

There is little risk in grafting an avocado seedling.  You might try both a veneer graft and a cleft graft at the same time, to increase you chances.  If both grafts fail, the seeding will sprout again so all is  not lost.

John

[FlyingFoxFruits]

There is little risk in grafting an avocado seedling.  You might try both a veneer graft and a cleft graft at the same time, to increase you chances.  If both grafts fail, the seeding will sprout again so all is  not lost.

John

Very true!

great comment.

[nullzero]

Thanks for the advice guys, I am leaning toward a cleft graft then. I suppose I could just keep a branch the original seedling, maybe grafting a Reed from a fruit producing tree will spur flowers on the other branches.

[CTMIAMI]

I think one in a whole I have a good seedling worth growing, I know numerically is unlikely, but the thought does cross my mind. After decapitating 100's of trees, seedlings and producing trees, I do get the bug once in a while.  I have a Catalina seedling that is 2 yrs old that I think I'm going to let it grow. I did a double girding about 6 month ago and 3 wees ago I did an inverted bark graft in the hopes of accelerating flowering. All unreliable methods.
Some one from this forum after watching the video I did on the inverted bark graft said he remember reading an article basically saying that you can graft from the seedling into a mature tree to get the seedling branch to flower sooner.
It all seems like a lot of work for something highly unlikely to produce good results.