Grafting Tropical Guava

[HoangNguyen]

Probably someone here successfully graft tropical guava.  If you do, please show picture or video.  I failed trying to graft on 4 yrs old tropical guava.  I believe graft guava can be successful if the rootstock and scion are soft wood (less than 1 yr).  I noticed the guava wood is very hard.  After making a cut (top work cleft graft), I saw a lot of water came out from the cut and damp my parafilm grafting tape.  And later scion died.  I searched youtube to see if anyone post the video of guava grafting.  I only saw one which showed cleft grafting on less than 1yr rootstock.  I also googled and saw people reported patch budding graft has high successful rate.  I tried that too but still failed.  I appreciate if anyone can help.  Here is my questions:
1.  What is the best time to graft?
2.  what kind of scion wood should be selected (soft wood or hard wood)?
3.  Do I need to use parafilm to wrap the scion?  (I live in 9b with low humidity)
4.  Does the water come out if I use grafting wax to cover the cut?

[emegar]

Hoang,

I don't have experience grafting guavas, but I do have one possible suggestion for you.  If you believe that the water/sap from the rootstock prevented your graft from taking, you might try making another cut below the point where you plan to graft to relieve some pressure.  I know this is sometimes done when grafting grapes, which will also bleed a lot of sap when cut unless they are dormant.

[huertasurbanas]

This is a bad video, but we can see that the plant is young:

http://youtu.be/BQ0AQ6qbf-o

[HoangNguyen]

Hi James,

Do you think too much water/sap is bad?  I think it is.  Did you ever use grafting wax to cover the cut?  I don't know if the wax can stop the sap at the cut.

Hi huertasurbanas,

Thank you for the video.  My guava has 4 trunks and each one is about 2 inches in diameter.  Its woods are very hard, harder than loquat.  In my area, the winter kills all small branches and leaves only big trunks.  When the spring comes, the new shoots just start to grow.  I think the best time to graft guava in my area is late spring or beginning of fall.  I will try to graft the soft wood next time.
 

[emegar]

Hoang,

I think that trying to graft onto a rootstock that is bleeding a lot is pretty hopeless, wax or no wax.  Making a small cut below the graft to relieve pressure, however, is supposed to make it easier to seal the graft with wax/tape/etc.  Good luck!  Perhaps you can post photos of your work.

[HoangNguyen]

Hi James,

Thank you for the information.  I will post the picture of my guava grafting tomorrow.

[fyliu]

Keep us updated on your progress. I would prefer to graft rather than grow many guava trees. I would think semi-hard wood would work since the wood is so hard .

[nch]

This won't be of much help, but I saw several grafted guavas at Emily nursery. They were the seedless varieties grafted on top worked 3-4ft plants. The trunks were around 2 inches. I think they did a bark graft, and they applied that dark wax on. I am going to try grafting guavas too. Just don't know where to begin. LOL.

[LEOOEL]

I find that grafting guavas is the easiest thing, just graft in the summer. I've air layered them in the summer with about 100% success rate, there's nothing to it.

[kh0110]

I find that grafting guavas is the easiest thing, just graft in the summer. I've air layered them in the summer with about 100% success rate, there's nothing to it.

Leo, grafting or air layering? Grafting guava is about the 2nd hardest graft ever because of the ultra thin cambium layer (and probably other factors as well). The 1st being grafting litchi. Air layering guava is what people do generally to propagate a specific guava variety and, yes, it's an easy ride compare to air layering litchi or longan.

[HoangNguyen]

It has been 10 days since I grafted tropical guava.  I took the pictures this morning.

This scion seems to be dead.




This next two pictures shows the scions are OK but I don't know in the long run.








In the pictures you may see I did some patch budding but I didn't see any signs of buds are growing.

[nch]

I trimmed one of my 2 in-ground guavas this morning, so i experimented a little bit with the trimmings. I also did a cleft graft with a scion from one on the other. Here is a pic.

[][/img]

Most of the buds on my 2 trees have sprouted, so I think it's too late for grafting now. Maybe in a few months when the new shoots have hardened up. The barks are slipping. I am totally ignorant as far as trunk anatomy. All I know is the cambium layer is green. So from the picture below, does it mean there is no cambium on the inside of the peeled bark? If you do a bark graft, do you have to scrape off the white part on the  inside of the bark to expose the cambium so there will be some cambium contact with the cambium of your scion?

[][/img]

Any help on identifying the layers on this guava branch is greatly appreciated. All I know is the outermost layer is the bark, then comes the green cambium, then what's the thin layer underneath it? Does it play any role in the success of the graft?

[][/img]

[nch]

I just read this part from the article listed below, and I am now totally confused. Apparently, the cambium is not the green layer like I thought.

If you have ever peeled the bark off a limb in late Spring or early
Summer you will have noticed a wet, slimy film on the outside of
the wood and the inside of the bark. This is the cambium from
which the wood and the bark are produced, and which heals
wounds

http://www.redfernfarm.com/Practical%20Grafting.pdf

[fyliu]

Yes, if the bark is "slipping" and you can peel the bark from the wood, the cambium is the layer of cells between the bark and the wood. It's not necessarily green.

The cambium cells are like stem cells. They can turn into bark or wood. They can also turn into roots when you root cuttings or do air layering.

[fyliu]

i can't be certain where the cambium is in you photo since I haven't looked at guava that closely. I would guess it's just outside of the darker gray layer or the grey layer itself.

[Jackfruitwhisperer69]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqA7DPBHKbU

[Jackfruitwhisperer69]

The vids are in Spanish, but excellent info on grafting guavas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMbAdL78_O8

[nch]

Thanks so much, Fang and Steven. That second video is excellent, so detailed. I just wish I could understand Spanish to get everything they covered. In this video they used more mature scions then in the first one. It looks like the scions in the first video are green wood.

[HoangNguyen]

Steven, thank you for the second video.  I saw the first one on youtube but didn't see the second one.  Can you translate from the video? 
What is the purpose of using the plastic tape to wrap around the scion?
How often does she need to open the plastic bag?
How long will the buds of scion grow out?

 

[murahilin]

I have a multi grafted guava that I did about a year ago and I can give you some tips on grafting guava.

By looking at the pics you posted, it seems that you did nothing to protect the budwood from drying out. Did you bag or wrap your grafts? Parafilm or buddy tape is used to wrap the entire piece of exposed budwood from losing too much moisture.

Also, budwood preparation helps. Tipping and possibly defoliating the budwood a few days before removing it from the tree seems to help with the graft success. There is an article I found once with success rates based on days after defoliation. I will see if I can find it and post it here.

[shaneatwell]

Any updates on this? Best time? I think someone said february for california in another thread.

Found it. Lots of times suggested.

https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=40879.0