micro graft

[FrankDrebinOfFruits]

An old, wise friend was telling me about "micro grafts", his term for basically grafting a tree when the root stock is less than the diameter of a pen.

His basis was:
1.) It leaves no graft weakness
2.) It leaves no graft fight (where the root stock tries to outgrow the scion, leading to enveloping of the weaker material)
3.) It was easier to do since the plant material is virtually 100% cambium at juvenile stages
4.) There is a lot of energy at the early sprout of root stock, which means that once the technique is mastered it can have a high rate of success.

Arguments against
a.) When the rootstock is young its very hard to manage (flimsy when cutting)

I have been trying this theory out on some young avos, and indeed, argument a.) is very hard to manage making the cut into the root stock. He mentioned this being done on avo and durian... nothing else, but I didn't ask.

Opinions?

[bangkok]

I tried this last week on a baby avocadotree, it started sprouting again from the seed and it doesn't look good. It is wrapped in parafilm so i can't see if it's still alive. I will try it again one of these days.

[Finca La Isla]

Bangkok, when you graft avocadoes you will need to be removing buds from the root stock on a weekly basis for a little while.
Many nurserymen prefer green wood for grafting.  It heals quicker and there is more urgent life force in the material.  Technically it can be more difficult as the material damages easier.  Like many things, it depends.  It depends on the type of graft you are using, the tree species, etc.
Peter

[socal10b]

Works great on avocado for me, I love to graft immediately right after seeds sprouted.

Someone called it "epicotyle grafting"

[bangkok]

I will try it again today, this time the v-cleft graft.

The other one that i tried is dead now. I won't use parafilm this time because the rootstock is so soft, it will easy break. Just trying things out and for fun.

The rootstocks come from huge seeds so they must have loads of energy in them i guess.

[simon_grow]

I guess this is similar to epicotyl grafting. Works great with mango.

Simon

[Berto]

It works with jackfruit.

[socal10b]

I guess this is similar to epicotyl grafting. Works great with mango.

Simon

I'm having a hard time grafting mango, maybe limited healthy scions. Thx Simon good to hear it works great on mango, I will try it again in spring.

[bangkok]

I guess this is similar to epicotyl grafting. Works great with mango.

Simon

I'm having a hard time grafting mango, maybe limited healthy scions. Thx Simon good to hear it works great on mango, I will try it again in spring.

Same for me, approach grafting is much easyier for me. That's why i play with seedlings now to get my grafting skills on a higher level.

[FrankDrebinOfFruits]

Well, its good to see others have tried it and succeeded. It looks like a couple of mine are going.

To clarify, when I said its hard to manage, it is because the young rootstock bud is very soft and not very stiff when cutting into. Its flimsy at the seed.

I will do some research on "epicotyle grafting".... thanks!

[FrankDrebinOfFruits]

Also when googling micro graft, I came across this article:
http://horttech.ashspublications.org/content/1/1/91.full.pdf

Their success rates quoted in the article are a little depressing. I was told by friend that he knew an old lady who was getting 90+% on durians.

[davidgarcia899]

So what is it 20 days from when the seeds sprout?

[Cookie Monster]

Yah, it's "stone" or "epicotyl" grafting, which has 2 favorable factors: a) undifferentiated cambium, giving more effective cambium, b) the seed is providing high amounts of energy. Grafts can take in as little as 10 days, and high success rates can be achieved. Works very well on mango.