Grafting different species of Guava - is it possible?

[MisterPlantee]

Had a question for you guys. I think it is common to graft the larger guava species (ie. White Guava to Ruby Guava) but I was wondering if anyone knows it is possible to graft the smaller bush type guavas
ie. Cattley Guava/Strawberry Guava to the larger tree type guavas (Psidium guajava) and vice versa? I know the stem sizes are different, but I was just wondering if anyone has done it before.

[Galatians522]

I looked into this once (hoping to see if a more cold tollerent hybrid was possible). I never got past the research stage, because the information that I read indicated that the two were not graft compatible. At least not with the materials and methods used in that particular study. I don't think it will work.

[swincher]

I have a couple P. guajava seedlings and a couple P. longipetiolatum seedlings, and I've been wanting to practice grafting some smaller plants. Happy to do an experiment with a sample size of 4 (2 of each grafted each way).

Any suggestions for graft type to use?  I've been studying the Grafter's Handbook but have only actually tried cleft grafts and a couple inlays for the most part.

[MisterPlantee]

Galatians522
Do you remember what the article you read was called? I would be interesting in giving it a read too, I couldn't find anything on the internet on this subject before. I was hoping you could side graft a few of the smaller bush types into a regular guava.

swincher
That would be great if you were to try to graft a few and see if they are successful. You would think that they would be compatible as the sub species don't look that far off.

[swincher]

This looks like a pretty good test of graft compatibility between P. cattleyanum and P. guajava:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283428474_Grafting_guava_on_cattley_guava_resistant_to_Meloidogyne_enterolobii

The grafts took initially but then showed signs of nutrient uptake problems and formed large tissue masses at the graft point, indicating an incompatibility despite initially taking ok.

I'll still give P. longipetiolatum a try, though my grafting skills are still at novice level, so any failure could be my fault.

EDIT: My P. guajava seedlings are on the small side still, so I'll have to wait at least a few weeks, maybe longer, before their stems are large enough to graft onto side branches of my slightly larger longipetiolatum seedlings.

P. guajava:



P. longipetiolatum:

[Galatians522]

I don't remember the title of the article, but it was from a foreign country. Swincher's article may possibly be the same study.

Switcher, maybe you could try approach grafting. That has worked well for me (and my poor grafting skills). It will allow you to let the roots keep feeding your grafts until they heal.

[swincher]

maybe you could try approach grafting. That has worked well for me (and my poor grafting skills). It will allow you to let the roots keep feeding your grafts until they heal.

Good idea! Thanks for the suggestion

[NateTheGreat]

Looking forward to hearing the results of this experiment. Would love to see more experiments like this on the forum.

[swincher]

Off to a bad start... accidentally uprooted the little guy when trying to tie off the graft, so it might just die. But I buried it back and we shall see.... I'll wait until another one gets bigger before trying a second pairing.

[swincher]

Just a quick update on the grafting attempt. Looks like the seedling didn't mind the uprooting after all, both plants have continued to grow since being bound together. I didn't mention before but I was also a little nervous that I had cut too deeply on the small one when attempting to slice off a bit before splicing them together, but it appears that all is well for now.

[Orkine]

Most interesting, please continue to update.  I have never grafted a seedling that tiny.  I will need a microscope to see my cut

[swincher]

Most interesting, please continue to update.  I have never grafted a seedling that tiny.  I will need a microscope to see my cut

Yeah you need the hands of a neurosurgeon! I wouldn't recommend it and I'm waiting until the others get larger before trying the next one.