The Tropical Fruit Forum

Last month on this very date, I was given a LONG Maha Chanok scion of around 8-10 inches in length by Simon (simon_grow).  Due to its suddenness and in my ill-prepared state, I attempted to graft with what was available at hand... 2 attempts with t-budding and 1 veneer. 

I unwrapped all three last night to check after noticing mold on the two t-buds.  Sure enough one of it was all brown so I declared it dead!!!  The second t-bud looked like it's half way there... see pics below (it was a sloppy cut...I know )  less the very top, everything below is still green but I don't think this will take either.




Lastly, the side veneer with terminal bud (inflo that didn't hold fruit so Simon broke it off).  It's grafted about 2.5ft above soil level with another foot above which I tip pruned.  It's still as green as the day I grafted it, looks more promising though it still doesn't mean much.  I also noticed it's trying to branch out where it got snipped, should I let it branch out while waiting for the scion to push or prune it back some more & closer to the scion to get more sap flow into the scion?











Oh yea, this is the sports knife I used to make all those cuttings....    terribly thick blade

I have cherimoya seeds if anyone's interested in raising them for rootstock purpose (because I don't know the cultivar )

40seeds from the dark green fruit (top left)
50-60 seeds from the other (bottom left)

Jeff, If you don't mind I'd like to start this new thread here with an old post of yours on GW.  I found your post to be very informative & helpful.  Hope it helps other members here as well. 

Other members with extensive grafting experience and superior skills, please feel free to share your grafting expertise & techniques with the rest of us noobs 

If you can graft then you can just topwork the trees you don't like. The basic technique is simple:
Step 0) Hack the tree back to about 3 or 4 feet tall. For the mango, you want to do this around May.
Step 1) Wait until new sprouts come out. When they are about pencil thickness, select the 2 or 3 shoots that you want to graft. I try to find ones that are evenly spaced out.
Step 2) Side veneer graft the shoots and cover with parafilm.
Step 3) The scions should break through the parafilm in 3 to 4 weeks. Once they harden off, cut off the top of the 'rootstock', leaving just the scion (as you would a traditional potted side veneer graft).
Step 4) Gradually start eliminating the ungrafted sprouts, forcing all of the tree's energy into the newly grafted sciones.
Step 5) Tip the new growth on the scions for each growth spurt (cut like a 1/2 inch below the tip). Tipping helps to calm the new growth down and will allow your newly topworked tree to come back into production quicker. Growth spurts will come fast and furious, so you'll have to be tipping every 3 weeks or so.

Most people freak when you do this sort of thing, but the mango tree has no problem with it. Also, since the tree has an established root system and a thick trunk with good carbohydrate reserves, it will grow extremely rapidly.