Bark grafting

[kh0110]

Generally, plant grafting consists of aligning the cambium of the scion with that of the rootstock. But with bark grafting, there is 0 alignment of the cambium and yet it works.

How is this possible? Anybody cares to explain or speculate?

Thanks in advance.

[xshen]

Check out this link on bark grafting.  There are some good info on it
http://citrus.forumup.org/viewtopic.php?t=500&start=90&mforum=citrus

[kh0110]

Check out this link on bark grafting.  There are some good info on it
http://citrus.forumup.org/viewtopic.php?t=500&start=90&mforum=citrus

From the site above, Joe Real said "...the gap will be filled with callousing materials joining both cambiums...". That was also my first thought, but why don't these "callousing materials" perform the same function with a normal graft where a perfect alignment of the cambium is a must?

[Rtreid]

I am far from an expert on this, but it was explained to me that since the cambium is the layer of cells between the bark and the "wood" when you peel back the bark for the graft, the majority of the exposed surface is cambium. that tissue will be able to make contact and fuse with the thin line of cambium tissue that is exposed on the scion.
  In  fact I know people that say you should scrape off all the bark from the "backside" of the scion so that the exposed cambial layer can make contact and fuse with the cambial tissue that remains on the inside of the bark of the rootstock.  I do not know if it really helps, but there is some logic to that particular procedure.

Good Luck,
Richard

[kh0110]

I am far from an expert on this, but it was explained to me that since the cambium is the layer of cells between the bark and the "wood" when you peel back the bark for the graft, the majority of the exposed surface is cambium. that tissue will be able to make contact and fuse with the thin line of cambium tissue that is exposed on the scion.
  In  fact I know people that say you should scrape off all the bark from the "backside" of the scion so that the exposed cambial layer can make contact and fuse with the cambial tissue that remains on the inside of the bark of the rootstock.  I do not know if it really helps, but there is some logic to that particular procedure.

Good Luck,
Richard

Thanks, Richard, this would explain the cases where the bark could be easily separated from the cambium as in the case of apple/peach/apricot trees due to the thickness of the bark. But for annonas such as sugar apple/cherimoya/atemoya or even mangos, this is almost impossible. And yet top working a mango with bark grafting are reported to be working fine. BTW, so does T-budding with sugar apples. T-budding is really similar to bark grafting, it's just in a very much smaller scale. When you peel the bark of cherimoya rootstock, the cambium comes off too and yet t-budding works fine when done correctly.

[ty23]

Scraping the bark on the scion wood until you see the green underneath is what you want to do.
Bark grafts is the only one I use for persimmon, 100% success. The bark must be slipping for this to work well,
so rootstock needs to be actively growing.

[fyliu]

Just to put out more data: I did bark and T bud on a wampee on the same day and branches on both of them are now the same size. So T budding is not slower than bark grafting at least for my case.

[kh0110]

Scraping the bark on the scion wood until you see the green underneath is what you want to do.
Bark grafts is the only one I use for persimmon, 100% success. The bark must be slipping for this to work well,
so rootstock needs to be actively growing.

Scraping the bark of the scion before inserting it, that's excellent idea. Thanks, ty23. But the question remains, why does it work even without scraping the scion's bark?

[kh0110]

Just to put out more data: I did bark and T bud on a wampee on the same day and branches on both of them are now the same size. So T budding is not slower than bark grafting at least for my case.

Thanks for the info, fyliu. You just confirmed my belief that T-budding is a variant of bark grafting.

[fyliu]

I think you should be thinking cambium contact rather than cambium alignment.

As long ad there's contact between the cambium at the end of the scion and either the wood side or the bark side of the cambium on the rootstock, it'll be okay.

The cambium is in between the wood and bark and it's like stem cells that generate both wood and bark cells by turning into them. When you lift the bark cleanly just imagine unzipping a zipper. Half the cells end up on the bark and half on the wood.

[kh0110]

I think you should be thinking cambium contact rather than cambium alignment.

As long ad there's contact between the cambium at the end of the scion and either the wood side or the bark side of the cambium on the rootstock, it'll be okay.

The cambium is in between the wood and bark and it's like stem cells that generate both wood and bark cells by turning into them. When you lift the bark cleanly just imagine unzipping a zipper. Half the cells end up on the bark and half on the wood.

If this is the case, then it makes perfect sense why bark grafting works without APPARENT cambium contact. Thanks, fyliu.