When to graft annona?

[brian]

A year ago I grafted some ilama cuttings from RaulR onto my large cherimoya tree.  I didn't have any annona seedlings at the time so I haphazardly grafted them all over.  One survived and has developed into a healthy branch.  I started cherimoya seeds earlier this year and now I think they are ready for grafting.  Is now a good time?  Should I wait for spring?

Sometimes my annonas partially defoliate over winter.  The ilama branch looks like it is going to drop its leaves soon, but the wood looks healthy and has new buds.  The cherimoya parent and the seedlings are all still green leafed.

I can probably take enough scion wood to do two cleft grafts at this point.  The ilama scion is far enough outward on the cherimoya canopy I don't care so much about letting it fruit where it is, I would rather start a new ilama tree

[spaugh]

Hello Brian, the time to do it is in March and April when the tree comes out of dormancy.

Take rates are usually low this time of year but you may have better success if the GH is staying warm. 

[brian]

Thanks, Brad.  I will wait until spring, no reason to rush it

[achetadomestica]

The Spring has been the best time for me for grafting annonas
In Florida the annonas usually start coming out of dormancy
in mid February.

[Seanny]

Fall is a great time to graft.
I’m still grafting, but I don’t use cleft graft at this time.




3 grafts on this 8 months old seedling.
I’m using inverted T-budding with nurse leaf.
The rootstock continues to grow while the grafts heal.
March 1st I’ll trim the rootstock and cut off the nurse leaf to force the grafts to push.

On bigger rootstock I make 5 grafts.
You should try it.
Worst case you graft again in spring

[greenerpasteur]

I grafted a couple variety on 3 cherimoya a 2-4 weeks ago and it's taking. I just graft them when I have scions.

[Galatians522]

Fall is a great time to graft.
I’m still grafting, but I don’t use cleft graft at this time.




3 grafts on this 8 months old seedling.
I’m using inverted T-budding with nurse leaf.
The rootstock continues to grow while the grafts heal.
March 1st I’ll trim the rootstock and cut off the nurse leaf to force the grafts to push.

On bigger rootstock I make 5 grafts.
You should try it.
Worst case you graft again in spring

Can you expound on your inverted T with nurse leaf? I havr not had success budding atemoya.

[Seanny]

Atemoya leaves under testing.




A week or 2 later.
The cut end of the leaf absorbs water to keep leaf fresh.

[brian]

That's really interesting, I never thought a leaf would absorb water in that way. 

[Seanny]

July 16
Slice off a bud with leaf attached.
Seal the wound so donor shoot keep growing.



Insert bud.
Seal graft.
Tie graft with rubber band.




Cut off the end of the nurse leaf.
I use sandwich ziplock bag so I keep about 4” of leaf.
Fill bag with 1/4” of water then zip it over leaf.
Bend the 2 ends of the bag up over the rootstock then clamp the ends to support the weight of the water.

No need to remove any leaves or tip on the rootstock above the graft.




4-5 weeks later cut off the nurse leaf.
Trim rs back to 4” above graft or remove some bark above graft to let bud grow.
It’s ok to cut off nurse leaf after 3 weeks but bud won’t grow until graft healed, about 5-6 weeks.
By Oct 9th graft grows this big.
Trim rootstock above graft and call it done.

I have over 20 grafts of this type going on this day Nov 21th.
Success rate at this time is higher than cleft graft in spring, when scion is fresh.

With this method you can set buds 90 degrees apart, or 120, or any angle you like.
With cleft you are stuck at 180.

Try it.
The rootstock is not harmed during this graft.
Worst case cut below graft to cleft in spring.

[Seanny]

For rooting cuttings, cut the leaf to reduce leaf area to reduce water vapor loss.
There is not much water loss when the cutting get frequent misting inside rooting area.
I’m guessing the cut absorbs the mist to keep cutting fresh, not from reducing water loss.

That's really interesting, I never thought a leaf would absorb water in that way.

[Seanny]

Mango nurse leaf test.
This is why I’ve had successful grafts with mango in winter grafting here in SoCal.

[Eggo]

Very cool graft experiments Seanny!  I will have to try some of these techniques.

[Stomata]

thanks for sharing this technique, Seanny.

[Galatians522]

Very nice! I like T-bud but have never had success with annona and only 1 take with mango. I will need to give your technique a try.

[Plantinyum]

Cant commend much regarding other tipes of grafting technigues regarding anonas. Ive only tried cleft and aproach grafting .
The clefts i did last fall, somewhere in september, from 8 or so i only had 2 that took.
I would however reccomend to anybody to do aproach grafting. I have done aproach  in september last year, also did several this summer around june. ALL of my aproach grafts were succesfull and i actually think that aproach grafting is not as dependent on the season, i think it can be done probably any time of the year and still be succesfull.

[CTMIAMI]

In South Florida. The ones I did in April 100% take. I tried in Late October 0% all dead from fungal growth in graft union. 

[brian]

The approach-graft idea is tempting.  The scion-tree is a branch of a huge tree, though, while the seedling rootstocks are in solo cups.  I would have to suspend the rootstocks from the branches similar to marcot soil-bags.  Might be viable, but a little wonky

[Plantinyum]

The approach-graft idea is tempting.  The scion-tree is a branch of a huge tree, though, while the seedling rootstocks are in solo cups.  I would have to suspend the rootstocks from the branches similar to marcot soil-bags.  Might be viable, but a little wonky

Ive read that since one wants to use a branch that is at the exterior of the tree canopy, for most vigor, suspending any pots at those places will be hard, but not impossible with the right technique. What i did was i hammered sticks for the pots, one stick per pot, then i fixed the pots onto the sticks/poles via duct tape,  but i guess you could use ropes and strech foil as well.  If fixed well there ahould not be a problem with the pots falling or moving at all.
The problem with wattering remains, they are suspended in the air thus will tend to dry out faster and need more water.

That said i did mine on the lowest, most vigor less branches and in full shade, they all took so i dont really think that using the sun exposed branches is a must, it may help thought as those parts tend to have alot more energy in them. Using shaded branches will help with the water needs of the potted rootstock, one will have to water less in the shade...

Also, another tip is to make the contact cuts on both the rootstock and the scion branch as long as possible, mine were probably 6-8 sm cuts, this seems to give alot of contact between the two...