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Citrus Grafting - Orange Tree Stump- Need Help!!!!

12 years ago

So in my backyard we had an orange tree with mediocre oranges that has since been reduced to a stump with about a 5 -6 inch diameter.

I would now like to graft onto it.

1.Should I wait for shoots to come off, then bud graft onto those shoots?

2.Can I successfully bud graft onto the bark itself?

3.Or should I cut the stump a couple inches from the top, get scion wood and insert via cleft graft, seal the cut wood with asphalt, tighten the union with green gardeners tape and cover everything in plastic?

Personally I want to try to do a bud graft onto the bark of the orange tree stump since the shoots coming off are too small at the moment. But would this be a successful method?

and since I have never bud grafted, Should I find buds off of the greenest shoots or the ones that are slightly brown and green, which are a bit older but still green and still bendable.

I would appreciate any and all advice.

Thanks,

KB

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Comments (3)

tantanman
12 years ago
KB:

If you go back onto a poor rootstock you won't gain anything.

What graft(s) are you proficient with?

I would get budwood now and refridgerate it in zipper bags with a bit of moist paper towel

I have seen where John Panzarella did the bark inlay graft on citrus. I tried it with out much success. It is supposed to be like a Pecan graft. If you are in Texas you can get info on that very easy.

If it were mine, I would wait until it warmed up (March) and try a wedge-cleft on the shoots like Panzarella shows on his website.

You should have pencil sized shoots to graft onto. And they should be striated wood for the cleft. Your success will be many times higher if you perfectly match the diameters of rootstock and scion. Don't do the "match one side" like they show for apples and peaches.

If that fails Plan B should be later when they are actively growing, and the bark is slipping. Try an inverted T-bud.
Use second from the last flush budwood. I have T-budded onto softer triangular shoots in topworking a tree. T-budding is tricky in that you have to know when to unwrap the new bud, and that varies with the temperature. Also it may be tricky learning when the bark is really slipping. If it does not slip really good the bud will surely fail. Don't even try to graft in that case, just wrap the incision with tape and let it heal about four weeks.

Here is my guide for T-bud unwraping. Temp 90+ Deg. F; 14 or 15 days. Temp 80 Deg. F or less; 21 to 25 days. YMMV If you use different days I would like to know.

There is a lot more to it. That is what we're for.
karanb1r
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you very much tantanman!!' very informative!!

Unfortunately I was too patient to wait and decided to t bud onto the bark. The rootstock looks fine it's just the fruit didn't taste so good. It was only good for juicing purposes. A pretty good orange for seed grown .

Hopefully they take but when will I know if a graft has failed?

If it does not take, I will have to wait for shoots to come out again.

And how long should it take for the grafted bud to take?

The bark was easy to cut through but not so easy to open up for the budwood. But let's see time will tell.

KB
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You can T bud them if the bark is slipping on your tree. I've only T budded, no grafting. If your tree is actively growing the bark should be slipping. However, this early in the yr you might not have good new-season budwood on the three scion donars. You might be able to use last yrs wood as budwood. Give it a try. If you fail you can try again later. The Fruitnut
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Wait until your Spring, when both your tree and the rootstock are actively growing. Ask your local nurseryman for a good rootstock for your area; get 10; then do 10 T-buds or chip buds; and if you do them carefully, you should get at least 2 or 3 to take. When they are strong and growing well, I would take out the old tree or leave it and put the new tree(s) in another place. You can prune the old tree quite heavily, if you want to save it; as long as the trunk is solid and healthy; it will grow new shoots. BTW, one of the reasons the oranges from the old tree taste so good is the age of the tree; the new grafted trees should produce fruit in a year or two and they will be "clones" of the existing tree. Be warned, though... fruits from the new trees may not taste as good for a few years.
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That is what I would love to see on trees I see. Our patio citrus comes soon. I will check. I will have the choices of Calamondin, Key lime, "Satsuma" Meyer lemon. The satsuma is rarely seen. No rootstock tag and when I ask they can't find out. I am aware that some places mark their trees very well. When Trace bought his Meiwa kumquat for in ground Georgia they sent him a tree on rough lemon. The tree did find but the rootstock died an pealed. It took awhile for the top to dry out and die. It took him a while after to find out what rootstock it was on. It should have been on PT, or FD, If it had been marked he would not have bought it. It took me qute awhile to find out that an unmarked lable of 'Satsuma' Owari Steve
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karanb1r
Original Author
12 years ago
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