Chip Budding

16 years ago

I am thinking about trying some chip budding this winter/spring. I usually do side veneer or T-budding but I wanted to try something different. Plus it seems that chip budding would be useful for varieties that I have limited bud wood since I have read you can use this technique for winter grafting. I know the basic technique but I was wondering if any of you grafters have had success with this method.

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Comments (7)

conifers
16 years ago
I haven't tried it. It looks as easy as a veneer graft though and is commonplace for big bulk Acer grafters on the West Coast (and elsewhere I'll assume). I'd just wrap it with parafilm and skip the bud strip. Whatcha think?

Dax
schmoo
16 years ago
Yes on the parafilm and skipping the bud strip...time frame +/- Mid-Aug thru Sept. for Orygun area.
But no on the "commomplace" for same area....big grafters still graft. Normally it is shade tree operations that get into japanese maples, will bud or material coming from the southern hemisphere (New Zealand)is budded also.
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conifers
16 years ago
Same time frame here. Glad you mentioned that. Mid-July through Sept 1 with best results exactly at mid Aug.

Dax
micahj
Original Author
16 years ago
budding, in my opinion, is only useful when scion is limited. I would much rather side veneer b/c the end result is..ohhh so nice!! I do some t-budding but that can only be done in mid summer when the sap is flowing. Chip budding would seem to be a great winter method if scion availability is an issue. T-budding is relatively easy because there is such a large area of cambial contact.
I just wonter if chip buddding would be worth my time. The ultra small area of cambial contact worries me
conifers
16 years ago
I just never heard of anyone t-budding or chip-budding in winter. Why not though. In summer you're replacing an existing growing bud with a new one when you chip bud. I've got not enough experience on anything but side grafting. There's a grafting video (Coenosium Gardens sells it) that the grafter explains the "common" (sorry schmoo - just reitterating) use of chip and t-budding in the Pacific Northwest on Japanese Maples and the only reason being due to insufficient amounts of available scionwood. That's where that came from. Seems silly though but maybe some of the old timers like this man was speaking of a time in the past.

I see absolutely no reason not why chip budding wouldn't work in winter. I'll chip a few Ginkgo as that's the extent of my deciduous material just to see how it goes. I sharpened my knife two days ago, I can shave the hair off my hands, tomorrow I'm brining in my understocks and turning the heat on! A big day! Looking forward to a month from now.

Dax
micahj
Original Author
16 years ago
Dax
Thanks for the info.
I'm jealous! I still have 14 days before I crank up the heat. I start slicing and dicing Feb 5th. which conifers do you graft? What grafting methods do you use? I have only grafted maples but I would like to start grafting evergreens. Do you grow your own understock? I do propagate a handfull of dwarf chamaecyparis and junipers. I root them under a automated mist system starting in June. I use Hormodin 3, which seems to help.
Micah
conifers
16 years ago
Hi Micha, sorry I'm hit and miss on this forum.

You asked about conifers. Here's a recent link to a thread I answered. Conifers are only different in that they are tented and grafted only in winter unless you're grafting them in summer as a friend of mine does but he says it's very difficult. He's been grafting his entire life and according to an ex-past president of the American Conifer Society and a close friend of mine, this other guy is the best grafter in the US in his opinion. So I'd eliminate trying to graft conifers during summer. Maples of course are a cakewalk in summer. I wouldn't even waste my time in the winter grafting maples as during summer they knit in about 10 days. Easy to do!

If you have a minute, send me an email and I can help you a little further but check out this thread first.

Actually, I'll include two threads.

Dax
conifers@hughes.net

Grafting Mechanics - Conifers Forum Thread

Rooting Conifers Jan 2008 Thread