I recently acquired a California juniper with two approach grafts. The grafts were struck to change the foliage from California juniper to shimpaku juniper. At first glance, it looked like the grafts had both taken. The key indicator is when the branch swells past the graft union. California juniper with two approach grafts Swelling past […]
Grafting
Grafting follow-up – reducing the original foliage
Two years ago I grafted a prostrata juniper with itoigawa foliage (see “Side-veneer graft aftercare” for details). Since then, I’ve been incrementally reducing the original foliage. Here’s a photo of the tree eight months after making the graft. October, 2018 I repotted the tree the following spring. A few months later, I removed the branches […]
Side-veneer graft aftercare – bag technique
When performing side-veneer grafts on conifers, it’s important to provide extra humidity for the scions to prevent them from drying out. Two popular approaches for doing this are to cover the scion with a small plastic bag or wrap the scion in stretchy material such as paraffinic tape or Buddy Tape. While I appreciate both […]
Repotting young cork bark black pines
Repotting recently grafted young pines is just like repotting non-grafted pines, only additional care is taken to avoid damaging the union. Grafted cork bark black pine After removing the pot Note the white spot – there are signs of root adelgid infestation. For those curious to see how mycorrhiza differs in appearance from adelgid infestation, […]
Cork bark black pine from graft – follow up
Two years ago, I started a few cork bark black pines by grafting (See “Creating cork bark black pine“). The grafts took, and that fall I began reducing the foliage on the host tree. Now, one year later, it’s time to repeat the process. Both the scions and their hosts grew well last year, so I […]