Fruit Tree Grafting: A Comparative Review of the Best Ways to Cross Trees. The best ways to graft plants

Grafting plants is one of the ways to get exactly the kind of tree that you need on your site, without buying a seedling, but owning just a cutting. When grafting, the cutting or bud of one plant takes root on another. In this case, it is not necessary that the varieties or species of plants coincide. A plant grown from a grafted cutting or bud retains all the characteristics of the mother plant from which they are taken.

The tree on which we graft the desired variety is called the rootstock. For example, a seedling grown from a seed. A scion is a cutting, branch or bud cultivar which we want to have in our garden.

Grafting plants solves a lot of problems in the garden:

• Promotes varietal diversity small plot by inoculation different varieties on one tree.
• It helps to quickly replace unfavorable varieties with new ones.
• Provides the opportunity to grow the necessary planting material on various bases.
• It makes it possible to form the desired crown skeleton, resistant to frost and other influences of nature.
• Plant grafting is a way to preserve a variety after bole damage.

Besides what it is useful procedure for the plant, it is also fascinating and simple process for the amateur gardener. The main thing is to know the structure of the plant and the processes taking place in it, as well as to have a “firm” hand.

Grafting plants: a little theory

To begin with, let's take a closer look at the structure of plants using the example of a tree. A tree consists of a root, trunk (branches, shoots), leaves and flowers. The place where the root meets the trunk is called the root collar. Between the root neck and the first branches there is a tree trunk, and after the first branches and before the base of the growth of the previous year there is a central conductor. The trunk ends with the apical growth of the last year.

The largest branches are the skeleton of the crown, this is the first order of branching, semi-skeletal branches extend almost horizontally from them, then branches of the following orders follow.

All branches of the tree are united by one name - the crown.

To understand how the cutting takes place during grafting, consider its internal structure. A cross-section of a branch shows that it consists of three parts: bark, wood and pith.

The bark performs a protective function and consists of four layers: cork tissue, namely the bark, bast and cambium. During the growth, thickening or damage of the branch, the cambium cells divide and due to this, the bark grows. Cambium is a very important branch tissue.

Wood is the basis of the trunk and branches of a tree. It contains wood fibers that give strength to the tree. Wood cells are capable of dividing, but not as intensively as cambial cells.

The core is the basis of the branches, which carries nutrition for the crown. It is also a kind of food storage.

Foliage is the most active plant organ. The main function of leaves is to create organic elements in the process of photosynthesis. Along the way, this is the respiration of the plant and the evaporation of moisture.

Now let's look at the methods and methods of vaccination. The process itself consists in implanting a bud or cutting into the trunk or branch of another plant. The implanted elements are called scion, and the plant on which implantation is carried out is called rootstock. How to choose the right stock and where to cut the scion will be discussed in the next article, and the choice of scion depends on the method of grafting. There are the following methods of grafting: budding and grafting plants with cuttings.

Budding

Budding of trees can be carried out twice a year during intensive sap flow: in early spring and late summer (early August). A clear sign that the plant is ready to accept a graft is the easily lagging bark from the wood. This means that active cell division of the cambium has begun both into scion and rootstock. At this time, they are able to connect with each other.

In spring, trees are budded with a “growing” eye, since after grafting it quickly germinates. In summer, budding is carried out with a “sleeping” eye, since it will germinate only in the spring of next year. The peephole is an unhatched bud from last year's annual shoot for spring budding. For summer budding, a bud from this year's shoot is suitable.

For convenience, shoots are cut off on the day of tree budding. To begin with, a kidney is cut from the selected shoot with a sharp blade or budding knife, capturing 2-3 mm of wood and 12-13 mm of bark. The cut is carried out parallel to the axis of the cutting. Now the cut eye is called a shield.

The grafting site on the rootstock is selected depending on the plant. For example, fruit trees are grafted at a distance of 7-8 cm from the root collar, a rose is grafted into the root collar, and columnar varieties are grafted 12-15 cm from the root collar. In a chosen place on the north side of the rootstock, cleaned of dirt and dust, a T-shaped incision is made or simply cut off about the same size area of ​​​​the bark as the shield. With a simple cut, the shield is simply applied tightly to it. And in the T-shaped incision, the bark rises and a shield is inserted there. After that, the bark is pressed with fingers over the shield and immediately tied with a ribbon of woven strong material 2 cm wide.

When tying, the kidney itself does not close. The tying is obligatory and is done in order for the cells of the cambium of the scion and the rootstock to be tightly combined, and as soon as possible, an intermediate tissue, the callus, begins to form, instead of which common conducting vessels will then form.

Budding is best done in cloudy weather or during cool sun hours. After the end of the process on hot days, it is necessary to cover the vaccination site with earth by 3-5 cm.

The most common methods of grafting of this type are split, under the bark and side cut. They, as well as budding, are produced during sap flow. The secret of successful engraftment of the scion lies in the correctly made oblique cut of the cutting.

Attention! The length of the cut should be 3-3.5 times the diameter of the cutting. The cut should be a straight and clean wedge. Technically, such a cut is made in the same way as sausage is cut. That is, putting the cutting on a support, with a sharp knife we ​​make a cut so that the cut off part is on the side. We make such cuts on both sides to make a flat wedge. Then we shorten the lower sharp cut by 2 mm for ease of insertion into the stock. Cuttings for all methods are prepared in the same way.

The method of grafting under the bark is used if the stock is much thicker than the scion. This grafting of plants is done only at the time of bud break on the rootstock. In this case, the stalk is prepared on the same day. If leaves have already blossomed on the rootstock, then the stalk must be taken in advance prepared (more on this in the next article). Now we cut down the stock so that the cut is even, especially the bark ring.

If the trunk is wide, then up to 5 cuttings can be grafted. The number of scions depends on the desire of the gardener. In any case, the grafts should be placed closer to the south. On the prepared stock in the intended place, we make a vertical incision in the bark 3-4 cm long. The incision should also capture part of the wood. Now we separate the bark a little near the cut to the rootstock and insert the prepared cutting into the cut so that the cut is not visible. Then we cut off the stalk, leaving 3-4 buds.

To regraft a thin tree, split grafting is used. The stock in this case is cut in half to the length of the scion wedge. The finished cutting is inserted into the incision and the operation is completed.

Branches are grafted into the lateral cut, not trunks. For this blade sharp knife at an angle of 30 ° to the axis of the branch, a cut is made that cuts through the bark and a little - wood. It turns out buried in a branch. After a successful incision, the branch above is cut down exactly above it. Now the prepared cutting is inserted into the cut.

The junctions of the stock and scion are tightly wrapped, and the open places of the cuts are smeared with garden pitch.

The tree on which we graft the desired variety is called the rootstock. For example, a seedling grown from a seed. A graft is a cutting, branch or bud of a cultivar that we want to have in our garden.

plant grafting solves a lot of problems in the garden:

promotes variety in a small area by grafting different varieties on the same tree;

helps to quickly replace disliked varieties with new ones;

provides an opportunity to grow the necessary planting material on various rootstocks;

makes it possible to form the desired crown skeleton, resistant to frost and other influences of nature;

In addition to being a useful procedure for a plant, it is also a fascinating and uncomplicated process for an amateur gardener. The main thing is to know the structure of the plant and the processes taking place in it, as well as to have a “firm” hand.

Grafting plants: a little theory

To begin with, let's take a closer look at the structure of plants using the example of a tree. A tree consists of a root, trunk (branches, shoots), leaves and flowers. The place where the root meets the trunk is called the root collar. Between the root neck and the first branches there is a tree trunk, and after the first branches and before the base of the growth of the previous year there is a central conductor. The trunk ends with the apical growth of the last year.

The largest branches are the skeleton of the crown, this is the first order of branching, semi-skeletal branches extend almost horizontally from them, then branches of the following orders follow.

All branches of the tree are united by one name - the crown.

To understand how the cutting takes place during grafting, consider its internal structure. A cross-section of a branch shows that it consists of three parts: bark, wood and pith.

The bark performs a protective function and consists of four layers: cork tissue, namely the bark, bast and cambium. During the growth, thickening or damage of the branch, the cambium cells divide and due to this, the bark grows. Cambium is a very important branch tissue.

Wood is the basis of the trunk and branches of a tree. It contains wood fibers that give strength to the tree. Wood cells are capable of dividing, but not as intensively as cambial cells.

The core is the basis of the branches, which carries nutrition for the crown. It is also a kind of food storage.

Foliage is the most active plant organ. The main function of the leaves is the creation of organic elements in the process of photosynthesis. Along the way, this is the respiration of the plant and the evaporation of moisture.

Reproduction by grafting. Kinds

The most artificial of all methods of vegetative propagation, not found in nature at all, is grafting, or transplantation (lat. transplantatio - transplantation). Grafting is the transfer of part of one plant (graft) to another (rootstock).

Plants are propagated by grafting when other methods fail to fully preserve certain decorative or varietal features of plants, or if beautiful, valuable plant under room conditions, it does not grow on its roots, but it grows well on the roots of a less whimsical plant. The latter mainly applies to cacti. In addition, it is known that the rootstock has a great influence on the grafted part. It is able to accelerate and enhance the growth and development of a grafted plant, make it bloom earlier, more abundantly, longer and more beautifully, increase or shorten its lifespan, and increase resistance to pests and diseases. As a rule, citrus fruits (lemons, oranges, tangerines) and cacti are grafted.

There are many different methods of vaccination, which can be combined into two groups.

In one case, cuttings serve as a scion, in the other case, a kidney with a piece of bark and wood. cuttings woody plants harvested in autumn or late winter, kept in a cool place and grafted in early spring before bud break. Cuttings are prepared from annual shoots. If the scion and rootstock have the same stem diameters, then they are cut obliquely so that the planes of their cuts coincide. The junction of the scion with the stock is carefully tied with a washcloth or other material. The bandage is removed after the graft has grown together with the stock.

a)Inoculation. The method of grafting, in which a kidney with a piece of bark and wood (eye) is used as a scion, is called budding (from Latin oculus - “eye”, otherwise - grafting with an eye) (Fig. 1). A T-shaped incision is made on the rootstock with a sharp knife. The edges of the rootstock bark are carefully folded over and an eye is inserted. The bud of the scion protrudes outward. The junction of the scion and stock is tied. Most often, budding is done at the end of summer, but this can also be done in the spring. Eyes are taken from annual shoots. Choose the largest buds from fruiting plants of the variety that they want to propagate. In the case of a successful grafting, when the fusion of the scion and rootstock is ensured, the eye gives rise to a shoot. Shoots developing from rootstock buds are cut off. A new plant is an organism that has root system inherited from the rootstock, and almost the entire above-ground part is the system of scion shoots.

Rice. 1. The sequence of performing T-shaped budding with a shield: a - horizontal (1) and vertical (2) cuts are made on the rootstock; b - a shield is cut off on the handle; c - correctly cut shield; d - a shield is inserted into the cuts of the bark on the rootstock and its excess upper part is cut off; e - the place of budding from the bottom up is tightly tied with a film

b)Copulation called the fusion of the cutting with a stock that has the same thickness as it. One and the other are cut obliquely, so that their cut planes coincide, are applied to each other, tied together and sometimes coated with a special garden pitch. Especially care must be taken to match the cambium. For greater strength of the connection and better adhesion, various cuts are often made on the stock and cuts corresponding to them on the scion - the so-called graft with "tongues", etc.

Rice. 2. Copulation

in) When the stock is thicker than the scion, which happens most often, they are grafted into the butt

G)"for the bark" (Fig. 3)

e)"in a split" in various options(Fig.3)

This grafting method good results on apple, pear, plum; bad ones - on cherries and cherries. Grafting into the lateral incision allows the use of rootstocks of various thicknesses, it works well both in early and in late dates. It is successfully used for regrafting fruit trees.

Rice. 3. Grafting in the butt of the bark and in the split

e)Approach grafting (ablactation). This method is used for species that are difficult to grow together, as well as in some cases regrafting the crown, replacing the roots of one fruit tree with others, etc. In this method of grafting, the stock and scion are connected without separation from the mother plant, that is, they grow side by side.

After the fusion of the components, which is determined by the strong growth of the scion, it is cut off below the grafting site from its root; at the same time, the rootstock crown is cut off above the grafting site. The surface of the cuts is coated with garden pitch. There are other methods of proximity grafting that are used for thicker scion and rootstock.

Grafting by rapprochement in a simple pinch

Vaccination by rapprochement in the butt with a tongue

Grafting by approach in a simple snap (1 - graft and stock before joining, 2 - after)

Rice. 4. Types of vaccination

g)Grafting on a wedge according to the Khudyakov method.

It is performed at the onset of warm weather and until the end of the flowering of fruit plants. On thin rootstocks, grafting is done with an ordinary copulation knife, on thick ones - with a sharp garden knife with a slightly curved blade. The cuts on the rootstocks are made in such a way that a trihedral wedge is obtained, two sides of which are cuts, the third side is the untouched part of the rootstock.

The length of the cut on the rootstock should be equal to three to five diameters of the scion stalk, the ratio of the cut length of the stalk and the diameter of the stalk is the same. After the cuts, the same cuts are made on the stock and scion, retreating 1/3 from the upper cut of the stock and scion. The cut on the stock is made only on one side of the cut. Then the rootstock and the scion are connected in the same way as with improved copulation, observing the coincidence of the cow part of the scion and the rootstock on one side. The grafting site is tied with a ribbon and the top of the scion cutting is coated with garden pitch. By autumn, the place of the cut on the rootstock is almost completely overgrown.

Rice. 5. Cut to rootstock

Questions for self-examination:

What is plant grafting?

Why are plants grafted?

What are the main methods of grafting plants?

What is budding, how is it done?

Inoculation has undeservedly acquired the fame of a mystical operation accessible only to initiates. An amateur gardener, having mastered the basic techniques of work, will be able to successfully vaccinate on his own, using the most simple tools and quite affordable inexpensive materials. We will reveal to you the "anatomical" secrets of vaccination and tell you about the advantages of this method of reproduction.

genetically identical

Graft- one of the methods of artificial vegetative propagation of plants. Everyone is well aware that in order to obtain fruits of a certain variety, for example apples (Antonovka, white pouring or pear) plants need to be grafted. If you sow seeds taken from the same Antonov apple and grow fruit trees from them, then the apples on them will vary greatly in size, color, taste and a number of other features.

The point is that the higher plants There are two ways to reproduce:

• sexual
• asexual or vegetative.

sexual reproduction carried out by seeds, each of which is formed as a result of sequential processes of pollination and fertilization. Therefore, a plant develops from the seed, combining the hereditary properties of the "father" and "mother". Such a mechanism leads to the splitting of hereditary traits, and each plant of seed progeny, obtained even from the seeds of one fruit, differs from another.

At vegetative propagation nothing like that happens. It is based on the process of regeneration - the restoration of an organism or organ from its part. Regeneration, like any growth process, occurs due to cell division, the chromosomes of the nucleus of which contain genetic (hereditary) information. Before cell division, the number of chromosomes is doubled by making a copy of the hereditary information encrypted in them. Therefore, all cells of one plant individual have one genetic code - karyotype , as they arose as a result of the division of the first cell - a fertilized egg, from which the embryo located in the seed first develops, and then the whole plant. Thus, new plants formed as a result of vegetative propagation are genetically identical to the parent plant, except for the rarest cases of mutations.

Aronia chokeberry, grafted

on mountain ash (it turned out a standard form of aronia chokeberry)

Now everyone is talking about the term "cloning"("clone" in Greek - "branch"), which is understood as the offspring of one organism, obtained by vegetative propagation. Indeed, for medicine and genetics of warm-blooded animals, including humans, cloning is a relatively new thing. In the process of evolution, animals have lost the ability to restore damaged or lost organs even at the stage of reptiles. Their process of regeneration was replaced by the process of healing wounds.

In plants, the mechanism of regeneration has not only been preserved, but has improved so much that in modern botany they distinguish three main ways of their natural vegetative propagation in nature:

• particulation,
• sarmentation
• vegetative diaspora.

All of them include numerous modifications of the organs of vegetative reproduction (whiskers, rhizomes, bulbs, brood buds, etc.).

Observing the various ways in which plants naturally reproduce in natural environment, people began to use them for their own purposes. To date, the main techniques and methods of artificial vegetative propagation have been developed and tested in practice:

• dividing the bush
• cuttings,
• layering,
• vaccination.

Green surgery

The main difference between artificial vegetative propagation and natural reproduction is that in nature, newly emerged vegetative individuals separate from each other relatively slowly, gradually (with the exception of vegetative diasporia, when, for example, very brittle willow branches are carried through the water and, nailed to the shore, take root) .

Often they form long-lived natural clones connected by roots in woody plants. (aspen, white poplar, sea buckthorn, lilac, etc.), and in herbs - rhizomes (horsetail, nettle, reed) or stolons (strawberry, tenacious creeping).

Artificial vegetative propagation it is always a surgical operation to separate new individuals from the mother. The simplest example of such an operation is cutting the whiskers of strawberries. In the literature, for some methods of artificial vegetative propagation of plants, and primarily for grafting, it has even become a household name "green surgery" .

Grafting allows you to connect two separate plants so that they function as a whole. Therefore, to perform grafting operations, it is necessary to have two components:

1. rootstock,
2. scion.

root system and Bottom part stem is called a rootstock, a top part stem with leaves and vegetative or overwintering buds, taken from the desired variety or natural plant variety, - scion .

How does a scion grow together with a stock? Experts answer this question as follows: connective tissue is formed. What is this fabric? This is callus . The callus consists of homogeneous large cells with relatively thick membranes. Any injury to the trunk or branch of a woody plant that has reached the cambium zone causes the active formation of callus cells, which tend to tighten the affected area.

The same happens with the fusion of the components of the vaccine.- stock with scion. Therefore, one of the most important requirements that affect the success of grafting is their tight combination over the entire area of ​​the joined surface. After the graft grows together with the rootstock, the cambium continues to lay cells of wood and bast, the stem thickens, and the place of grafting is gradually overgrown with wood. However, there is no mixing of cells during tissue fusion, and the rootstock with the scion remain genetically heterogeneous parts of an already single plant organism.

Weeping form of rowan,
grafted on the stock of mountain ash

Unique property of callus cells- the ability to form, with further differentiation, the rudiments of plant organs: adventitious roots and adventitious (adventitious) buds. Therefore, it is callus cells that underlie regeneration and are widely used in all technologies of artificial vegetative propagation of plants: in the culture of isolated tissue in vitro, when a new plant can be grown from a piece of callus or even one of its cells by registration. Callus outgrowths are formed on sections of cuttings, where adventitious roots are laid in their cells.

It has been established by many years of practice that the younger the grafting components, the faster and more reliably they grow together.

For a rootstock, the age of 2–3 years and the thickness of the stem in the grafting zone of 6–10 mm are considered optimal parameters.

As grafts, parts of annual (last year's) shoots of different sizes or shoots of the current growth at least one month old are used.

Benefits of grafting trees and shrubs

What is the benefit of vaccination woody plants- a complex surgical operation that requires a significant investment of time and money not only for its implementation, but also for growing a rootstock, harvesting cuttings and ensuring proper care for grafted plants? After all, it is much easier and cheaper to propagate woody plants by cuttings. In particular, with green cuttings from cuttings harvested in June in September, we get ready-made planting material with a developed root system and hereditary properties absolutely identical to the mother plant.

cuttings ideal for propagating ornamental and fruit forms of most shrubs, herbaceous plants and shrubs. And from trees - as a rule, for relatively undersized species or species that do not form a powerful root system.

The fact is that in the process of regeneration, cut cuttings should form a root system that was absent until that moment. In woody plants grown from seeds, a rudimentary root is formed even in the embryo, which is the first to come out when it germinates. This is the future main root of the plant, and no matter how you turn it, it will always bend and grow vertically down, obeying the force of gravity. Going deep into the soil, the main root begins to branch, inside it lateral roots of the first order are formed and move in different directions, which in turn form roots of the second order, etc. This is how the core root system is formed.

The most important feature of the main and lateral roots is their ability to thicken due to the initial (retaining the ability to divide) cells located under the bark. This layer of educational tissue is called cambium . The cells that have divided in the cambium differentiate and constantly replenish the arrays of conducting tissues.

Inside the ring of the cambium, cells of the water-conducting tissue - wood, are deposited, outside - the bast, which supplies the products of photosynthesis from the leaves to the root. As a result, increasing volumes of water, collected by constantly growing branches of lateral roots, freely reach the root neck, where they rush from the main root into the trunk of a woody plant.

On the shoot system of plants, which is used as a scion, only adventitious roots can form, which do not have a cambium. In this case, a fibrous root system is formed, consisting of a large number thin, slightly branched and therefore relatively few buried roots.

From the foregoing, it is clear why large, harmoniously developed woody plants cannot be grown from cuttings. In most cases, grafting is carried out on a rootstock of seed origin with a well-developed tap root system.

Besides, tree grafting has a number of other advantages compared to other methods of vegetative propagation of woody plants:

• it is used to breed species that are difficult to root or in which seed propagation is difficult or undesirable;
• grafted plants reach maturity, begin to bloom and bear fruit faster than when cuttings;
• the rootstock may be more resistant to diseases and pests or inhibit the growth of the scion (grafting on a dwarf rootstock).

Methods and methods of vaccination

All known grafting methods can be divided into four main groups of methods:

1.Budding- only one bud (eye) is grafted onto the stock.

2. Copulation(grafting with a cutting) - a part of a scion shoot with two or more buds is grafted onto a stock.

3. Ablactation, or convergence- the graft is not separated from the rootstock (mother plant), and until the final fusion at the grafting site, they grow independently of each other on their roots.

4. Various ways vaccinations on roots or parts of roots.

The above classification of methods covers almost all known methods of grafting, of which there are about 200. This diversity can be explained by the fact that not all species, and even more so varieties, forms and varieties, can be successfully grafted using a narrow range of well-known and proven methods in practice. . A number of plants, due to their biological, physiological, anatomical, phenological and other features, can be successfully grafted only if methods specially developed for them are used.

Mother trees of Norway maple form spherical globosa

Each of these methods, developed for grafting roses, walnuts, horse chestnut and other difficult-to-graft species, as well as for re-grafting trees or grafting with a stock thickness that is much greater than the thickness of the grafted cuttings, deserves a separate description.

Basically, vaccination is vegetative method reproduction of plants by combining their parts into a single whole.

As a rule, a plant whose stem and root system is used for grafting is called a rootstock, and the stem, leaves and flowers of the second plant grafted to it are called scion.

To carry out such a procedure, it is not at all necessary that the varieties or species of plants coincide. A plant that grows from a scion retains the characteristics of its mother plant. To carry out successful grafting, it is enough only that close contact between the tissues of the rootstock and the scion, namely their vascular system, is achieved.

As a method of reproduction and cultivation, grafting is most often used relatively fruit trees and shrubs. In this case, escape cultivated plant is grafted onto the stem and root system of the uncultivated and more resistant to diseases and external conditions plants.

There are two methods of grafting: budding and grafting plants with cuttings.

Budding

This procedure can be carried out twice a year: in early spring and late summer. In spring, budding is carried out using the “growing” eye method, and in summer, a “sleeping” eye is used. At the same time, an unhatched kidney, taken from a one-year-old shoot, is called an eye.

Budding is a simple procedure that is best done in cloudy weather or during cool sun hours. A bud is cut from the plant to be grafted, capturing 2-3 mm of wood and 12-13 mm of bark. Such a blank is called a shield.

On the stock, the place of vaccination is chosen. On the north side of the trunk, a small area is cleaned of dust and dirt, on which a T-shaped incision is made. The bark in the place of such an incision is lifted, and the shield is inserted into the incision. The vaccination site is immediately tied up with a dense material, or rather, with a tape at least 2 cm wide. The kidney itself does not need to be closed.

Grafting with a cutting

Grafting with a cutting is carried out, as a rule, by the methods “split”, “under the bark” and “side cut”. These procedures are performed at the same time as budding.

Most important requirement in grafting with a cutting, this is the length of the cut. It should be 3-3.5 times the diameter of the cutting itself. The cut must be made with an even and clean wedge. Similar incisions are made on both sides. This is how cuttings are prepared for all grafting methods.

The “under the bark” method is used if the stock is much thicker than the scion. Such a vaccination is appropriate only at the time of bud break on the rootstock. The stalk for this procedure is prepared on the same day.

The trunk of the stock is cut down. Scions are located closer to the south side. In the chosen place, a vertical incision of the bark about 4 cm long is made, capturing the wood. A cutting is inserted into this incision, bringing out 3-4 buds. The vaccination site is wrapped with a cloth, leaving the kidneys open.

Split grafting is used in cases where it is necessary to regraft a thin tree. In this case, the stock is cut in half to the length of the scion wedge and the finished cutting is inserted into the cut.

If you need to graft a separate branch, use the "side cut" graft. At an angle of 30 degrees, a cut is made on the branch of the stock. This affects both bark and wood. After that, the branch of the stock is cut down exactly above the incision and the scion stalk is inserted into the cut.

To ensure engraftment, the grafting sites are tightly wrapped, and the open incision sites are smeared with garden pitch.

In order to garden plants were healthy, beautiful and annually brought a useful, and most importantly - a rich harvest, the gardener should take care in advance of grafting each individual plant, correctly choose a stock and study the technology of grafting.

At first, it was hard for me to imagine that you can simply take the “legs” from one plant and grow it together with the “body” of another. But I tried and it worked!

The Importance of Garden Grafting

For the first time, I encountered the need to start vaccinating myself in the garden when, due to inexperience, I lost 15 bushes of varietal roses. The story is usual: the growth of a wild-stock rootstock drowned out the cultural graft. Gathered already "wild" bushes to uproot. Fortunately, the neighbor advised me in time to plant new cuttings of varietal roses on the old rootstocks.

The main thing in this matter is to choose the moment during the period of active sap flow. There are two such periods: in spring, before bud break, and in the middle of summer, during the second wave of branch growth.

The signal for the start of summer grafting is the end of flowering on the mother plant and the easily detached bark on the rootstock.

The thickness of the rootstock shoots should be no less than the thickness of a pencil (0.5-0.8 cm). The operation called "budding" I carried out like this. A few days before the operation, she abundantly watered the wild under the root - to enhance the flow of sap in the rootstock. The root neck (the place where the stem passes into the root) was freed from the ground and carefully wiped with a damp cloth.

With the blade of a grafting knife on the root neck, I made a cut of the bark 2 cm long and 0.5 cm wide. I removed a strip of bark 1.5 cm long, leaving a small “burr” to fix the shield. Then, from a faded mother bush, she took a stem with mature wood and developed buds. Removed the faded flower and thorns. From the middle part of the shoot, I cut off an eye with a kidney in the form of a shield 2 cm long. I removed a layer of wood from it, leaving only the bark, and carefully inserted its lower end under the “burr”. The inserted shield was tied with a plastic film tape, with a slight tension, making 4 turns above and below the eye. The end of the tape was stretched into the last turn and tightened the loop. The grafting site was covered with white paper from the direct rays of the sun.

That's all! I saw results in a couple of weeks. The petiole fell off when touched, and the bud itself looked green. She settled down! In a dead graft, the bud usually shrinks, and the leaf petiole does not fall off. I spudded the grafted rose bushes with peat for the winter. So that a strong wildling does not “crush” a varietal plant, the entire above-ground part she cut off the old bush only next year, after the growth of the grafted eye began.

The success of budding largely depends on how clean the cuts are made, how flat surface they have.

It is best for a novice "surgeon" to first practice on willow or poplar branches. Make at least a dozen of the easiest connections.

Sections must be connected as quickly as possible. If they dry out even a little bit, the vaccine will die.

How best to choose the rootstock of a fruit tree?

Choose plants that perform well in your area and climate. Pay attention to what kind of frost resistance the plant has, which crown is high or low. It is also very important to know whether fruiting is regular, what is the resistance to diseases and pests, how the plant tolerates high humidity or soil salinity.

You have already understood that the stalk from the varietal plant that we will graft is a scion. The plant on which a cultivated cutting is grafted is a rootstock.

We take the cutting-graft from the fruit-bearing branch. If the rootstock is strong, the scion quickly starts to grow. One cutting is usually grafted onto one root. You can do more - still only one, the strongest, will survive. You can combine several scions on one plant. You can graft the desired pollinator into the rootstock crown or several less frost-resistant, but large-fruited varieties. Grafting cuttings must be healthy, mature and well formed. Try to take them from the middle of the crown on the south side.

Pay attention to the compatibility of plants. Most often, closely related species are grafted. For example, an apple tree - to an apple tree.

Vaccinate very carefully

Remember: for successful fusion of plant parts, you need to connect them correctly. Arrange the scion and rootstock in such a way that their cambial layers overlap or have large area contact. Work with a clean, sharp instrument (pruner or grafting knife) as accurately as a surgeon. Sections on both plants should be made without notches and indentations. And the scion should remain as little as possible in the air. This dries out the cambial layer and the scion may die. Fasten both parts tightly or with a thin plastic wrap, which stretches when pulled, or with insulating tape.

I use rubber bands that I get by cutting old ones. medical gloves. To reduce heat and moisture loss, cover the budding site with a transparent plastic bag. Watch for vaccinations: protect from damage and breakage, remove (cut into a ring) the patches that are below it. After a month, loosen or remove the tape that holds the scion to the rootstock, and cover the grafting site with garden pitch. If there are many vaccinations, in order not to get confused, attach tags indicating the date of vaccination and the variety of each plant being grafted using a special tool - a grafting knife. Now, with the advent of the grafting pruner, this complex manipulation has become available even to a beginner. Practice matching plant parts. I'm sure you'll like it!

A little practice - and you can successfully and fruitfully experiment with plants both in your garden and on your home windowsill. Look at the photos: I am grafting ivy (Hedera) onto Fatsia, and I got a new plant - Fatshedera!