Grafting Question

[jade]

I bought a tangerine tree a few years ago from Plant-it Hawaii. It died back and I had to trim it way back. Now from what I can tell is that most of the tree is growing below the grafting site. Does anyone know what they graft there citrus trees with? Will this ever bear fruit?

Jade

[jade]

Ok. I heard from plant it Hawaii and it is suckers growing from below the graft line. Does anyone know if I can graft to sucker or even cut the middle and graft to that? I have never grafted before but I can learn. I hate to just pull it up and lose those two years it has been in the ground. It is doing well now. I asked Plant it hawaii the same. I will let you know what they tell me.

[oink]

Sorta same happened to me. After it died back, it grew better than ever and the root stock turned out to be some sort of lemon, very much like a myers. I love lemons and limes so I was happy. Unfortunately a hurricane took it out, along with a bunch of other stuff, a few years ago.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[jade]

Thanks for the reply. I think I will go to the Bian sale coming up and ask about grafting. Maybe I can graft with one of my other citrus trees. It seems that the rootstock would still be good if I can graft a branch to it. I just haven't done that before.

Jade

[tptplyr1]

You can graft on to the root stock. It isn't that hard to do and you can graft several types of citrus on to a single plant making it an interesting tree. The main thing with the graft is that you need to find similar sized cuttings and root stock diameter. That way the cambium layer (the layer just beneath the bark) will match, and the flow of water and nutrients will make it to the grafted portion. There are several methods of grafting but it can be fun to do. As with many procedures with plants not everything is 100% so try several if you can.

dean

[jade]

Thanks Dean!

That is what I thought. Now I have to find a large enough branch to graft to the rootstock. I have read that there are several people that grafted different types of trees to one rootstock giving them 10 different types of fruit. Sounds interresting.

I have trimmed back all of the suckers leaving one small branch above the graft. I might have to cut below just to get a descent graft.

Wish me luck!

Jade