PIGLET CHAPTER 2

[KiwiPlantGuy]

Here are a few close ups of some of the approach root grafts.

After removing the cut paste and inspecting the graft, it was clear that it had fused with the mother tree. To the left is another graft that had taken. It was cut off last August. I usually leave a small stub and let it die back naturally over the course of several months. Afterwards it is cut off flush against the nebari.

View attachment 348290




It was time now to remove the grafting nail.

View attachment 348291




Grafting nail removed.

View attachment 348292




The sapling was cut back to a small stump and allowed to dieback naturally. Behind it is another graft in progress and not ready yet to be cut off.

View attachment 348293




A close up of another graft. One can see clearly the cambial layers have fused together.

View attachment 348296




Here is another way to create roots. In this instance, I scored the bark making a horizontal thin groove about 1.5" long in this case. I applied some rooting hormone and then covered with sphagnum moss to keep it consistently damp. Within a period of about four weeks roots had emerged from the area.

View attachment 348297

Hi Mach5,
I have been around this forum for a while now, but I can’t seem to find the info/picture details to show me how to make the hole for the approach graft. I have done a few now but most have been pushed out by the callous of the Mother tree. I am guessing I am not cutting/scraping deep enough, so when I attach with push pins, the callous pushes the scion back out. I hope I am making sense here? Do I just use a drill bit or is there a better option?
Nice tree by the way
Charles

 

[just.wing.it]

Simply beautiful! Thank you sir!

 

[BonsaiDTLA]

Do I just use a drill bit or is there a better option?

Hi Charles, Post #34 shows the piece Mach5 uses

 

[MACH5]

Hi Mach5,
I have been around this forum for a while now, but I can’t seem to find the info/picture details to show me how to make the hole for the approach graft. I have done a few now but most have been pushed out by the callous of the Mother tree. I am guessing I am not cutting/scraping deep enough, so when I attach with push pins, the callous pushes the scion back out. I hope I am making sense here? Do I just use a drill bit or is there a better option?
Nice tree by the way
Charles

Yes makes perfect sense and it can/does happen. I find that for best chances of success you must insert the seedling pretty much all the way in into your groove. If you are using seedlings of any appreciable thickness, then I recommend driving the grafting nail(s) right through the middle of it. Normally I avoid this and nail my grafting pins to the parent tree instead for fear of damaging the actual seedling. But this is ok if you use a thicker piece of stock and in fact that's what I would recommend to keep it from pushing out. Another good way that you might want to try is getting a piece of rubber over the grafting stock and securing it with a couple of staples although depending on the location of the graft it may not be so easy to accomplish. See attached.

 

[JudyB]

I love seeing the pig progressing, best thing ever to see it thriving in your care. I still think this tree has the potential to be the best big tree over here...

 

[MACH5]

I love seeing the pig progressing, best thing ever to see it thriving in your care. I still think this tree has the potential to be the best big tree over here...

Thanks Judy! Well again, you did set it up beautifully for me! It was still up on he turntable and was looking at it today imagining it with the finished canopy and back into a bonsai pot. I think it is at the moment one of my best trees. It is an impressive beast without being ridiculously huge like my yatsubusa elm and hornbeam!

As you know it has some large scars. I decided that I will leave a couple alone and two others I will clean them out, fill them with either cement or two part epoxy and let them close completely.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

fill them with either cement or two part epoxy and let them close completely.

I’ve had good luck with epoxy putty...and rot from concrete, because it shrinks slightly, and retains water which keeps the wood around it wet. Piglet is looking great.

 

[MACH5]

I’ve had good luck with epoxy putty...and rot from concrete, because it shrinks slightly, and retains water which keeps the wood around it wet. Piglet is looking great.

Thanks Bri. Never tried it and always used two part but I've been wanting to try concrete just to see. Good to know!

Alls I know is that two part works great!

 

[JonW]

Here are a few close ups of some of the approach root grafts.

After removing the cut paste and inspecting the graft, it was clear that it had fused with the mother tree. To the left is another graft that had taken. It was cut off last August. I usually leave a small stub and let it die back naturally over the course of several months. Afterwards it is cut off flush against the nebari.

View attachment 348290




It was time now to remove the grafting nail.

View attachment 348291




Grafting nail removed.

View attachment 348292




The sapling was cut back to a small stump and allowed to dieback naturally. Behind it is another graft in progress and not ready yet to be cut off.

View attachment 348293




A close up of another graft. One can see clearly the cambial layers have fused together.

View attachment 348296




Here is another way to create roots. In this instance, I scored the bark making a horizontal thin groove about 1.5" long in this case. I applied some rooting hormone and then covered with sphagnum moss to keep it consistently damp. Within a period of about four weeks roots had emerged from the area.

View attachment 348297

What influences which approach you take - grafting vs scoring?

I have ficus cuttings I plan to use as root grafts, but I also have a boxwood that could use more roots close in toward the trunk. For the boxwood, I have sphagnum packed in those areas to see if roots will just grow, but if it didn't work, I plan on trying to score the bark and add hormone this spring.

 

[SeanS]

@MACH5 does the scoring/sphagnum root technique work when applied to the lower part of a trunk or only on the ends/sides of existing roots?

 

[MACH5]

What influences which approach you take - grafting vs scoring?

I have ficus cuttings I plan to use as root grafts, but I also have a boxwood that could use more roots close in toward the trunk. For the boxwood, I have sphagnum packed in those areas to see if roots will just grow, but if it didn't work, I plan on trying to score the bark and add hormone this spring.

Jon, I almost always have done the approach graft when it comes to roots. I have used the scoring method three times. Two on tridents and one on a Japanese maple which did not work. The problem with scoring the bark is that you run into the possibility of the tree bridging which maples can do rather easily. However, scoring the bark as you can see, it's much easier to do and requires much less expertise that doing an approach graft. So for those with a little less experience it may be worth trying that first.

I am going to take a wild guess and say that with a ficus you probably stand a good chance of success as they root very easily as it relates to the scoring method. I do not know for boxwood but I would say it may need more encouragement to root than packing moss against the target areas? But that's just my sense.

 

[MACH5]

@MACH5 does the scoring/sphagnum root technique work when applied to the lower part of a trunk or only on the ends/sides of existing roots?

Sean, my sense is that it should work on any area of the nebari regardless. In the case of this trident, I scored an area on the side of one of its main roots.

 

[JonW]

Jon, I almost always have done the approach graft when it comes to roots. I have used the scoring method three times. Two on tridents and one on a Japanese maple which did not work. The problem with scoring the bark is that you run into the possibility of the tree bridging which maples can do rather easily. However, scoring the bark as you can see, it's much easier to do and requires much less expertise that doing an approach graft. So for those with a little less experience it may be worth trying that first.

I am going to take a wild guess and say that with a ficus you probably stand a good chance of success as they root very easily as it relates to the scoring method. I do not know for boxwood but I would say it may need more encouragement to root than packing moss against the target areas? But that's just my sense.

Thanks! I had some success with moss on a morris midget boxwood. I'm trying on a larger kingsville and feel less confident.

 

[treepirate]

Yes makes perfect sense and it can/does happen. I find that for best chances of success you must insert the seedling pretty much all the way in into your groove. If you are using seedlings of any appreciable thickness, then I recommend driving the grafting nail(s) right through the middle of it. Normally I avoid this and nail my grafting pins to the parent tree instead for fear of damaging the actual seedling. But this is ok if you use a thicker piece of stock and in fact that's what I would recommend to keep it from pushing out. Another good way that you might want to try is getting a piece of rubber over the grafting stock and securing it with a couple of staples although depending on the location of the graft it may not be so easy to accomplish. See attached.

View attachment 348486

Serge thanks for this brilliant thread! Can I ask, Do you remove bark down to the cambiem on the seedlings when you pin them in?

 

[MACH5]

Serge thanks for this brilliant thread! Can I ask, Do you remove bark down to the cambiem on the seedlings when you pin them in?

I do. Just a light scrape is enough to expose the cambium as damage can easily occur otherwise on these young plants. I would avoid using weak plants. Try and use more robust looking ones. Using very thin and weak seedlings do not give you best chances for success.

 

[clem]

I do. Just a light scrape is enough to expose the cambium as damage can easily occur otherwise on these young plants. I would avoid using weak plants. Try and use more robust looking ones. Using very thin and weak seedlings do not give you best chances for success.

Do you think it is better to do the same light scrape with "thread grafts" from thin JM cuttings (2 - 4 mm thick cuttings) on the aeras where the cutting enter and get out of the trunk? i plan to do JM thread grafts next spring.

ps : BTW what is the "correct" word to use ? to "do" thread grafts or to "make" thread grafts ?

 

[BonsaiDTLA]

ps : BTW what is the "correct" word to use ? to "do" thread grafts or to "make" thread grafts ?

I believe the correct word is "to do thread grafting" (to do a thread graft) or, in other words, to "perform" a thread graft on a tree.

It is not "make" thread grafts as we are not actually creating or producing anything, in the literal sense.

 

[treepirate]

I do. Just a light scrape is enough to expose the cambium as damage can easily occur otherwise on these young plants. I would avoid using weak plants. Try and use more robust looking ones. Using very thin and weak seedlings do not give you best chances for success.

Thanks man I appreciate you sharing this hidden knowledge, a true gentleman.
Do you scrape any threads grafts you have had success with?
If you have,.... Do you scrape just down couple of sides or the full ring of the seedling?

 

[MACH5]

Do you think it is better to do the same light scrape with "thread grafts" from thin JM cuttings (2 - 4 mm thick cuttings) on the aeras where the cutting enter and get out of the trunk? i plan to do JM thread grafts next spring.

ps : BTW what is the "correct" word to use ? to "do" thread grafts or to "make" thread grafts ?

In the case of thread grafts I actually do not nor do I think it is necessary simply because the parts being grafted have no choice but to fuse together as the tissue grows and expands eventually fusing together.

 

[MACH5]

Thanks man I appreciate you sharing this hidden knowledge, a true gentleman.
Do you scrape any threads grafts you have had success with?
If you have,.... Do you scrape just down couple of sides or the full ring of the seedling?

Of course!

Great minds must think alike. You had the same question as @clem. Please see my response above