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Michael Bell wrote:
In message
Charlie Pridham wrote:
In article ,
says...
I am trying to graft green stems (this year's seedlings) of alder onto
green (this year's growth) of the side-branches of adult alder trees.
I have been using Hellermann sleeves (thank you to whoever suggested
them) Using the Hellerman sleeves I made grafts which looked really
satifactory. But they all died! What is wrong?
One cause might be poor workmanship and wrong graft design, but I
think I have brought the right surfaces together. When else might it
be?
I have thought of 2 possibilities :-
* The Hellermann sleeves are very sticky on the prongs of the tool so
I soaked them overnight in soapy water (the soap is ordinary washing
soap) to make them easier to handle. The sleeves were still full of
water when I put them over the stock. These pieces of scion are 2-3 cm
long, 2 -3 mm diamter, and green, and the edge of the cut surfaces
maybe exposed to the soapy water. But surely soapy water is harmless?
Or is it?
* I have putting "Arbrex seal and heal" generously on the stock at the
bottom end of the Hellermann sleeves, and on the cut ends of the
petiole and the scion upper end. Now I look more carefully at the
label of the "Arbrex seal and heal" I see it says "contains ethanol
and colophony, keep out of reach of children". Maybe it is the cause
of my problems? And if it is, what should I used instead?
Michael Bell
Timing, tree grafting is often carried out in late winter and again in
July August after the trees finish growth, but I have no first hand
experiance of tree grafting and can find nothing relivant for Alder.
Most grafts are sealed with grafting wax
This is the time when the seedling have reached workable size and the
tree shoots are actively growing, and next year's catkins and cones
are formed at the end of July, which is why I want to do this now. I
am going to buy grafting wax, this is an outdoors job, a thermos flask
of wax might not be too practicable and too much hot wax on a small
graft might be too much. Is there anything available without these
problems?
Michael Bell
After an afternoon of trying out the Tenax wax, it didn't work very
well.
The instructions for Tenax say "use when soft", but that doesn't work
very well, it goes crumbly straight away and doesn't flow round the
things I want to seal. So, then should I use it much hotter, when it
is liquid and it will flow round the things I want to seal and as
contact cools it, it will solidify. Is that the way it is meant to
work? But will the heat damage the bits I want to seal?
How do others use Tenax?
Taking it to the limit, I can imagine myself building up a "Tenax
samovar". A bit over the top?
I normally enclose the graft in "lay-flat tubing" (available in rolls
from all sorts of suppliers) to keep the moisture in. I slit a short
length at either side and wrap it round the main branch and staple it
with an ordinary office stapler. AN EXTRA TRICK I have developed is
not to cut off all the lower leaves, but to leave the bottom one on
(usually the smallest) and include it in the "lay-flat tubing
enclosure" so that there is a supply of moisture inside. I've only
done this the last day or two, and droplets form on the plastic around
it, so it must be doing some good. I don't know yet whether it will
keep the grafts alive.
All feedback and comments welcome.
Michael Bell
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