grafting help

Jimmyjonestoo

Jimmyjonestoo

Well-Known Member
Probably a stupid question but i have a birch tree in the back yard that i want gone. Can i cut it to about five feet tall and graft fruit trees to it? I have a basic understanding of how grafting works but im curious about compatibility between trees. Cant get a decent answer thru the interwebs so i figured id ask the green thumbs of riu. Thanks.
 
no i don't think thats going to work with a tree thats that hard and large... i think you need a softer tissue plant to graft properly. I've only grafted cactuses but even thats a pain i couldn't imagine grafting a larger hard wood tree..
 
plus when i graft cactuses the two cactuses i graft generally need to be in the same size range which generally makes them about the same age range as well.

why not just rip the trees out by the roots and use the open hole to mix in descent soil and transplant the fruit trees or plant new fruit trees. i would assume your going to have better luck that way but again I've never grafted hard wood plants.
 
phil k said:
plus when i graft cactuses the two cactuses i graft generally need to be in the same size range which generally makes them about the same age range as well.

why not just rip the trees out by the roots and use the open hole to mix in descent soil and transplant the fruit trees or plant new fruit trees. i would assume your going to have better luck that way but again I've never grafted hard wood plants.
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Its not a very large yard. I was hoping to maybe graft several fruits to one base as i dont have room for 5 trees.
 
Jimmyjonestoo said:
I also have a crab apple if tjat would work better.
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Crab apple would work if you graft apples to it. Grafting is more successful the closer the scion and stock are related, i;e. same genus. If the stock (rooted part) is bigger than the scion(that which you are trying to graft) use a "cleft" graft:
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Jimmyjonestoo said:
Can i cut it to about five feet tall and graft fruit trees to it? I have a basic understanding of how grafting works but im curious about compatibility between trees.
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Grafting woody plants isn't all that easy to begin with and it absolutely won't work unless they are closely related, so no way in hell will that work. nice idea though!
 
abe supercro said:
Grafting woody plants isn't all that easy to begin with and it absolutely won't work unless they are closely related, so no way in hell will that work. nice idea though!
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Exactly. Grafting even the same plants successfully is a skill bordering on art. Way harder than rooting cuttings.

Jimmy, cut the birch down, but save all the bark. The bark is good shit, many uses
 
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