Sweet Cherry grafting onto blackthorn

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by antonius, Aug 4, 2017.

  1. antonius

    antonius Member

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    I have an edible sweet variety of cherry bought about 10 years ago as 4 foot tree , which i planted in a bad spot , and although it has grown to over 20 feet its never set much flower--so no fruit , and has always been overshadowed by a large ash tree , part of my horticulture course next year will be covering grafting , so i am thinking of getting a jump ahead on this and use the cherry as my victim , i mean experiment. Whilest i do have some planted wild cherry tree stock growing-- planted up last year ,and my other source a wild "gean" that sprang up near my apples and pears --both of these sources are not in ideal locations either. I have been trawling through information and it is suggested on a few sites that a graft could be made onto blackthorn , i do have many of these in good sunny spots and doing well , but these sites seem to allude to and suggest more than they actually advise on how or if its has been a success. Has any one achieved this out there ?, thanks .
     
  2. mischief

    mischief Senior Member

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    Hi Antonius,
    'welcome to the forum, by the way.
    I think you will find that your best bet will be the wild cherry.

    As far as I know, you need to have compatable root stock to the graft,ie usually from the same family.
    If your wild cherry was only planted out last year, then you may be able to transplant it.....in winter, to where you need it to be.

    And no. I havent got around to grafting anything yet.
    Can you let us know how you get on with your project, please?
     
  3. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    The best grafts are to members of the same genus, in your case that is Prunus. grafts to others may work but most likely will not.
    Bud grafts generally have better success than scion grafts but scion grafts done right have very close to the same success numbers.
    The trick is to match as closely as possible the cambium layers then bind well, not to tight and not to loose. Keep the root stock well watered and remove any suckers that come from below your graft.

    Best of luck to you, grafting is a good way to get more trees that do well in your environment and you can add disease resistance by grafting too.

    Redhawk
     
  4. songbird

    songbird Senior Member

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    it is a fun thing to do if you can be steady/careful with a
    sharp knife.

    good luck! :)
     
  5. antonius

    antonius Member

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    been practicing on some willow to get the hand in , and thinking of a wood block guide to get accurate cuts --i wonder if its a futile practice though , as most /all the reading material only hints at it working if at all , yet its prunus onto prunus and then i read of the blackthorn hybrid being the plums ancestor, and the possible grafting of plum onto cherry --gets my head all knotted up---but i suppose being that its down to mother nature --she makes the rules --and i have to play by them . I am nervous about the sharp blade and steady hand so i figure a couple of stiff drinks before i set out should calm the situation down , i mean what could go wrong --and i have speed dial for the air rescue chopper on my phone-- well maybe not. joking only -but i have seen a pic where the guy doing grafts has found a novel way of protection--he slips a metal washer over the scion --stops the blade into the thumb mistake, cheers tony
     
  6. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    I use a stainless steel glove, same as a butcher uses to protect the non knife hand. Works great both for a good grip on the trunk and for hand protection from the razor sharp grafting knife blade. Block guides do work but the best ones I've seen are for a specific diameter of trunk which would require a set of them unless you are growing your own root stock and can keep to one diameter for the root stock end.
     

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