I was watering my greenhouse plants and to my horror, I found my Calamonidins stripped of their bark! And they were flushing really good, with lots of flower buds, too.
Good thing I noticed it now, because, just minutes before, I was taking pictures of the conditions in there but did not notice it then. I was taking pictures of the White Champaca for the yellowing of its leaves for another thread here. While doing so, I noticed that some of the plants needed watering.
I wonder if what I'm thinking makes sense to you that are experts at grafting. For the moment, I'm ruling out buying rootstock to double graft onto these babies because I think that between UPS and the CaDA, the best that I'm looking at is a week before they get here, and the rootstock will have to establish roots themselves. But I will call Frank at Citrus Nursery on Monday morning to see what is the best shipping scenario I can work out with them.
Another thing I'm thinking of doing is to Bridge Bark Graft over the wounds. I have a large "Citromello" that has three 1-inch trunks that I can get scion barks from. What I do not know is what it would do to the Citromello, if I were to remove 1/4" x 4" strips at random places. And, even, if it's going to work. (I got the Citromello [Ponciros Trifoliata x Pummelo cross] from the Raintree Nursery 14 years ago, and it was at least 3 years old when I got it.)
Another is whether just adding soil and enough to cover the wounds would work to save them. Sort of, like a modified air layering.
I suspect that rats are the culprits on this. Twenty years ago, the same thing happened to two 4-ft tall Babaco Papayas. They ate about 4-inches of the trunk at the base. I didn't know then that these may be grown from cuttings, so I just promptly disposed of them.
I would really appreciate any feedback.
Chong