how do you graph
 

How do you graph... say...a lemon tree branch onto an orange tree.

Re: how do you graph
 

Here's one approach to graphing citrus

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Hey thanks alot for the informative graph.

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:ha:
Banana Berserker,
Citrus.forumup.org or CitrusNorth.com are 2 very good sites to learn how to graft Citrus from. JoeReal here at the IBS grafts all the time, talk to him.

Re: how do you graph
 

This one should work very well with many types of fruit trees:
Citrus Growers Forum :: View topic - Citrus Bark Grafting Tutorial - the Real deal!
Citrus Growers Forum :: View topic - Limb Bark Grafting Pictorial Demo.


If the stock plant (destination) is young, you can use T-budding or Chip budding. You can google for chip budding, there are tons of information about it.

Re: how do you graph
 

That was a geat post Joe! I think I'll try my hand at grafting one of these days. Is there a preferred rootstock to graft onto? I have a Page Tangerine that was grafted to whatever kind of roostock they used. Maybe I'd better served to buy a larger citrus tree from a nursery center and use that?

Re: how do you graph
 

Haha, I got nailed with the same misspelling just a few posts below.

Re: how do you graph
 

The best rootstocks for a home grower in containers would be Flying Dragon rootstocks. Otherwise if you want inground, you can go to Walmart and buy the Citripots (4"x4"x16" square pots) that are under $11. They make excellent vigorous trees if you plant them right away. I suggest you use the Valencia orange or Washington Navel Citripots, they make good trees to graft to. Avoid the lemons and grapefruits as stocks unless you really wanted to for other reasons. The grafts of mandarins and sweet oranges unto them will take a long time to produce high quality fruits. If you use mandarin or kumquat type citrus trees as stock, expect very slow growth and low take of graft (difficult to get a take) if inground, and again, if you want dwarf trees, they would be okay. If you use clementine type as stocks, they will produce numerous branches and hard to balance. But these are general advices, you can actually use whatever suits your specific goals very well.

You can use the ones in the 5-gallon pots but these are more expensive.

Re: how do you graph
 

Mitchel, given that you are in southern CA: many of the wholesale fruit tree nurseries sell bundles of generic navel and also flying dragon seedlings, 100 for about $10-$20. Not that you need that many, but I'm sure they'd be happy to sell you a dozen for $10. There's one in Thousand Oaks and a few more in that general area.

Re: how do you graph
 

Joe, thank you for linking to those excellent tutorials! Grafting was always a mystery to me as I had never done it, now I feel like I know a lot more about it after reading those threads. Thanks!

Re: how do you graph
 

May have to try on an apple tree or 2.

Re: how do you graph
 

You're welcome Jarred!
Now, all there is to do is practice on some dispensable wood and do it on the real thing. If it fails, the next season, you will have several times more places to graft to. And so success is guaranteed if you keep trying.

Re: how do you graph
 

Richard, can you kindly share the address, contact info or website of those wholesale fruit tree nurseries?

I have used TreeSource, LLC in Exeter, CA. They sell Flying Dragon and other rootstocks for $0.85 to $1.00 each depending on qty ordered, but they are good size to start grafting to.

A cheaper source selling for just $0.10 to $0.20 would be excellent to tell the fellow CRFG members, as we can order in bulk and would have lots of plants to demo the live citrus grafting.

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These are places I've visited in person and so I don't know what your success will be with mail-order. Keep in mind these were seedlings and not ready-to-graft-onto rootstocks. It's been a couple of years, but I believe the nursery in Ventura county was Brokaw. For deals in San Diego county, check with CRFG V.P. Paul Fisher.

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Thanks. I will keep that in mind. I sometimes go down there to San Diego and have visited various popular nurseries.

I think that the TreeSource citrus nursery has good enough sized rootstocks for most of my needs. TreeSource also sells seeds of citrus rootstocks. And they sell grafted citrus liners at very low price.

Here's their website:
TreeSource Citrus Nursery

And here's the pricing of their citrus products:
TreeSource Citrus Nursery

But to everyone, although they have cheap source, be forewarned that they primarily cater to wholesale but would entertain retail orders from the excess in their inventory, and the shipping can take a long time because they batch it out with the commercial shipments that only occassionally visit their facilities.

So what I do, I order with enough lead time, then keep the plants potted. By the time I need to do grafting demo for various groups, they are conditioned and ready. Sometimes, 1 to 6 months lead time is needed.

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Yes, having a seed source is great!

There's a nursery here in San Diego with a Flying Dragon on display in a tub. Beautiful plant, although strangely deciduous. Anyway, when the fruits are ripe they fall to the ground ...

Joe, you might think about a reverse graph: put flying dragon on one of your citrus cultivars so you have your own seed source!

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You read my mind Richard. Already did that a couple of years ago. I am waiting to see if mine will bloom this year. It has been grafted to my 70-n-1 citrus tree which will soon be 80-n-1 citrus tree after the spring time.

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I am going to be in San Diego in about three weeks and would like to pick some root stock up. Where are some good places to pick up some? Are they ready to graft on right away?

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How many did you want, and what size?

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I was hoping for some that I can graft on pretty soon. Maybe 5 or so?