Most fruit trees in garden plots need grafting. This procedure allows you to get a rich harvest much earlier. The correct grafting of cherries is carried out in several stages, but even novice gardeners can cope with this.
Please put your likes and subscribe to the channel "About Fasenda". This will allow us to publish more interesting garden articles.
Types of rootstock and terms of vaccination
To get a healthy and fertile cherry, you should graft it on a young strong tree-stock with a trunk, the diameter of which should be 5-7 cm. It is desirable that his age does not exceed 2-3 years.
It is believed that cherries can be grafted into the following types of trees:
- To the cherry, since it is a closely related tree, and in most cases the grafting takes root quickly.
- To the plum - different stone fruit crops easily grow on it.
- To the thorn, which is commonly called the prickly plum.
- Bird cherry is an unpretentious and frost-resistant tree that does not need special care and grows well in almost all regions of Russia.
Vaccinations should be started with the onset of spring, when the juices begin to move in the wood. In this case, the fusion of the rootstock and scion occurs faster. If the moment is missed, you can carry out the procedure until about mid-summer. However, it is not worth planting fruit trees closer to autumn - their tissues will not have time to overgrow before the onset of frost.
Grafting stages
For grafting cherries, 2 methods are used: copulation (with a handle) and budding (with an eye). They can be made in the buttstock, behind the bark or in the side cut. But for those who do this procedure for the first time, experts recommend mastering a simple graft into cleavage.
Cuttings (grafts) for spring grafting should be harvested at the end of the season. They should be at least 10-15 cm long and have 2-3 large, intact buds. If cherries are grafted in summer, freshly cut young shoots can be used for scion.
For work, you need sharply sharpened tools - a small hacksaw, knife or hatchet. You can treat their blades with antiseptics to eliminate the risk of infection in the wood and under the bark.
It is important to follow the sequence of actions during vaccination:
- First of all, on the rootstock branch (its diameter should be about 5 cm), you need to make a smooth saw cut with a hacksaw and clean it with a knife blade.
- Using a small ax or a special knife, exactly in the center of the rootstock branch, you need to carefully split it to a depth of about 10 cm. It is important that the wood does not break or break off, otherwise all work will have to start over.
- If the tree is too dense and you cannot insert the stalk into the split, you can gently move the blade in different directions to widen the hole. Then you need to temporarily insert a screwdriver into the split so that it does not close.
- At the next stage, it is required to make 2 cuts on the sides on each handle so that a wedge is formed. It is important that the length of the cut matches the depth of the split in the stock. On scions that have been harvested in the fall, it is necessary to trim the dried lower parts.
- The stalk prepared in this way must be placed in the cleft. If the width of the rootstock is greater than the thickness of the scion, experts advise using 2-3 shoots.
- To fix the vaccination site, you should tightly wrap it with thick cellophane, cling film or tape.
- The place where the vaccination was carried out should be treated with a garden varnish to prevent the penetration of infection and ensure good adhesion.
- In order to avoid moisture loss and create favorable conditions for the scion to take root, a mini-greenhouse for the cuttings should be built. To do this, you can put a plastic bag on them and fix it at the bottom with twine or tape. To ensure better survival, the rootstock and scion should be left alone for a while.
- After about 2 weeks or so, the greenhouse can be removed and the vaccination site inspected. By this time, the scion should have taken root. The stalk can grow, the buds should open and young leaves should appear.
It is better to leave the adhesive tape or film holding the junction of the rootstock and scion together until they are completely fused. When this happens, they can be carefully removed, being careful not to damage the bark of the tree.
Original articleand many other materials, you can find on ourwebsite.
Please put your likes and subscribe to the channel "About Fasenda". This will allow us to publish more interesting garden articles.
Read more:The most dangerous plum pests and the fight against them