Mulberry Grafting: a success story

[macmex]

I'm probably going to repeat what I've said somewhere else, but I'd like to succinctly record the success I had this year with mulberry grafting. It probably should take so long, but I've been at this for 7 or 8 years, dedicating a little time every year to either grafting and/or making cuttings. Many times I thought I had success and didn't. This year I hit upon some facets of grafting which appear to give success. They are:

1) Cut your scion wood in the dead of winter and store it, wrapped in damp paper, inside a plastic bag, in the refrigerator, until needed.
2) Graft onto a mulberry recipient which is already established.

I had been digging up my recipient and doing the graft on "a bench," then planting the whole thing after I had grafted. It seemed easier, but apparently the added shock of being transplanted worked against the graft's success. This is my theory. Plenty more experimentation could be done to confirm or modify it.

Here's a link to a post in which I had already mentioned lessons I learned on grafting mulberries.

So I cut my scion wood before it was beginning to bud and stored it in the fridge (crisper drawer) until I saw that my recipient tree was beginning to break buds. Then I used a hack saw (for the fine teeth) and cut the recipient tree off about 3" above the ground, using a knife and mallet to split the trunk and make a place to place my grafts.

Here's an image which shows the split trunk and placement of scion wood. I can't find my own photos right now, so I got this from the following blog. 



After doing this I used electrical tape to bind the graft together more tightly and then I also wrapped the whole shebang in plastic, using string to hold the plastic in place. My theory is that the plastic would help the graft not to dry out before it took. (My son reminded me this spring, that we had learned to do this while living in the sierra North of Puebla, in Mexico, years ago).

This is the grafted tree right after the graft took. Photo taken on May 13, 2023. Notice, only one of the two grafts took.



Here are closer photos of the graft. One photo captures the top and the other the bottom of the same graft.




The successful graft was one that I did in April, before I left to visit our new grandson in SC. I did another three in May, when I got back. By that time the mulberries were leafed out. Two out of the three done late flopped. One kind of took, the grafts managing to sprout feebly, but I damaged them when examining them. I tried to clear away the weeds and broke the graft, dooming it to failure. Lesson learned: graft when then buds are only barely starting to break.

Once the grafts start to grow, I feel I'm almost home free. They really grow quickly! This is a photo of the grafted tree on June 6, 2023. 


The graft grew like lightening! All summer I kept looking, and it was growing a whole lot! I began to be concerned because the recipient tree had sprouted right up against a chain link fence and I knew I'd have to dig it up this fall and move it or all my work would be wasted. I can't have a mulberry growing into my fence. I feared that I might break the graft when moving it, but found that wouldn't be a problem. The graft had really taken. 


Observations:
1) There's a huge contrast in size between the scion which took (and grew) and the one which never took.
2) The graft which grew came to attain almost the same diameter as the recipient root stock.
3) In spite of the great reception of this graft, notice that the original root stock still managed to sprout some scraggly branches of its own. I removed them when I transplanted the tree to its permanent location. 


 

[macmex]

Here are a few more photos of the process.

One October 6 I dug up the grafted tree and moved it to its permanent location. Here's a photo which shows just how tall it got before I moved it.


Here's a picture showing the wild sprouts, trying to get past the graft. Notice that their leaves are the immature split leaf form. I understand that a seedling tree will produce the split leaf style leaves for about 6 years. Grafted wood from a mature tree produces leaves of the mature type.



I was really careful, digging the tree up to move. Had to avoid getting into the chain link fence and wanted to get as many roots as possible. I then made a nice large hole for it where I want it to grow.



I planted it, placing a T post alongside and an extra large tomato cage around it. A risk that I face, planting it where I did, is that it's near the pasture gate where the goats sometimes managed to get into the yard. When they do, they will go for the mulberry tree's leaves, as they are delicious to a ruminant. Moving it when I did should give it more time to adjust before really cold weather hits. If it looses it's leaves (which I hope does not happen) before they would naturally drop, I figure it should still do alright. I'm counting on lightening fast growth next spring.

I intend to prune this tree to keep it fairly low, for fruit picking purposes. Still pondering when to prune. I don't want to put the tree at risk. I believe it needs time to adjust and get established before I do any pruning. 

[macmex]

Grafting has been an interest for me which has kind of been on the slow burner for years. I've dabbled with it, often without success. It's hard to believe my own father taught me when I was 13, yet apart from a few years when we lived in Central Mexico, most of my grafting attempts have flopped. Last year, I had a great success with one tree (see above).

I launched into 2024 with great hopes, cutting scion wood, when I pruned the mulberry tree, sometime around the end of January, during a warmer spell of weather. I cut the scions and wrapped them in damp paper towels and a plastic bag, stashing them in the crisper drawer of the fridge, to keep them fresh and from budding out.

February 24 I realized that many of my fruit trees were actually budding, which seems a bit early to me. Yesterday, February 26, my Santa Ana Plum tree actually burst into bloom! Anyway, I think it's time to start grafting. On the 24th I selected two young, seedling mulberry trees, from the back yard, and grafted onto them. One was much smaller than the other, I actually dug it up from it's spot and "bench grafted," working on the fender of one of our trailers. Then, because I had in mind that I'd present this one to a friend who was dropping by, I simply wrapped the whole thing up in damp paper towels and plastic. He took it home and planted it that very day. I did warn him to be very careful not to bump that graft. The slightest bump could move it out of alignment and ruin it. We'll see how it works.  Here's a photo of this smaller tree, grafted, before I wrapped everything up.

Once everything was in place, I tightly wrapped it in both electrical tape and string. This is to maintain pressure on the graft and keep the cambium layers of the two pieces aligned. It also helps to maintain moisture (the tape).

Next I did a double graft on a slightly larger sapling. By that, I mean I grafted two scions onto it. Last year's success was a double graft in which only one of the scions took. One was enough. If both of these take this may be too crowded. I don't know. We'll see.

Closeup. Only in the photo did I notice that the cambiums could have been better aligned on one side. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

I have one more sapling to do and am not sure what I'll do with it. I don't need another mulberry tree in my back yard. I'll find a home for it if it takes.

I experimented with air layering last year with little success. This is in part because I forgot a lot of details, since I first learned and in part because I followed a "Youtuber" who really didn't know what he was doing. He was about an inch ahead of me in his knowledge. This year I hope to do some better air layering. If air layering works (and it should) I would think it would be superior to grafting on saplings. I bet that's what nurseries do. Anyone out there know?