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Many gardeners grow apple trees in their plots. Often, for various reasons, you have to deal with their treatment. One option is vaccination. With the help of such an operation, two parts of the trunk are combined into one. Vaccination with a bridge on an apple tree is most often performed in the spring, while the plant has not yet woken up from wintering.
Indications for vaccination
The reasons for vaccinations can be different:
- Make an operation on one tree so that apples of different varieties grow on it, thereby saving space in the garden.
- Increase the frost resistance of the fruit tree.
- Do not let the damaged apple tree die.
- Growing low trees using a rootstock with weak growth.
In the article, we will focus on the preservation of damaged apple trees, and the rules for grafting them with a bridge.
Preparatory work
Tools
Any vaccination is a serious procedure, during which you need to use special tools and materials. In particular, when building a bridge between damaged parts of the barrel, use:
- grafting knife or secateurs;
- materials for tying the wound;
- garden pitch, putty or ordinary children’s plasticine.
Before work, cutting tools must be sharpened well so that sharp cuts are obtained and there is no jamming of the bark. A knife or pruner must be carefully processed to prevent pathogenic bacteria from entering the wound and onto the cuttings. Alcohol is best suited for these purposes.
About bridge grafting
Unlike other grafts, the bridge is not designed to produce new plant varieties. Its main task is to restore the vital activity of the fruit tree after damage. The bark of apple trees can be damaged by rodents, the scorching sun or severe frosts. An area appears on the tree that prevents the normal movement of the juice. He needs to be restored.
It is necessary to graft apple trees with a bridge when the trunk is damaged around the entire circumference.
Materials for vaccination
When carrying out vaccination with a bridge, you can use the following “surgical” materials:
- ordinary cuttings;
- living branches located below the damage;
- root growth;
- pieces of bark.
Options for using improvised materials are below in the picture.
To make it clear, let’s decipher the notation:
- a) – damaged area;
- b) – cleaned place of damage;
- c) – the use of cuttings;
- d) – a bridge from its own branch;
- e) – the use of root shoots;
- f) — bark in role patches.
Correct cuttings
Experienced gardeners harvest cuttings in the fall after leaf fall or in early spring, until sap flow begins. Repair material cut in April or May rarely takes root. Good cuttings should be the same as in the photo.
Repair material is stored in a cool place in wet sand or sawdust. It is necessary to ensure that the cuttings do not germinate ahead of time. Already during the preparation of the material, it is necessary to take into account the dimensions of the cuttings: they must be long in order not only to cover the damaged area, but also to go beyond it on each side of six centimeters.
You need to harvest cuttings of different lengths and thicknesses so that you can “darn” any damage. Before grafting, the buds must be broken off, as they can disrupt the function of the bridge for grafting the apple tree if they start growing.
In case of minor damage, in case of preservation of the cambium, grafting with a bridge is not carried out. The wound is treated with Bordeaux liquid and covered with garden pitch and the trunk is tightly wrapped with polyethylene. As a rule, in the fall, under the bandage, you can observe the restored bark.
When are apple trees grafted
Bridge grafting is suitable for many fruit trees. In this way, you can “repair” apple trees, pears, plums. Not every gardener is able to cope with the upcoming work, since the technology is quite complex and time-consuming.
Terms of operation
It is impossible to give an exact date for the repair of fruit trees, since the climatic conditions of the regions vary greatly. You need to focus on the melting of snow and the unhindered separation of the bark, as shown in the photo below.
Technology
If ring damage to the bark is detected, urgent measures must be taken to save the tree. To putty the damaged area, you can use garden pitch, putty, natural drying oil or oil paint. This procedure will prevent the apple tree from drying out and give it the opportunity to hold out until the juice begins to move.
Step by step guide
- When intensive sap flow begins, the injured area is cleaned of putty, wiped with a clean cloth soaked in water.
- The edges of the damage are trimmed, for which a sharp disinfected knife is used. Wood must not be damaged!
- Prepared cuttings are kept in the room so that they warm up. All kidneys are removed from them. Both ends of the scion are cut at an acute angle. The length of the oblique sections should be at least 3-4 centimeters.
- Incisions are made on the bark in the shape of the letter T above and below from damage. Carefully bend the edges and insert the cutting under the bark. Moreover, the procedure begins from the lower edge of the wound.
- The inserted stalk must be tightly wrapped, and then insert the other end into the upper notch. The location of the bridges for grafting is strictly vertical and necessarily arcuate. This position ensures normal sap flow.
Features of fixing cuttings
When grafting cuttings with a bridge, special rules must be observed:
- When applying oblique cuts, you need to press them tightly against the wood of the apple tree so that the coincidence of the cambium is maximum. The slightest gap causes rejection.
- The fixation of the ends of the cuttings during grafting with a bridge must be rigid. You can even nail them to the trunk with small carnations, and then tie them tightly.
- For tying, it is best to use twine, PVC or polyethylene film, and a bast with electrical tape. A medical patch, the basis of which is fabric, is also suitable.
- Places of grafting with a bridge are well coated with garden pitch, putty, plasticine so that dust does not get into them.
Vaccination Care
In summer, shoots may appear at the site of grafting of bridge cuttings. It must be removed. The crown of the apple tree is also cut off by a third in order to prevent the loss of moisture necessary for the engraftment of the bridge.
Often young apple trees have to be grafted. They are still weak, they can break in the place of the bridge. To prevent this from happening, two stakes are driven in next to the fruit tree and the apple tree is tied to them.
Apple trees grafted with a bridge must be fed with phosphorus and potassium fertilizers and loosen the soil in the crown zone.
To understand the features of grafting with a bridge on an apple tree, watch the video:
What is the result of vaccination
If the operation was successful, then it will become noticeable after two or three weeks. The rootstocks are thickening, which means that nutrients have begun to flow through the bridge. Shoots appear on the cuttings, which must be removed immediately. This is a signal that the strapping needs to be loosened, or replaced with a new one.
As a rule, cuttings on grafting with a bridge take root completely in a month. At this time, the garter is removed. If it is not removed, the apple tree will hurt.
No further action is required. The bridge will gradually thicken and become an excellent conductor of nutrients through the damaged area on the apple branch.
After a few years, the grafted bridge will become thick, as in the photo below.
It is not always possible to graft an apple tree of bridges even with experienced gardeners. You can repeat the operation next season. If it was not possible to restore sap flow with the help of cuttings, it may be possible to do this with the help of bark. The main thing is not to despair, but to find a way to save apple trees in the garden.