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Apricot cuttings are distinguished by good engraftment. You can graft them on a dry, warm, but not sunny day. Summer is considered a good time. In autumn, there is a high risk of death of the scion in the event of early frosts. Spring is considered the ideal time for grafting apricots. The tree begins the active phase of sap flow. The graft quickly grows together with the rootstock and has time to get stronger before the onset of cold weather.
Purpose and benefits of vaccination
A feature of stone fruit trees is a short lifespan. To keep their favorite variety, gardeners vaccinate. The process benefits the owners of small plots. Grafting allows you to have different varieties on the same tree, differing even in terms of ripening.
Most varieties of apricots are adapted to warm climates. Grafting on a winter-hardy stock allows you to increase the frost resistance of the variety. The gardener is given the opportunity to grow a crop in a cold region, while getting good fruits without changing the taste.
Vaccination time in spring
Not every spring rootstock takes root equally well. A good time is considered when the apricot has not yet started sap flow. This period should be about two weeks away. Grafted cuttings after the start of the movement of the juice take root worse, but most often dry out. It is impossible to determine the exact date. It all depends on the weather conditions of the region. On average, a good period for vaccination falls at the end of March – the beginning of April. Only an experienced gardener can accurately catch the moment.
Late inoculation is accompanied by abundant secretion of juice. When it comes into contact with oxygen, it oxidizes. The cut of the scion with the stock does not grow together and gradually dry out.
What to choose as a rootstock
The main rule for choosing a rootstock is group compatibility. Apricots are grafted only on stone fruit trees.. However, even such a relationship does not guarantee 100% engraftment in all cultures.
Rootstock selection rules
For stock choose seedlings up to ten years old. The younger the tree, the more plastic the wood. Tissues fuse better when connected. However, no one has yet been able to get a 100% engraftment result of stone fruit trees. To get a positive result, use several rootstocks, preferably different crops.
As a rootstock, it is better to choose wild varieties of apricots. A varietal tree will acquire winter hardiness, be resistant to drought, and give the owner less care. If the soil on the site has high acidity, then the apricot will not grow well. Here, for the stock, it is better to choose cherry plum or plum. The good compatibility of the apricot with these trees is evidenced by small growths at the junction of the branches.
The disadvantage of grafting on plum or cherry plum is the property of trees to let out a lot of overgrowth from the roots, taking away nutrients. For successful engraftment of cuttings, all emerging apricots are cut off.
On the video, grafting methods for plum:
Choose a wild turn for rootstock only experienced growers can do it. The process of grafting an apricot will be complex, lengthy, consisting of two stages. First, thorns are attached to the wild thorn. After its engraftment, an apricot stalk is grafted. The popularity of the complex process is due to obtaining a hardy tree.
Cherry also works well as a rootstock, but the tree is less popular due to its brittleness. The crown does not withstand a large mass of the crop and begins to break. The best result is obtained after grafting plums or cherry plums to cherries, and apricots are already attached to them. However, the process is very long and does not justify the efforts of the gardener.
How to plant an apricot on an apricot in spring
The compatibility of the cuttings with the rootstock is ideal. Despite the best qualities of other stone fruits, the wild apricot cultivar has a high survival rate. This is reflected in the future winter hardiness of the tree, the taste of fruits, and resistance to drought.
How to plant an apricot on a plum tree in spring
For the rootstock, it is desirable to choose a half-wild plum variety. In addition to better engraftment, the scion tolerates frost better. More than one variety must be grafted on a plum tree. Skeletal branches are chosen as a place, stepping back about 300 mm from the main trunk.
Apricot grafting on thorns
In order to avoid a complicated process with double grafting, it is better to choose thorns immediately with a rootstock. When using a wild turn, the first scion is made at the very root system. The method allows to reduce the amount of formation of young shoots.
Is cherry plum suitable as a rootstock
The popularity of apricot clothespins on cherry plums is justified by the improvement in the taste of orange fruits. In particular, the sweetness is enhanced. The engraftment of cuttings is no worse than to the plum.
Benefits of Grafting Apricot on Dwarf Rootstocks
Dwarf trees are called low trees. The advantage of such a rootstock is to transfer part of its genes to the scion. The advantages of grafting an apricot on a dwarf rootstock are as follows:
- heat-loving apricot tolerates early spring frosts more easily, is less affected by diseases;
- the first fruiting can occur after two years after vaccination;
- there is an enlargement of the fruit, an increase in the brightness of the color;
- it is easier to harvest from a stunted apricot, it is easier to cut branches, to spray from pests.
The best stock was Alab-1 and VVA-1. Good compatibility with Vavit, as well as Pumiselect.
Which trees are not suitable for grafting apricots
We can talk about complete incompatibility for pome and stone fruit crops. Apricot will not take root on an apple or pear tree. Even if the stalk initially shows signs of life, it will dry out over time.
Irga is a good winter-hardy rootstock, but is similarly suitable only for pome crops. The apricot graft will not take root.
Rowan with plum belong to the same subfamily. This is an excellent rootstock, but also not for apricot.
Cherry considered a compatible rootstock, but there are many negative points. In addition to the fragility of the future tree, the stock with the scion does not grow together well. Not all cherries are suitable for grafting, even if you first pinch a plum to it.
What can be grafted onto an apricot
When used as rootstock, apricots adhere to the same stone fruit compatibility. Usually another variety is grafted on apricots or plums.
Grafting a peach on an apricot
Apricot and peach have perfect compatibility. The best time for vaccination is early spring, around the middle of March. However, warm days should be established outside without the return of night frosts. In the last days of March – early April, the vaccine is wrapped with a film. In May, they additionally use shelter from a paper bag. In summer, peach can also be grafted. Do this in early June or mid-July.
Frost-resistant semi-wild varieties of apricots are considered a universal rootstock. The winter hardiness of peach increases, growth accelerates, early fruiting begins. The peach vegetation ends earlier from the apricot, which is why the young branches have time to ripen before the onset of frost. An excellent stock is the variety “Greensboro”, “Veteran”, “Juicy”.
Selection and harvesting of scion
Apricot cuttings are best harvested in the fall. In winter, young shoots may partially freeze out or simply become cold. The result will be bad from such a scion.
Harvesting, storage conditions and preparation of scion
Cuttings for grafting are cut from annual branches 5 mm thick. The length of the scion is made from 10 to 15 cm. It is important that the cutting contains a minimum of 5 – a maximum of 10 live buds. Cut branches are stored so that they do not enter the awakening phase until spring. The scion is stored in a refrigerator or cellar, where the air temperature does not exceed +2оC. To allow the temperature to drop below 0оC in the place of storage of cuttings is also impossible. The graft will die.
If you store apricot cuttings in high humidity, the bark will begin to rot and the buds will disappear. It is difficult to determine the beginning of the process in appearance. In the spring, before grafting, the stalk is examined for damage. The lower bud is cut from the scion, separated with a knife for inspection. Green color indicates vitality.
Gardeners practice soaking apricot cuttings in water the day before grafting. The scion will be saturated with moisture, wake up, and metabolism with the stock will begin faster.
Preparation of tools and material
The main tool for grafting is a sharp budding knife. It differs from the usual one in the even sharpening of the blade on only one side. This allows you to make perfectly even cuts of branches at an angle.
Branded tools are expensive. If vaccinations are not professionally practiced, a budding knife can be made from an ordinary penknife with a blade length of 5 cm. Sharpening is done on a fine-grained grinding wheel. The quality of the cut is tested on any thin branches of a tree.
Secateurs are used to harvest cuttings in the fall. The tool must be with sharp blades, otherwise it will crush the twigs.
Of the materials you will need a garden pitch. The place of vaccination is wrapped up. You can buy a special tape or just cut strips of plastic film. Among novice gardeners, electrical tape is popular, used by electricians to insulate wires. It can also be used, only with a sticky layer on the outside. If the tape sticks to the graft, then when unwound, it will tear off the young bark.
What are the methods of grafting apricot
Growers use six methods for grafting apricots. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is optimal to test all methods and choose for yourself one in which the cuttings take root best.
Copulation
A feature of copulation is the use of cuttings and stocks of the same diameter. The maximum thickness of the branches is allowed – 15 mm. The rootstock can be a tree no older than two years. A prerequisite is to perform the same cut on two branches:
- one length;
- at one angle;
- with a knife cut.
When folding the two parts, you should get a twig, as if it had not been cut.
Apricots are copulated in the last days of March or the first decade of April, if there are still frosts outside. The process consists of the following steps:
- inspect and wipe with a clean rag the area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe branch for vaccination;
- having applied an budding knife, they make a cut on themselves at a sharp smooth angle;
- a similar cut is made on an apricot stalk under the lower bud;
- two parts are interconnected so that the cuts fit tightly;
- the graft is tightly wrapped with tape.
The end of the copulation is cutting off the top of the cutting with a pruner and treating this place with a garden pitch.
The video shows the copulation of an apricot:
cleft grafting
If apricot cuttings are grafted onto an adult tree, the thickness of the branches will not match. Always take a larger diameter stock and a thinner scion. The time for vaccination is similarly chosen at the end of March – the first days of April.
The cleft grafting method involves the following steps:
- the lower part of the handle is cut with a budding knife on both sides to make a wedge;
- the tree selected for the stock is cut down so that the bark is not damaged on the remaining stump;
- a knife is placed in the center of the hemp and with a smooth, but strong pressure, they try to split the wood up to 10 cm deep;
- inside the resulting split, a stalk is inserted with a wedge, observing the coincidence of the bark;
- the splitting area is tightly pulled together with a tape, treated with garden pitch.
If the rootstock is very thick, then you can insert two cuttings of apricots. It is only necessary to combine the bark on both sides. Over time, if two cuttings of apricots take root, a weak graft is removed.
Kidney vaccination (budding)
The easiest way is suitable for beginners. The bottom line is that it is not a stalk that is grafted, but only a kidney. An important condition for engraftment is positive round-the-clock temperature. Apricot buds are grafted no earlier than mid-April. She should already begin to awaken, but not yet bloom.
The process consists of the following steps:
- on the rootstock, a site with a young smooth bark is selected, an incision is made in the shape of the letter “T”;
- from a fresh scion, a kidney with bark is cut with a knife, capturing a thin layer of wood;
- on the rootstock, the bark is carefully turned away, the kidney is inserted, the graft is wrapped with tape and treated with garden pitch.
Tape only needs to be wrapped around the cut points. The top of the bud should be peeking out, as a shoot will grow from it. During budding, the cut points should not be touched with fingers. Engraftment may deteriorate or infection may occur.
How to graft an apricot scion behind the bark
Apricot cuttings are grafted over the bark in the spring with the beginning of the juice movement. The method is used when the diameter of the rootstock is greater than the thickness of the scion. To perform vaccination, perform the following steps:
- Depending on the thickness of the rootstock, the required number of cuttings is prepared. Usually they take from 2 to 4 pieces. The lower part of the branches is cut with a wedge, but only on one side. It turns out a transverse wedge.
- The tree prepared for the stock is carefully cut down so as not to damage the bark. Burrs and protrusions are cut with a knife.
- The rootstock bark is cut to a depth of up to 5 cm. The sides are moved apart on the sides and an apricot stalk is inserted deep into the pocket. The wedge should be firmly pressed against the wood.
When all the cuttings are inserted in this way, the stump is tightly wrapped with tape, treated with garden pitch.
In a side cut
The method is used in the cultivation of wild varieties, as well as to increase the yield of an adult tree. A clothespin in a side cut is performed from mid-April.
The principle of the method is as follows:
- the lower part of the cutting apricots is cut under the wedge on both sides;
- on the bark of the rootstock, a lateral incision is made with a knife, slightly capturing the wood;
- the stalk is inserted into the pocket with a wedge, the cut is wrapped with tape, treated with garden pitch.
15 mm are cut from the top of the cutting with secateurs, and this place is also smeared with pitch.
The bridge method will help save damaged trees
In winter, hares love to gnaw on the bark of fruit trees. In the spring, the apricot may die if rescue measures are not taken in time. At the end of March – the first days of April, a bridge is installed at the site of damage:
- The top and bottom of the bark of the damaged area is leveled with a knife. Vertically against each other, cuts are made about 3 cm long. The distance between them is 2 cm.
- Apricot cuttings are cut with a wedge at both ends, inserted inside with a pocket, connecting the upper and lower parts of the tree bark.
- The finished bridge is wrapped with tape, treated with garden pitch. The bandage is not removed until autumn.
A bridge of cuttings will transfer nutrients from the roots to the tree.
Follow-up care for grafted cuttings
In order for a grafted apricot twig to take root, it needs to be given strength. Care is performed according to the following rules:
- shoots are removed from the roots of the tree, drawing juices for their growth;
- the stock is often watered, fertilized, do not allow the earth to dry out;
- foliage blooming on the handle is sprayed with drugs from pests and diseases.
Next spring, the grown cuttings begin to form with pruning.
Causes of possible failures when grafting apricot
Often the cause of poor engraftment of an apricot cutting is a dirty tool. It is unacceptable to get into the cut of infection, fatty oils, dust. The second mistake of an unsuccessful vaccination is performing the procedure on a rainy or just a wet day. The third reason is considered a violation of the rules for caring for a tree after grafting.
Conclusion
Grafting an apricot is more difficult than a pear. Cuttings take root more difficult. However, one must try, follow the rules, choose the appropriate method. At the first failure, do not give up. Mistakes should be analyzed so as not to repeat them for the next season.