Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Grafting a Ginkgo biloba. 2.2.16

Dormant Ginkgo biloba seedling.  2.2.16

Ginkgo biloba whip/tongue applied.  2.2.16
 I have 3 Ginkgo biloba seedlings, each 3 years old, grown from local seeds.  I want a tree from my Dad's Illinois ginkgo tree, for sentimental reasons.  It's now a huge tree, no way to move it to Battleground.

I don't know much about grafting ginkgos.  This may not work.  If they don't take, I should still have trees from the stocks, since they have lots of buds.  I cut the branches, leaving one 1-inch long spur below the graft.  The other branches are flush with the stem.

Grafting was standard whip & tongue method.  Ginkgo stems turn out to be quite soft, pliable, and easily cut with a grafting knife.   Easier than the pears I did last weekend.  They are also rather delicate and easily damaged.

Two of the three are now grafted, wrapped and sealed.  I used ½ inch polyethylene tape for the internal wrapping, works well for a tight wrap.  I over-wrapped with ½ inch Parafilm tape.   I made the ½ inch parafilm tape by cutting one-inch tape with scissors.

This may be too early.  Weather is predicted this week up into the mid 60s.   Given the warm weather, I wanted to graft while still dormant.  The cambium is soft and green. 

Grafted Ginkgo biloba, wrapped.  2.2.16

2 comments:

  1. Interesting, I never thought to wrap the entire graft in film. I'm grafting apples today. How about budding plums? Do you bud them now or wait until its warmer? They are flowering as we speak. I've graft poorly in plum so I should just try rooting the cuttings instead since I saw you root your Hollywood plum. I got some Hollywood plum cuttings from the exchange. Can't wait!

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  2. Lance if the scions are blooming, I am concerned it's already too late. If the scions are dormant, they should take even if the understock is blooming.

    As I recall, I used some dip-and-grow to help the hollywood plum root. They are a myrobalan plum, which is a species used for rootstock. That might indicate they are easy to root. I did not have success rooting Shiro, which is a different species.

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