My first attempt at grafting

Today it was warm enough that the sap was running in the Walnut trees, so I tried it. I dug the scions I had cut last fall out of the spare refrigerator, selected the best (and best kept) specimens, and located the trees I wanted to graft to. On advice from Dizzy, I scrapped the idea of grafting to gum trees. Instead I only selected Black Walnut trees. The walnuts are thick here, and finding youthful healthy trees was a simple matter of walking around our clearing, near the edge of the woods. I did have to make a dipper, and rig up a double boiler. The dipper was simply a wire wrapped around an old shot shell hull. The boiler was a small coffee can hung by a coat hanger.





I used a grafting method where you split the branch of the tree you are grafting to, cut a wedge shape on the grafting scion, and insert the scion into the split. Then seal it up with cloth tape and paraffin wax.


The stored scions, as unwrapped from the newspaper;




Sorry for how blurry this is, but you can make out the green layer between the outer bark and the wood, indicating living tissue, and a viable scion.






One of my "victims"




Splitting the chosen branch, with a knife.





After inserting and taping...





and waxing





This one had a vine growing into it, and probably just should have been cut down, instead I cut just below the damage, cleared the vines away from it, and grafted two scions into the tall stump. This one I did not tape, but I did wax it heavily.






In all I grafted 9 scions to five trees. By mid summer I should know if I was successful.

Look forward to hearing how you made out.

I hope it is a successful first attempt.

Ok here are some early "returns"

The buds on the grafted scions are swelling...most anyway.

Sweet

Wonderful!

You never did tell us how or if it worked.

well, we may never know. There was one that did not take, and four that simply disappeared, Turkey or deer maybe squirrel or mouse after that strange leaf. I will likely try again next spring.

Interesting thread. Somehow I missed it until today and am not sure how I overlooked it. Were you trying to graft walnut into walnut? and what is the reason? Usually I have always thought of grafting as fruit trees like apple and peach.

Hickory to walnut, but I don't recall now why he was trying. They're in the same family.

actually American Chestnut to both Hickory and Walnut. There is a grand tree my grandfather planted 40 years ago. It is a rare strain that is immune to Chestnut Blight. The plan was to graft a few scions, and hopefully grow more chestnut trees of this strain.

I may have lost the first round, but I will try again.

I thought you were doing hickory. That was why I suggest the walnut since they're in the same family. Chestnut is in the beech family.

Grafting is a very interesting procedure and while I have never attempted it, I may sometime. I would love to see you be successful at it Keith.

Thanks Rohn