Grafting Conifers

Grafting always keeps us very busy at Coenosium Gardens. We know that many of you are interested in how grafting is done so Bob has gathered the slides from a lecture he has given on grafting and placed some of them on this page.

If you want to learn more about grafting, we offer a two hour videotape or DVD, VHS format, that goes into detail. The video was made by Bob and features him doing everything from potting understock to cutting scion wood and completing the grafting with many closeup views of the process.

The tape or DVD sells for $30.00 plus $5.00 shipping. Send a check in the amount to Coenosium Gardens  4412 354th Street East   Eatonville  WA  98328 and specify if you want the tape or the DVD.

A grafter needs good tools as pictured here. A good grafting knife that is kept very sharp with sharpening stones and a leather strap are a must. A bypass pruner to avoid crushing the cambium of the scion is very superior to an anvil type of pruner. Budding strips are a type of rubber band for securing the scion to the understock.

Understock needs to be potted into a large enough container to allow the development of a good root system. The small rose pot on the right is inferior to the band pot and styrofoam cup to the left. The tree band does not allow roots to circle and is Bob's favorite pot for understock.

A block of potted understock is pleasing to the eye of a grafter.

Here is a scion ready for grafting.

A slice is made to remove a flap of bark from one side of the scion for a distance of about one inch.

Be careful not to slide your thumb along the edge of the knife when it touches your skin to avoid being cut.

Holding the knife edge at the top of the cut, roll the scion until the flat edge is against your finger and you are in position to make a second cut on the side opposite the first cut.

Cut in the same manner as before, except change to a sharp angle to cut off the bottom tip of the scion.

When the second cut is finished, the scion should look like this one.

Then cut into the base of the understock to create a flap of bark and wood the same length as the cut part of the scion. Make this cut as low as possible on the understock.

Insert the scion with the side that was cut first resting against the understock.

Holding the flap tightly against the scion, pinch the budding strip against the top of the cut.

Seal the graft by wrapping the budding strip around the understock/scion until it is completely covered. Bob prefers not to leave any gaps, but some grafters do. It is necessary to twist the band during this process to keep it flat.

Here is a finished graft. The trickiest part is tying off the band so it does not unravel.

Here is a conifer graft that is about three years old. It is easy to pick it out because the scion was from a corkbark pine.

Counter set November, 2004