One of the methods of propagation of fruit crops is grafting. It is carried out in order to obtain a tree with high characteristics. These include resistance to low temperatures and strong immunity. After grafting a walnut in the summer, you can get a crop that will be famous for its rich harvests. But this procedure is quite complicated and requires certain skills.
Vaccination dates
The most successful period for grafting a heat-loving crop is summer. In mid-July, preparations are being made for the procedure using two-year-old seedlings. They are used for budding of walnut buds.Depending on where the nut crop is propagated, the operation is planned from May to August.
The graft does not take root well if the procedure is left until the fall. Spring vaccination is also not always successful. At the end of winter, you can graft using cuttings as material. They are prepared in advance.
Budding methods
Each gardener vaccinates using his own proven methods. There are simple operation options and complex ones. The budding method is suitable for beginners and does not require any special skills.
In one case, the eye is removed along with the half-tube of the scion. Make 2 transverse cuts in the selected area with a special knife, without touching the wood of the cutting. Then the parts are connected by cutting longitudinally. The half-tube is removed along with the kidney. The kidney should be located in the middle between the cuts. The surface of the scion is made smooth by carefully cutting off the tubercles and smoothing out the roughness.
The summer method of budding takes place using an unformed vegetative bud. It is removed from those shoots whose bark is still grassy. At the beginning of summer, the nut scion is in the active growth stage. The grafting will be successful, since callus quickly forms and grows at the junction of the scion and rootstock.
After 2-3 weeks, the gap between the shield and the bark at the grafting site will be completely closed.
Preparing herbaceous scutes with an eye for grafting is easy, since they are easy to tear off at the bark level. In this case, the procedure period is shifted to May-June.
Grafting knife
An important condition for a successful grafting operation is the instrument used to cut out the kidney with the shield.
The knife can be purchased or ordered in special workshops. It has 2 blades.By placing them parallel and rigidly fastening them, they obtain an ideal grafting tool. The distance between the blades is 3 centimeters.
Making your own knives from surgical scalpels or high-quality sheet steel is also encouraged. The blades are mounted on wooden blocks 10 centimeters long and 1 centimeter wide. The main requirement for a tool is its sharpness.
An ordinary budding knife will be an assistant in the procedure.
Selecting and preparing the rootstock
The tree for the rootstock is selected from the following walnut varieties:
- age 3 years;
- the diameter of the stem is 1.5 centimeters;
- frost-resistant;
- with a strong immune system.
The main thing for the scion and rootstock should be similarity in their basic characteristics. You can graft a bud onto crop varieties that have high yields, such as Pyatiletka, Zarya Vostoka. Rock nut seedlings grown independently are used. They practice grafting walnuts onto Manchurian walnuts, which are more resistant to weather disasters.
It is necessary to clean part of the rootstock trunk before grafting. Make 2 cuts along the trunk at least 10-15 centimeters from the ground with a knife, but do not remove the half-tube so that the grafting site does not oxidize.
Interestingly, walnuts can be grafted onto other crops. For this, stone fruit plants are used - cherries, plums. Lilac is a suitable flowering shrub.
How to graft a walnut
Only when the bud with the shield is prepared, then a proportionate part should be cut out onto the rootstock. Experienced gardeners first prepare a half-ring cut on the trunk of the seedling, and only then on the walnut stalk. Then it is easier to connect the parts by shortening the extra strip of scion.Eyes taken from the middle part of the cutting take root better, a little worse - at the base or at the top.
Having connected the bud with the shield and the half ring on the rootstock, they tie it with PVC tape. Begin to apply twine from the cross section. Be sure to monitor the tightness of the tape on the wound. It is better to apply layers of spiral binding. The strapping is carried out from the bottom up and back. A lot of film is consumed, up to 50 centimeters, in order to tightly close the wound on the trunk.
If the operation was clean and quick, then the survival rate of the kidney will be high, and oxidative processes in the tissues will not have time to begin.
To prepare for budding, on the same day it is necessary to cut off part of the crown of the rootstock so that the tree directs its forces to the fusion of the cadmium of the seedling and the bud shield.
Features of winter vaccination
The winter grafting method differs from the summer one. It is carried out in a room where the rootstock is introduced 2 weeks before the procedure. The seedling and cuttings are prepared for the operation by cutting off the ends that are applied to each other diagonally. Do not forget about the tongue, which is left 1.5 centimeters in size. In this case, pay attention to the bud; it should be on the scion on the opposite side from the cut. The parts of the scion and rootstock are connected so that the cadmium layers of the reeds coincide. The grafting site is tied with twine or elastic tape and coated with garden pitch.
A curved cutting with slight thickenings cannot be used for the operation.
This home method is used to plant a grafted seedling in the garden in the spring. Until then, it will be kept in a dark and cool place.
You can grow walnut seedlings for winter procedures using seeds. After 3 years, the rootstock will be ready to graft the desired variety of nut crop.
Spring is suitable for grafting, but in this case cuttings are taken in the fall and kept in the basement. But grafting is rarely possible at this time of year due to the fact that sap flow in the nut crop begins early. And it is necessary to graft before the tree begins to come to life after winter.
