Can you do grafts in summer?

[justBonsai]

Hi,

I have a foemina juniper with foliage that I need to chase back to the trunk. one particular branch is very long and leggy and has not been back budding as well as the other branches. I'd like to take a cutting from the same plant and attempt a graft. Would this be viable to do in the summer and if so what kind of graft should I do?

Thanks,
Julian

 

[edprocoat]

Sure you can do them any time of year, they may not take but you can do them .....

In the spring just before they start to wake up is the optimum time, then when the growth starts it will wake up the graft along with the plant and all will be well and happy in graft-land !

ed

 

[michaelj]

In our neck of the woods, grafting season for junipers ends by early March at the latest. Fred Miyahara did a talk about grafting last summer at one of my clubs, and he reminded us all that it was not a good time of year to graft junipers, and that his demo grafts probably would not take, and he was only doing it so we could see the entire process from start to finish. Theoretically, you could try an approach graft if you have something you can bring around, but I'd wait until probably early January before grafting a foemina in Southern California. Who knows, maybe by then, if you've been cutting back the growing tips, you'll see something sprout closer to the trunk and you won't need that graft.

 

[justBonsai]

In our neck of the woods, grafting season for junipers ends by early March at the latest. Fred Miyahara did a talk about grafting last summer at one of my clubs, and he reminded us all that it was not a good time of year to graft junipers, and that his demo grafts probably would not take, and he was only doing it so we could see the entire process from start to finish. Theoretically, you could try an approach graft if you have something you can bring around, but I'd wait until probably early January before grafting a foemina in Southern California. Who knows, maybe by then, if you've been cutting back the growing tips, you'll see something sprout closer to the trunk and you won't need that graft.

Hmm thanks for the tips. I will wait until next year for any grafting attempts. The tree I'm working on is this: http://bonsainut.com/index.php?thre...yling-a-foemina-first-post.19555/#post-267465
A cheap foemina purchased from a show. As you can see the branches are very long and leggy. I've successfully began the startings of foliage pads and reduced things significantly. The branch in the middle is problematic, but I can't afford to cut it off as it leaves imbalance. Hopefully I get some viable back budding. The tree is very healthy in any case though.

My ultimate end product I hope for this tree is something like this:
http://www.artofbonsai.org/galleries/images/junipers/ed_formal_juniper.jpg

Something with well developed dense pads and outstretched branches.

 

[michaelj]

I think you will be able to get those branches to bud back if you keep pruning some of the tips. But if not, yeah, I'd do that grafting in January or February.

 

[Smoke]

You won't get back budding unless you cut hard. It's too easy to just grow at the tips. Foemina sprout at the crotch very easily when pruned hard. You can have a whole new set of branches on a foemina in a couple years if you want. Don't be shy about cutting, it will grow back in 90 days. This is a good time to cut if for the fall push we get in California. It will grow like hell till end of August till mid Sept when it will slow down for fall.

 

[justBonsai]

You won't get back budding unless you cut hard. It's too easy to just grow at the tips. Foemina sprout at the crotch very easily when pruned hard. You can have a whole new set of branches on a foemina in a couple years if you want. Don't be shy about cutting, it will grow back in 90 days. This is a good time to cut if for the fall push we get in California. It will grow like hell till end of August till mid Sept when it will slow down for fall.

I'll keep that in mind. The issue is that the crotch is right at the tip for that middle branch. To get foliage where I want it I'd have to cut back to a straight stub. I'm concerned that something like that won't bud. I'll post an updated picture tomorrow. All the other pads are back budding nicely and I've began development of the primary branches.

 

[justBonsai]

Here is an updated picture with the intended front. The back side looks terrible mostly because of too many straight branches angled straight towards the viewer. That middle branch is the one I'm working on.

 

[bonhe]

Hi,

I have a foemina juniper with foliage that I need to chase back to the trunk. one particular branch is very long and leggy and has not been back budding as well as the other branches. I'd like to take a cutting from the same plant and attempt a graft. Would this be viable to do in the summer and if so what kind of graft should I do?

Thanks,
Julian

If you use the inarching graft, you can perform the grafting all year long here!
Bonhe

 

[drew33998]

I have heard when grafting, the best scenario is to graft the scion when it is active and the understock plant is dormant. I saw a video not sure where, but the Japanese artist puts the seedling or scion material in a greenhouse to get them moving early and keeps the understock outside during winter. Also stated that if both scion and understock are actively growing then the understock will just push the scion out from the sap bleed.