By Michael J. McGroarty
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What do the terms grafting and budding mean?
Budding is a form of grafting. Grafting is the art ofattaching a piece of one plant to another plant, creating a newplant. Grafting is usually done because the desired plant isextremely difficult if not impossible to propagate through othermeans. Dogwoods, for example, are easily grown from seed,however, it is next to impossible to grow a Pink Dogwood fromseed. The seeds from a Pink Dogwood will produce seedlings thatare likely to flower white.
The most common method for producing Pink Dogwood trees is toremove a single bud from a Pink Dogwood tree and slip it underthe bark of a White Dogwood seedling. This process is known asbudding, and the seedling is known as the rootstock. This isusually done during the late summer months when the bark of theWhite Dogwood seedling can be easily separated from the tree,and the seedling is about 1/4" in diameter.
A very small "T" shaped cut is made in the bark only, and thebud is slipped in the slot. The actual bud itself is allowed topoke out through the opening and then the wound is wrapped witha rubber band both above and below the bud. By the followingspring the bud will have grafted itself to the seedling, atwhich time the seedling is cut off just above the Pink Dogwoodbud, and the bud then grows into a Pink Dogwood tree.
Budding is usually done at ground level, and often times therootstock will send up shoots from below the bud union. Theseshoots, often called suckers, should be removed as soon as theyappear because they are from the rootstock and are not the samevariety as the rest of the plant. Flowering Crabapples are alsobudded and are notorious for producing suckers. When removingthese suckers don't just clip them off at ground level withpruning shears, they will just grow back. Pull back the soil ormulch and remove them from the tree completely at the pointwhere they emerge from the stem.
Most people clip them off a couple of inches from the ground,and then they grow back with multiple shoots. This drives mecrazy! Get down as low as you can and remove them completely andyou will keep them under control. On older trees that have beenimproperly pruned for years I take a digging spade and literallyattack these suckers hacking them away from the stem. Sure thisdoes a little damage to the stem of the tree, but when a plantis let go like that I figure it's a do or die situation. Thetrees always survive and thrive.
Other plants are grafted up high to create a weeping effect.One of the most popular trees that is grafted up high is the topgraft Weeping Cherry. In this case the seedling is allowed togrow to a height of 5', then the weeping variety is grafted onto the rootstock at a height of about 5'. This creates anumbrella type effect. In this case the graft union is 5' off theground, therefore anything that grows from the stem below thatgraft union must be removed.
Many people don't understand this and before they know it theyhave a branch 2" in diameter growing up through the weepingcanopy of their tree. Before you know it there are severalbranches growing upright through the canopy and the effect ofthe plant is completely ruined.
At my website, http://gardening-articles.com I've got a coupleof photos that show exactly what I'm talking about in thisarticle. You can clearly see the weeping effect that theWeeping Cherry tree is supposed to have, but then up through themiddle come these branches that are no more than just suckersfrom the stem, or the rootstock as it is known in the nurseryindustry.
Looking closely at the photos you can see that these suckersoriginate from below the graft union. This problem could havebeen prevented if someone had just picked off these buds whenthey first emerged on the stem of the tree. Then they wouldhave never developed into branches.
This tree can still be saved, but there will be a large scar onthe stem when the upright branches are pruned off. But underthe canopy of the weeping tree these scars will never show.
Another interesting plant that is grafted is the WeepingCotoneaster. In this case the seedling that is grown to serve asthe rootstock is Paul's Scarlet Hawthorn, and CotoneasterApiculata is grafted onto the Hawthorn rootstock at a height of5'. Years ago a nurseryman found through experimentation thatthese two plants are actually compatible, and a beautiful andunique plant was created. I have one of these in my landscapeand we love it.
Once again since the graft union is at 5', any growth comingfrom the stem (rootstock) must be removed. In this case thegrowth coming from the rootstock will be Hawthorn and will lookcompletely different from the Cotoneaster which is what theplant is supposed to be. The easiest way to keep up with thistype of pruning is to keep an eye on your grafted plants whenyou're in the yard. As soon as you see new growth coming frombelow the graft union, just pick it off with your fingernail.
If you catch these new buds when they first emerge, pruningthem off is as easy as that. Walk around your yard and look forgrafted or budded plants, and see if you can find any that havegrowth that doesn't seem to match the rest of the plant. Lookclosely and you may find that the growth is coming from below agraft or bud union.
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit hismost interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign upfor his excellent gardening newsletter. Article provided byhttp://gardening-articles.com
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