Easy Way to Graft a New Variety to a Fruit Tree

[@Fruitmentor]

There are a few items that you may be wondering about. (Thanks to Georgios Vidalakis for pointing these out.) 1.On the lapithiotiki graft I'm not quite sure why the scion with the shorter cut did better than the one with the longer cut. Maybe its smaller diameter gave it better cambium contact. 2. Even if you do everything right, if the scion and rootstock/branch are incompatible, the scion graft may fail or the bud union will be weak and the branch will not grow as well and it may eventually decline or die. That might be the reason that the Ponderosa Lemon Graft failed. There's a great book on rootstocks with information about incompatibility here: citrusvariety.ucr.edu/sites/default/files/2022-08/citrus-rootstocks-their-characters-and-reactions-bitters.pdf 3. Fruit size, flavor, quality, texture, etc. may differ depending upon rootstock and interstem and this will be discussed in a future video.

[@sal8349]

Finally a very honest demonstration and tutorial about grafting. You have captured both failures and success of your graft. I get very discouraged and disappointed when my grafts fail.from your tutorial I see that others have the same problems as I’m having and success rates are not always 100%. Keep up the good work and thank you for sharing your experience and techniques. It means alot.

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you so much for the comment! I really appreciate it. I thought it would be useful to show everything including the failures. I was a little worried that showing the same graft over and over would be too boring for KZbin and then no one would watch it, so I worked really hard and did my best to make it interesting. I’m working on some other videos where I’ll show failures. When I made my first batch of grafting videos I had some failures then too, but I was focused on getting the word out about the disease problem and showing techniques that I thought viewers would find t be helpful. I mentioned the fact that I have failures in my ebook, but only a small fraction of viewers have downloaded it.

[@agweder]

Thanks to your videos i was able to make My first successful grafts 7 years ago and since then i can't seem to stop grafting citrus trees olive trees and fig trees..😁 seeing you uploaded a video put a smile on my face

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I'm glad that the videos have been helpful!

[@TheRainHarvester]

Where do you grow these plants? I'm in central Texas...no luck air layering here so far.

[@agweder]

@@TheRainHarvester north Africa.. Mediterranean

[@2muchfun190]

This is the best grafting video I ever seen. Great details and showing what went wrong. Thank you so much

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed it!

[@DavidMcCoul]

Lemon trees have such beautiful white wood!

[@Fruitmentor]

I think so too!

[@0MrENigma0]

Welcome Back! You were missed. Oh, and... Thank You!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@Shaun.Stephens]

@@Fruitmentor I second that! I was wondering if this channel was dead. It's been so useful to me in the past as I'm sure it's useful to others.

[@claytonbrown7622]

Man, youtube algorithm is the worst. I'm constantly searching for fruit tree knowledge and only just found this channel. This guy is epic. Really good video editing work too

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I'm glad that you like the channel!

[@kendallwillis]

I am grafting navel orange budwood that I collected from our old backyard tree before we moved house, across town. This budwood has been kept outdoors in a shady spot, in moist potting soil for 1.5 years! and it remained green. I was shocked. I hoped that it would form roots, but that never happened. Now, I hope a bark graft will bring my favorite orange tree to our new house. Wonderful video, thank you.

[@angeladavis6931]

Thank you for the wonderful tutorial and the ebook. I've not grafted citrus yet but a friend gifted me a nice sour rootstock tree and I hope to sweeten it up!

[@nironesdenis8681]

the most professional video about grafting, thank you so much sir

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@jpsamy_inthezone]

Best video on this topic, it's not even a video at this point, its pure research ❤❤❤ This video helped me understand grafts better, thank you so much for sharing it, brother 🙏♥️

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback!

[@WebSurfingIsMyPastime]

t-bud grafted a page mandarin variety from the CCPP on a previously purchased gold nugget tree this past month. Checked today, one of the grafts had taken! I learned about t-bud grafting from this channel. Thanks fruit mentor!

[@Fruitmentor]

You're welcome! I'm glad that my videos helped!

[@user-bi7nq4nj7q]

ok, ok... I like this. obviously good content because he's not trying to game the algo, keep hitting "not interested" in the suggestions, you'll eventually start getting good content like this showing up

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed the video. I get so annoyed with KZbinrs gaming the algorithm. There are even channels dedicated to fake propagation techniques that don't even work. I've shot one video that I need to edit where I challenge one of those videos and I think I talked about hitting the "not interested" button. But so that my videos actually get watched I may experiment with "legit bait" as described in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWPbeY2GfZqGpMk

[@shaik.m.834]

Best videos on grafting on the internet. Thank you for the content

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@tohopes]

when life gives you lemons, graft mandarins. but then come back 4 years later and graft lemons.

[@mohmedelsayd6071]

😂

[@rokeyo-zd8ci]

😅

[@robinson101011]

This was an absolutely great video. The diagrams you used and the different video angles gave me new a new understanding and answered many questions. Great, great job. And welcome back, I've missed your videos.

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I'm glad that it was helpful!!

[@PeterEntwistle]

Another great citrus grafting video! Thanks, Dan! I’ve learned a lot from your channel and managed to successfully graft citrus here in the UK! 🙌

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I’m glad that it has been helpful!

[@cordeliamd]

Thanks for the video. Glad you are back.

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@jj-zz2jv]

Thank you very much for the recordings, sharing the experience and results!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed it!

[@nullobject7966]

Very knowledgeable, great explanations. I love how you document everything including your mistakes and what you learned. Fantastic content, cheers!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I appreciate the feedback!

[@thanatosgarvey3701]

I consider one graft success and fail in the same branch a 100% win for science. You showed the viewer how a small difference matters and to make sure to do their cuts properly.

[@1Yukian]

Thank you so much for spreading your knowledge! The world will benefit from these types of videos in the future more than anyone knows. I hope to someday practice everything I've learned from watching your videos, and other people's videos about grafting, plants, etc. We must keep planting and grafting! So glad to see you back by the way, been waiting on a new video, and you did amazing in this one :D

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed the video!

[@geriannroth449]

You're Fantastic at instructional videos & imparting priceless knowledge learnt over the tears😊

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@kennydieu2694]

Great tutorial video and very informative.Thanks for sharing.

[@subpilot1000]

Excellent, very clear presentation with results and analysis. One other experiment I'd recommend is using a plastic bag instead of foil on half of your grafts. I suspect you'll find growth erupting much sooner on the bagged grafts thanks to sunlight. It certainly works on mangoes.

[@ericrosales9722]

Great video. This further enforces my thinking that we can be a bit creative with grafting in terms of improving cambium compact. One of them, which I've been doing for a while even though I haven't seen any turorial do it until now, is adding a little cut at the back end of the scion to further add points of contact . THanks for this video!

[@Fruitmentor]

That's a great point! I was thinking as I was making the video that there might be some other interesting ways to cut the back of the scion to increase cambium contact. I have seen peach grafters do it slightly differently. I think that might be interesting to highlight in a future video. Have your experiments on this turned out well?

[@ericrosales9722]

@@Fruitmentor I haven't really compared having this back cut vs no back cut because I usually do this back cut when possible(the exception being an overly small scion), so I can't really say how much more effective it is vs no back cut really. So far tho, I can barely remember a failed bark graft. One other key concept you focused on that I think helped me tremendously is cambium contact--more specifically, the fact that scion and rootstock really dont need to "match" one or both sides perfectly. I think once I framed my mind to make "cambium intersections" instead, that's when my successes improved. I give it credit for making occassional "innovative" grafts that look almost impossible to take work out in the end.

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you for sharing that! I'm glad that what I said about cambium contact has been helpful. And it is great to hear that your bark grafts work so well!

[@ericrosales9722]

@@Fruitmentor much as I like bark grafts, I luv whip n tongue grafts even more coz it's my go-to graft especially when the rootstocks still dormant.....so if you created a video of that, I'm sure it'll help even more people out there. Thanks again!

[@abdulmuti1]

Clear and to the point, thank you so much for sharing your experience

[@Fruitmentor]

You’re welcome! Thank you for the comment!

[@sakkasper8870]

beautiful video presentation, very informative

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed it!

[@mleewoodruff4694]

Thank you for sharing this!💕

[@Fruitmentor]

You are so welcome!

[@BruceGoren]

Fine job Dan - really happy to see you return to KZbin. You've come such a long way since we first met on Google Plus many years ago. Very impressive, professional production quality and great info!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you, Bruce! I really appreciate the feedback that you gave me on some of the earlier videos! It helped me to make them much better than they would have been. I probably ought to make new videos on some of those previous topics now that I'm a little better.

[@tylerwerrin41]

Welcome back! Wonderful video, thank you!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@boashna]

NIce job -birds can sit on new graft as well .

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@alhaah777]

Thank you for detailed grafting tips.

[@Fruitmentor]

You're welcome!

[@JeanChordeiles]

Thank you so much for this detailed and clear explanation ! 👍

[@Fruitmentor]

Glad it was helpful!

[@exhaustus7437]

Enjoyed every minute of this. Thanks

[@Fruitmentor]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@lenhumbird]

Very informative and scientific. Thanks for sharing!

[@Fruitmentor]

You're welcome!

[@radanradani4053]

Wow,,,after 2 years new opload! Tanx

[@Fruitmentor]

You're welcome!

[@LifeIsBeautifulnz]

❤Thank you very much for sharing this vedio. I have learned a lot from you..

[@Fruitmentor]

You're welcome!

[@jnachkebia]

Thank you for the excellent and clear guide

[@Fruitmentor]

You’re welcome!

[@SypherSeven]

All praise and esteem to יהוה for giving us instructions that provide plentiful harvest and avoide plagues and diseases.

[@Shaun.Stephens]

Great video, thanks a lot Dan. When you grafted that Ponderosa lemon I wondered about compatibility between it and the mandarin you'd previously grafted to that tree as you left an interstock section. Best wishes.

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you, Shaun! I'm glad that you enjoyed the video. You have a very good point about graft compatibility. Since it stayed green for a long time without growing maybe it just wasn't compatible.

[@MikeDawson1]

excellent explanation and editing, well done

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@georgecoffey9387]

I love the editing in this!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@dhaval4570]

I have grafted 3 lime scions in 40+ C and 2 of them did survive, I simply placed a poly bag on top of scions to prevent them from drying :) maybe I got lucky (btw I leaned all the grafting techniques from you, so thanks a lot :)

[@Fruitmentor]

It is great to hear that! Thank you for sharing!

[@chiendo8460]

Love your video especially failure causes

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the failure cases!

[@bradlafferty]

Fantastic instruction! Thank you!

[@Fruitmentor]

You're very welcome!

[@housepraise9369]

Thank you for educating & information..❤😂🎉

[@Fruitmentor]

You're welcome!

[@fritagonia]

Wow amazing content and editing!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you so much!

[@rogerspaulding6569]

Nice presentation! Thanks

[@Fruitmentor]

You’re welcome!

[@jeromedarnell6270]

You're amazing. Thanks a ton for the work you do, particularly on the animations helping to identify the cambium layer. Any tips on grafting the "flat" style scions like from Prague Chimera, or grafting water sprouts (if that even works)?

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! For a flat type scion on a tree with big diameter branches like in this video, I would probably cut the scion somewhat parallel to the flat part and graft to a flat part of the branch. If there is a bud sticking out on the scion and the target branch is smaller, I might try chip budding.

[@francescocosentini9264]

Amazing video the best i have seen ,.Sir thank you. Blessings

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed the video!

[@sloopycat1954]

Hi everyone is grafting taking cuttings for example from a pear tree and placing them in a Apple tree so you change the tree to a pear tree. I was looking for a video for having more success with growing cuttings for a chilli 🌶 plant and stumbled on this video seems interesting thankyou.

[@Fruitmentor]

That is one application for grafting as shown in this video. It is more typical to graft fruits that are more similar to each other. Sometimes there are compatibility issues (maybe one reason for graft failure in this video) when more distantly related fruits are grafted. Fruit trees are usually propagated by grafting a desired fruit variety to a rootstock: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aafbgZ6Pp9Z4idk

[@GrowsGoneWild]

Epic video. I have an extra meyer lemon that I plan on multigrafting. Hoping to have success as good as yours!

[@Fruitmentor]

Good luck! The quality of the fruit you end up with depends largely upon the rootstock, so beware of grafting sweet fruits like oranges unless you know what the rootstock is. Lemon rootstock is usually vigorous and can result in poor quality oranges depending upon the rootstock.

[@GrowsGoneWild]

@@Fruitmentor interesting. Thanks for the heads up. Is there any site or chart that goes over compatibility of rootstock and variety?

[@Fruitmentor]

Here's a really good book about rootstocks that you might enjoy: citrusvariety.ucr.edu/sites/default/files/2022-08/citrus-rootstocks-their-characters-and-reactions-bitters.pdf

[@GrowsGoneWild]

@@Fruitmentor amazing. Thanks so much!

[@TRYXK]

Welcome Back!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@fincayabisi]

Awesome video! Thank for sharing!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I’m glad that you enjoyed it!

[@fvrrljr]

*"oh no too much cha cha cha"* so i thought enjoyed the video while eating dinner every time you mentioned "scion" was thinking that square car

[@Fruitmentor]

😀 I'm glad that you enjoyed the video!

[@nicosgeo]

Thank you for your ebook

[@Fruitmentor]

You're welcome!

[@teuiratamatoa835]

Good video and good informations, thank you for sharing

[@Fruitmentor]

Glad it was helpful!

[@postupmedia]

Very thorough, thank you!

[@Fruitmentor]

Glad it was helpful!

[@GainingDespair]

Welcome back

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@davidruiz5383]

Enjoy watching your video, its is informative and educational; question when wrapping the budwood, do you wrap the bud also. Thanks and God Bless.

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I used to leave the buds uncovered as you may have seen in some of the previous videos. Now I think it is best to cover the bud with a single layer of parafilm.

[@Ebees_Map]

Does this method work with other type of fruit trees such as mango...?

[@Fruitmentor]

Bark grafting like this works with many type of trees. I have not tried it in mango, but I think it would probably work.

[@alfredopampanga9356]

Emphasising watering of the newly grafted tree may improve results.

[@MakePeace123]

Your Awesome Thank You❤❤❤❤❤

[@Fruitmentor]

You're welcome! I'm glad that you enjoyed it!

[@alfredopampanga9356]

Wrap the scion in parafilm when you first obtain it. Store it already wrapped I suggest insulation material used in roof spaces as a final wrap on the completed grafts

[@Fruitmentor]

Thanks for sharing your tips!

[@na_haynes]

The editing is pretty great! Super interesting video, I wonder what these Frankenstein fruits taste like?

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I’m glad that you enjoyed the video. I’m working on my next video. I’ll show fruit from the Frankenstein tree and talk about it.

[@deeprootstexas]

Excellent video.

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you very much!

[@maxtrees4097]

Looks good! 💯 takes

[@stevevaughn2040]

Interesting. I moved to Merced and have a lemon tree that I may try grafting to

[@Fruitmentor]

Please keep in mind that the original rootstock of the tree affects the quality of the fruit. I made a video of what happened when I first grafted mandarins to this tree: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWKUfJ6Jr92spdU

[@caloyabella]

Awesome 👍 question, I did a side bark grafting in my 20 year old mango trees. And wrapped the scions from top to bottom with plastic cling wrap /duct tape. and sealed completely with plastic white bag after, was it overdone? Pls comment. Thanks for your help.

[@jamestnguyen2165]

What is the name of the vinyl tape you are using?

[@tysonbrown249]

Great video!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@JohnSlaughter-x5m]

Hey Paco, you need to graft at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock on the face of the stock (receiving limb/stock). It is after all it is a “tree” which means that it is acrotonic (upward growth habit, not a vine/ivy). The external upper arch (in between the 10-2 o’clock postions)of the exposed cut will be more auxin (growth stimulating hormone) rich and encourage better success overall, create a smoother continuous union AND provide less lateral pressure (gravitational influence) = future vegetative and fruit weight that can fracture the developing union if cantilevered. If only 1 scion is available place the scion at 12 o’clock. If the 12 o’clock site is not smooth/ receptive look to re-cut the receiving stock so that you can find an apical position. Better yet scout where the stock (higher or lower than a hasty decision) cut can be best accessed prior to cutting. Your technique in general is very good. Both with incisions and sealing. Cheers. Tree Dr 911

[@techiq7389]

So by spraying the tree, are you not preventing it from breathing?

[@foxx751]

О! Канал снова ожил! Надеюсь на много интересных видео.

[@Fruitmentor]

Спасибо! Будут еще видео!

[@saintmaxmedia2423]

so informative! Eva

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!!

[@FC2ESWS]

Awesome video! Does it matter how long the scion is or from where it was obtained? Like the tip vs closer to the trunk?

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! The length of the scion does matter. It should not be too long. If it is too long it is more likely to dry out. I usually cut off all but a few buds. I highly recommend a clean budwood program like the CCPP for any place where there is a risk of disease: fruitmentor.com/citrus-budwood-programs But for those who can still safely graft without severe disease risk, my understanding is that it is best to take the cutting from the flush of growth before the latest flush of growth.

[@mongthupham612]

Great video. Thank you. I have a lemon tree that appears to be a wild lemon tree, because I can see the dead original grafted trunk. The tree is a fairly good size tree and had few flowers but no fruit this summer. After watching your video, I was wondering if I could use your method an graft a few of my favorite citrus fruits to this tree without completely cut the whole tree down. Any suggestions and recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[@Fruitmentor]

You could graft it, but be sure to watch this prequel to this video that explains why I grafted it back to lemons after grafting it to mandarins: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWKUfJ6Jr92spdU If your rootstock is a lemon-type rootstock, keep in mind that it affects the quality of the fruit. You may want to graft lemons or some other sour fruits like I'm grafting in this video.

[@the_avempace]

I live in coastal Algeria, i think it's Zone 9 like in southern California, do you think i can graft citrus in May/ start of June or is too hot?

[@Fruitmentor]

I just looked at the yearly temperatures for Algiers. If your temperatures are like that I think you could graft successfully in May/June. My high temperatures were higher than 40C/100F when I did the grafting in this video and it looks like it would typically be cooler in Algiers in May and June. But be sure to take the precautions like I showed in the video. Good luck!

[@the_avempace]

@@Fruitmentor thanks for replying, I'll follow your videos and do my best to ensure graft success

[@Fruitmentor]

You're welcome! I do my best to respond to comments after I upload a video. Good luck with your grafting!

[@the_avempace]

​@@Fruitmentor Thank you so much , thanks to your videos i managed to graft 3 lemon trees i grew from seeds with 2 mandarines and one thompson orange , i grafted them three months ago and now they took off and started growing 👏🏻

[@FootballFanCulture]

Good video, man

[@Fruitmentor]

Glad you liked it!

[@alfredopampanga9356]

Who is the Australian grafter , if you don’t mind me asking

[@doannguyen6225]

The surface had been cut to be moist whatever it is covered then it will be rotten lately. Thanks for sharing video.

[@Piccyman1]

What is the yellow sealant?

[@Fruitmentor]

The product is called Doc Farwell's Grafting seal.

[@BruceGoren]

As Dan mentioned, the yellow Doc Farwell's ks no longer sold in anything other than very large containers, like a gallon. There is a green version of the product which you can purchase in quantities as small as one quart. Still more than a lifetime supply for hobbyist grafters but netter than going without.

[@vjeshitza]

Can i use beeswax to seal?

[@Fruitmentor]

I haven’t heard of anyone doing that, but it seems to me that it might work well. If you try it, please let me know how it goes.

[@amirahmed9223]

Which month you do that

[@Fruitmentor]

It depends on where you live. I wrote an article on timing that you may find helpful: fruitmentor.com/grafting-citrus-trees-best-time

[@N0bull]

2:21 Charles Malki of Ivy Organics probably punching the air right about now 😂

[@Fruitmentor]

I doubt that he watches my channel.

[@Xray.71]

Few questions if you don’t mind…… what’s the black sealant, is the yellow sealant later in the video just a different color paint? Do you know if this can be done with mulberry & fig trees right now in Southwest FL? Thanks!

[@Fruitmentor]

The black sealant is just a tree pruning sealer. The yellow sealant is a nice product, but it comes in large quantities for farmers -- too much for a home grafter. The product is called Doc Farwell's. I'm not sure about timing for mulberries and figs in Florida, but I'd guess it is too early. I hope that you've made it through the hurricane OK.

[@Xray.71]

@@Fruitmentor Yea all good. Some figs lost branches but wrapped them, and propagated them into cuttings….

[@marcfruchtman9473]

Cool tips!

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you!

[@PianoGlise]

Sir, should my scion have buds on it for successful grafting? Or can I just have nodes only in my scion( without bud )? I grafted using scion that has 5 nodes ( without buds ). Please, reply 🙏

[@Fruitmentor]

If your scion has a node, it should have a bud. Perhaps the bud is not obvious until it starts to grow.

[@TheRainHarvester]

Can grafting be done in central Texas. I tried air layering my peach with no luck for 3 years.

[@Fruitmentor]

Yes. Grafting would work fine in central Texas. Air layering isn't a normal way to propagate peach trees. If you'd like to propagate your peach tree, the best way would be to graft it. I understand that apricot makes a good rootstock for peach. If you can get your hands on apricot pits you might try growing them and then grafting peach to them. Otherwise you might try growing a peach bit and then grafting to the resulting plant.

[@Megabytepanda]

Awesome video! I'm about to graft onto a lemon tree because it seems the root stock overtook the original graft. It's very well established and gives bitter lemons, so I've got a big tree to work with. Do you know if I will shock the tree too much if I cut too much back? I also have two white guava trees with tasteless fruit. Do you know what I might be able to graft on to those?

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you! I would not worry about cutting the tree back too much. You can see that I cut mine back pretty severely in this video. If the tree is healthy, it will spring back quickly. And when a graft succeeds on a big tree, it will grow fast as long as the suckers are removed. I’m not sure about the guava trees. If you have a local fruit growers club where you live you might be able to meet someone who could tell you what variety to graft to your guava tree.

[@numerous_use]

Great video

[@Fruitmentor]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@Sonny818]

Can you use any tree bark to do this or does it have to be another fruit tree)

[@Fruitmentor]

I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking, but I’ll give it a try anyway. For a graft to succeed, the varieties being grafted must be closely related. For example, if you grafted a scion from a fruit tree to a distantly related species of tree (for example citrus to oak), then it would not work. But trees that are not fruit trees can be grafted. For example, I have heard that one type of oak tree can grafted to another, but it is difficult to get it to succeed.

[@vegadeth]

I was taught that aluminum is a conductor of heat. Would a paper bag be any better over some sticks that are attached to the tree with vinyl tape?

[@Fruitmentor]

Thank you for your comment! One other viewer made the same comment, so I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to revisit this in my next video. I'm thinking maybe I could do a little science experiment to compare the two. The aluminum foil is a little counterintuitive since it conducts heat and is used for cooking. But the science seems solid to me. In this case the foil is not touching the heat source, so thermal radiation from the sun is of more concern. Aluminum foil acts as a radiant barrier, reflecting the thermal radiation from the sun. Because of that, aluminum has long been used to insulate homes and NASA used it in the Apollo program to protect the astronauts and spacecraft from thermal radiation from the sun: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_barrier

[@vegadeth]

@@Fruitmentor I looked into this after I first commented. It turns out that you’re correct. Aluminum foil doesn’t conduct heat well. I might try making that shade with some chopsticks and foil to see how it works

[@ericrosales9722]

Generally, how many months does the union need to be secured? I recently started using cut up rubber strips that are breakung down after just a month so wondering if i need to double up or change material.

[@Fruitmentor]

I think a month is not long enough for a scion graft to be secured. A bird or other animal or even the wind could dislodge the scion. When I used the rubber bands I would wrap parafilm over them and that would make them last long enough.

[@ericrosales9722]

@@Fruitmentor i usually wrap with parafilm, then rubber, then parafilm again but recently tried using a thin rubber sheet i cut into strips. Apparently less durable than rubber bands as another graft i made with normal rubber is still fully instact up to now. Would you wrap another layer if it's beginning to disintegrate this early or would you be risking moving the joined portions and thus better off leaving it alone?

[@Fruitmentor]

I’d think you might be able to wrap some more parafilm without dislodging the grafts.

[@ericrosales9722]

@@Fruitmentor I wrapped em once more with another rubber strip a few days ago and so far, they're holding up but I will wrap parafilm over that I think just to make sure I get atleast another month of support. At the minimum, how many months do you think the union needs to be wrapped securely?

[@Fruitmentor]

I think it depends upon the graft and how well it is healing. So maybe you can judge it by how much the graft has grown. If it is slow to take and grow maybe it will need more time. Also there may be other factors such as wind. I have seen farmers tie stakes to add extra support to bark grafts of stone fruit, but I've never done that with citrus grafts and I can't remember one breaking off.

[@davidruiz5383]

Question: my current weather is 82-65 degrees during the day and 70-60 degrees during the night, and it the month of November. Weather for December if cold maybe in the 45 degree for 2 or 3 days.. Do you recommend me grafting. Thanks and God Bless.

[@Fruitmentor]

The December weather sounds pretty bad for graft healing. In a situation like that I'd normally wait until warmer weather in the spring. One time I grafted in the fall, but I grafted a large number expecting most to fail and I did get one to live. On my latest video I did a little experiment based on a couple of comments on this video questioning my use of aluminum foil. I found that a paper bag in sunlight raises the temperature, so maybe you could try that. Here's that video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWKUfJ6Jr92spdU The only reason I did the grafting in the fall was because I already had the budwood and it would have spoiled by spring. But if I were trying that again I'd try it wrapped with a paper bag. Good luck!

[@davidruiz5383]

Thanks, reviewed your video 3 times and enjoyed it. Question. How I do select a wood buds from other citrus trees I have to graft a citrus tree that will be cut to a trunk.

[@DisgustingJustinAD]

Can something like a crab apple trimming be grafted in to a cedar tree? Or does it have to be grafted in to another fruit tree?

[@DisgustingJustinAD]

There aren't many fruit trees left in my local area, but there's an abundance of cedar trees. I'm curious if I might be able to possibly graft my Grandma's transparent apple & crab apple trimmings to some cedar shrubs I can buy from a local farm.

[@Fruitmentor]

For a graft to succeed, the rootstock and scion must be somewhat closely related. Apple and pear are sometimes graft compatible, but apple and cedar are not likely to be.

[@DisgustingJustinAD]

@@Fruitmentor Thank you for the info :D That is much appreciated, I'll see if I can purchase a starter pear tree for grafting. Crab Apples are rare in my area, so it would be cool to preserve it for a good while longer.

[@Fruitmentor]

I think you’d do better to buy an Apple tree to graft the crabapple onto. I was just using Apple/pear as an example of different trees that are sometimes compatible. I think Apple and crabapple are more likely to be compatible than crabapple and pear.

[@limenzest]

Much better than parafilm, Doc Farewell Seal and Heal, the blue green one. Its the best for grafting, I stopped using parafilm all together. Now I use the vinyl tape, and blue doc farewells

[@Fruitmentor]

How do you use it? Are you grafting citrus with it, but without parafilm? Do you paint it on the scions?

[@KenJohnsonUSA]

Do you have any tips for fig trees? I have a turkey fig tree, bought a grafting gun, and grafting tape. The plan was to graft a new variety each year so that one tree has berry and honey figs of all varieties. After talking with fig growers, they tell me a fig will reject a scion if any of the base plant has limbs leafing out. That means I would have to graft all my desired scions at once...which is expensive being that I wanted about 10 varieties on the fig tree.

[@Fruitmentor]

If you want to graft one at a time, you may try cutting off the tips of all of the other branches when you graft your one fig. I wasn't aware of this issue with figs, but I wonder if cutting the tips off of the other branches might help.

[@realvipul]

if im stuck in the middle of desert i would wrap myself with paper bag. you obviously prefer aluminum foil. it will reflect you say but it also a very good conductor. inside you will get very very hot temperature enough to cook

[@Fruitmentor]

Yes. That can make it seem a bit counterintuitive. If the foil is touching a heat source it will conduct the heat. Since the foil is not touching the heat source in this case, thermal radiation from the sun is of more concern. Aluminum foil acts as a radiant barrier, reflecting the thermal radiation from the sun. Because of that, aluminum has long been used to insulate homes and NASA used it in the Apollo program to protect the astronauts and spacecraft from thermal radiation from the sun: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_barrier