Grafting into a dormant bud of an apple tree. What is budding and how to do it correctly. Budding - grafting for propagation of fruit trees

Gardeners consider grafting with a bud or eye to be the simplest and most in an accessible way obtaining a new variety on the site or refining an already growing tree. The name of the grafting method, budding, comes from the Latin word oculus, which means “eye.”

Due to its comparative simplicity, the ability to graft a plant into summer time, high survival rate with the help of budding, most seedlings of apple trees, pears and other fruit and ornamental plants coming out of nurseries.

When and how to properly graft an apple tree using the budding method?

Budding is performed during the period of active movement of juices. This happens in the spring when leaves bloom en masse on plants. And the second suitable period is in the summer - the second half of July and August.

• For spring budding, a growing bud is used, which was formed in the past season and gives the first growth in the coming season.
• Budding of apple trees in summer is carried out by a dormant bud formed over the past months of the season. In this case, a new shoot should be expected only in next year when the graft starts to grow.

At the time of the procedure, it is important that the bark on the apple tree rootstock can be easily separated from the wood, and the grafting itself can be performed in two ways:

• Budding an apple tree with wood is the simplest and most quick way grafting, in which the bark will have to be separated only from the rootstock area.
• To budding without wood, you have to wait until the bark comes off easily on both the rootstock and the scion.

Practice shows that the best survival rate of buds on fruit trees is observed if budding was carried out 2–3 weeks before the average daily temperature drops to 15 °C.

The grafting will be less painful for the tree in cool, dry weather. If it is sunny outside, budding of apple trees in summer is carried out from dawn to 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m. until sunset. If the sky is covered with clouds and the plant is not in danger of being burned, vaccinations are done without restrictions during the daytime. In this case, those trees whose growing season ends earlier are grafted first.

To activate the movement of juices and create better conditions for future wintering, two weeks before budding, in any weather, rootstocks for an apple tree are good. And also in advance, or better yet in early spring 25 cm above the site of intended budding, the rootstock, be it wildwood or skeletal branches of an apple tree of another variety, is cut off.

Budding, as a rule, is done on the northern side of the rootstock, choosing a convenient area 5–6 cm above the root collar. If, due to the rainy climate, there is a risk of the scion becoming warm, the apple tree is grafted:

• at a height of 10 cm from the soil level on light soils;
• on dense clay soil, budding is carried out even higher - at a height of up to 15 cm.

On the root collar, budding of the apple tree is done closer to autumn, when it is no longer possible to separate the bark in other areas. A height of 10 cm from the ground surface is considered optimal.

When carrying out budding in this way, a thin fragment of wood is cut from the scion, thickening in the bud area. In this case, the vascular-fibrous bundle leading to the eye is cut, and the shield itself has a length of 15 to 25 mm and the same width throughout. Such grafting material should be held by the petiole of the leaf; if it is missing, it is worth cutting the shield 1 cm longer in order to hold on to the upper tip and cut it off after inserting the shield onto the rootstock.

On the rootstock they do:

• from bottom to top, a transverse incision at the site of future vaccination;
• semicircular longitudinal cut.

As a result, the eye inserted into the T-shaped cut should be tightly pressed to the wood of the apple tree rootstock, and the bud should be located closer to the bottom of the cut in the bark, which promotes better fusion. When the shield is inserted, it is crimped from bottom to top and the grafting site is tied, covering or leaving the scion bud exposed to the air, however, if the entire surface of the shield with the bud is under the tape and does not dry out, fusion is more effective.

Budding an apple tree in summer without wood

Although this summer budding of an apple tree is a little more complicated than the method described above, the absence of wood increases the chances of fusion of the tissues of the rootstock and scion. In this case, the cut begins a centimeter above the bud and ends no lower than 0.7 cm below it. To separate a section of the cortex with a bud and a vascular-fibrous bundle, press on the eye from the side, as if moving it from the handle.

If upon removal it turns out that the bundle is back side the cortex could not be preserved, the kidney was not suitable for budding, and the procedure will have to be repeated.

The technique of making a cut on the rootstock and then inserting an eye does not differ from the method described above. True, in the case of budding without wood, it turns out to be somewhat more difficult to secure the bud due to the curling of the drying bark. Therefore, skill is especially important here. In order to vaccinate an apple tree with a bud in the summer without complications, the video clearly explains all the subtleties of the process, how to work with a grafting knife and how to tie the place where the eye is inserted.

Budding an apple tree with two buds

Many gardeners know that grafting various fruit trees does not always give the desired result. How to properly graft an apple tree with poor survival rate and insure against frost or other causes of scion death? It is in such situations that it is useful to use budding with two buds, where the gardener deliberately creates a reserve and the opportunity to select the best of the resulting shoots in the spring.

If two buds are budded at the same time, the eyes are grafted onto the rootstock one above the other on opposite sides of the trunk or branch.

Summer grafting of an apple tree with a “butt” bud

Such budding of an apple tree in summer can be useful if:

• time is lost, and the bark of the rootstock for the apple tree no longer comes off;
• the rootstock is too thick or, conversely, thin for the grafting methods already discussed.

When making a cut on the rootstock, in this case, the grafting knife is placed at an angle and, by analogy with budding with a bud, a semicircular incision is made, but along with the bark, cutting through a small layer of wood. The bark from the rootstock area is cut off, making a second cut 25–30 mm higher from the first cut. The shield from the scion is cut to approximately the same size as the prepared area on the rootstock, after which it is inserted directly from the knife into the place allocated for it and the grafting site is wrapped.

Checking the survival rate of the kidneys after budding

Two weeks after budding the apple tree in the summer, you can determine how well the buds have taken root. To inspect the graft, the wrapping is loosened, trying not to disturb the eye, and then the wrapping is made again, which should remain in place until September.

The good health of the eye is indicated by a dried leaf petiole and the shiny surface of a slightly enlarged bud. If the procedure was unsuccessful, but the weather allows you to repeat the budding, the grafting is repeated in any suitable way, but above or below the dried cut or on the other side of the shoot.

Is it possible to graft an apple tree onto a pear tree?

The key to good fusion of scion and rootstock tissues for an apple tree is not only competent budding and the right timing, but also how well the plants are compatible. Related species are as close as possible, but is it possible to graft an apple tree onto a pear tree? Since both plants belong to the Rosaceae family, the gardener has a chance to see pears ripening on Antonovka or Bellefleur. But as practice shows, many of these experiments ended in failure. But budding a pear eye onto an apple tree, quince tree, as well as hawthorn and rowan takes place without serious problems.

Grafting apple trees in summer - video

Shapes of branches and shoots. It is important for every gardener to be able to distinguish fruiting wood from growth shoots, since otherwise, when pruning, you can easily remove the wrong branch and then wait in vain for the harvest.

A seedling purchased from a nursery consists of a trunk and several shoots.

The height of the trunk is already established when grafting in the nursery, so you can choose from high-, medium- and low-standard trees or.

After planting in the garden, the targeted formation of the young crown begins, and for almost all types of fruit crops, preference should be given to a pyramidal, rounded crown.

It most closely matches the natural shape of the crown, and it looks better than, for example, a U-shaped or goblet-shaped crown.

Skeleton of a rounded crown

The formation of a strong crown skeleton begins already in the first, post-planting pruning. It consists of a center, that is, a trunk and a central conductor, three or four skeletal branches and several lateral branches, which are evenly distributed on the skeletal branches. At correct pruning It is on these strong branches that fruit branches and short fruiting wood will form.

Types of buds: sharp, elongated, tightly adjacent leaf buds on annual shoots; flower buds are round in shape, protruding slightly on the two-year-old part of the shoot. The older flower buds form fruit bags.

Fruit wood of pome crops

Flower buds are found on often short fruiting wood. This applies to apple and pear trees, while in many stone fruit species leaf and flower buds can sit together on longer annual shoots. This can also be observed in some varieties of apple trees, such as Jonagold, James Grieve, Prince Albrecht of Prussia.

There are several types of shoots in pome fruit wood:

• Fruit twigs: weak shoots 10-30 cm long, which in pome fruit crops initially form only flowers and fruits. This must be taken into account, for example, when pruning curly fruit trees.
• Spear: a shortened shoot only 5-10 cm long, which basically ends in a flower bud. And even if the final bud turns out to be a leaf bud, it still turns into a flower bud over time.
• Ringlet: a short shoot, often less than 5 cm, grows slowly, and after the leaves fall, it leaves characteristic ring scars. In summer, at the top of the ringlet, in most cases, a rosette of 3-8 leaves is formed. Like a spear, with favorable conditions nutrition, already in the first year the apical bud turns into a flower bud. When thickening, the fruit wood of mature trees must be thinned out or rejuvenated! This activates growth and provides more high quality fruits
• Fruit bags: thickenings at the end of the fruit branch that bears fruit; It is in the places where the fruits are attached that traces remain, which is absolutely normal. Most often, new flower buds form again on the fruit bags.

Fruit wood from stone fruits

In stone fruits, flower buds can form already on annual shoots, but the apical bud is always a growth bud. In cherries, apricots and peaches, valuable fruit buds grow along with leaf buds on annual elongated shoots. In peach, true and false fruit shoots are also distinguished. True fruit shoots consist of three buds: two floral and one leafy in the middle. ripen on true fruit shoots. False fruit shoots, on the contrary, consist almost exclusively of flower buds, and such a shoot ends with a growth bud.

An ideally formed rounded crown (medium-standard apple tree) with three strong skeletal branches, on which lateral branches are evenly distributed. The entire skeleton of the branches is richly covered with fruit wood. Sunlight freely penetrates into the very center of the crown, which ensures high quality fruits.

Forms of shoots

On top is a growth shoot with leaf buds. Bottom: shoot with fruit buds on its two-year-old part.

Pear. Above is a biennial part of the shoot: on the left is a shortened shoot with a flower bud, to the right of it is a one-year growth shoot. Small photo: fruit bag. Below: a shoot with flower buds on ringlets and a fruit twig.

At the top is an annual elongated shoot with growth and leaf buds. Below it is a shoot with flower buds and shortened shoots.

Cherry and . The two upper shoots of the Morel shady cherry variety are covered with leaf and flower buds. In the front third, mainly flower buds grow, and behind them are those from which leaves and new shoots grow. At the same time, there are many bare spots, which often happens with the Morel shady variety, which is prone to the formation of long drooping twigs.
Bouquet branches are formed only on two- or three-year-old shoots. In subsequent years, the branches begin to become bare. Therefore, it is important to regularly rejuvenate older shoots.

Bouquet buds are the most important organs for the formation of flowers and fruits in plums and especially in cherries and apricots. They are similar to the ringlets of stone fruits, but together with them, three (or more) buds grow at the top in one bouquet. All round buds are flower buds, but in the center of such a bouquet, on the contrary, there is always one growth bud.

Growth shoots of pome and stone fruits

Growth shoots are called strong annual elongated shoots on which only growth and leaf buds grow. They are very important for the formation of the crown skeleton, that is, the central conductor, skeletal and lateral branches. Among pomaceous plants, only a few varieties can produce flowers on growth shoots. And in stone fruits, in addition to purely growth shoots with growth and leaf buds, annual elongated shoots with growth, leaf and flower buds also grow simultaneously.

1. Competing shoots must be removed both during post-planting pruning and during subsequent crown formation.
2. After this strong vertical shoot growing inside the crown is removed, sunlight easily penetrates into the center of the crown.

A competitor shoot is a “special” growth shoot that plays an important role in pruning. When the central conductor, skeletal and lateral branches above the bud, from which a new strong shoot should appear, are shortened, then often an equally strong vertical shoot develops from the next bud below it. Only, unlike the first one, it is undesirable, which is why it is called a competitor.

With each pruning, the competing shoot must be removed first, unless, of course, it has developed more strongly and is not better located than the actual continuation branch of the central conductor or the skeletal and lateral branches.

Left: cropped correctly. Middle: There is too much shoot left above the bud, this stump will begin to dry out. Right: the cut is too long and beveled, the axillary bud (eye) dries out.

Types of buds and eyes on trees

Exist different types buds that you must learn to distinguish before you start pruning:

• The growth buds have a conical shape. They mostly sit on annual shoots. With a favorable location and good nutrition, a strong growth shoot often grows from them.
• Flower or fruit buds, on the contrary, are round in shape and larger. Although in stone fruits they can only be reliably recognized in early spring. Flower buds are always formed the previous summer. In apple and pear trees, from flower buds, in addition to flowers, leaves also grow, while stone fruits, on the contrary, only have flowers.
• In their shape, leaf buds occupy a middle position between sharp growth buds and rounded flower buds. They mainly grow on fruiting wood, often in clusters of rosettes.
• Ocelluses, or axillary buds, are the buds in the initial stage of their development in the summer. They are found in the leaf axils of green shoots, that is, where only leaves grow (hence their name “axillary”). In the nursery, such buds are used for budding. This is a type of grafting in which in August the eye is grafted onto the selected rose rootstock or any other fruit crop. If the eyes in the axils of the leaves have developed well and acquired their final shape, then they are called buds. And although fruit tree pruning courses and other pruning manuals often alternate these concepts simply to avoid using the same word, here, strictly speaking, we are talking about buds on different stages their development.

Unopened eyes are called dormant buds. It is especially important to be able to find them when thinning and rejuvenating pruning of mature trees. Dormant buds are under thin layer wood, so they are not so easy to detect.

Such buds germinate only under severe external irritation, when, for example, strong branches are removed from the crown or carried out. Then, spiny (or fatty) shoots often develop from them. These are very strong, long, vertically growing young shoots with long internodes (the areas of the shoot between two adjacent nodes, the so-called leaf attachment points). Not all tops are useless: weaker top shoots can be converted into fruit branches.

This is how an old tree that has not been cared for before reacts to severe thinning at one time. Many strong growth shoots are formed on the upper parts of the branches. Now you need to remove all the strong, upright shoots and leave a few weaker ones that do not grow quite vertically.

Difference: branches, twigs, shoots

Moreover, all vertically growing shoots on the top of strong branches are also called tops. The same applies to strong annual shoots growing inside the crown. Although such vertical shoots in well-lit parts of the crown are scientifically correctly called “riders”.

The time of work for summer budding of an apple tree is related to the timing of the beginning and end of active sap flow in mid-summer. To carry out summer budding with a peephole behind the bark in a T-shaped incision, you need a good separation of the bark from the trunk. Therefore, when grafting into the crown of an adult tree that is more than 10 years old, there is a high probability that the bud will not begin to grow.

Before budding, prepare a film for cuttings, a budding knife, labels to indicate the grafted variety, and garden varnish.

For vaccination, it is better to choose a cool time of the day, in sunny weather - in the morning from 4-5 to 10 o'clock and in the afternoon - from 15 to 20 o'clock, in cloudy weather You can bud all day if it doesn't rain.

The order of work on grafting an apple tree with an eye behind the bark

Cut off a shoot from the most illuminated side of the apple tree. current year maximum thickness and length. You should not take shoots with greenish bark and long internodes, unless this is a varietal feature of the tree. The buds from such cuttings will produce strong shoots, but they will not reach fruiting time soon. Budding with an eye gives the best results when the thickness of the regrafted branches is 0.8-1.5 cm. On branches thicker than 1.5 cm, the bark is rough, so the grafted buds may float and not germinate. To be on the safe side, it is better to plant 2 eyes on each branch. Remove the leaf blades from the cut shoot, leaving the petioles.

Cut out the buds from the middle part of the cutting, since they take root worse from the upper, less mature part. Using a budding knife, make a cut at a distance of 1.5-2 cm above the bud and cut parallel to the axis of the cutting so that it does not affect the wood. The cut should pass under the bud and end 1.5 cm below the bud. For better fusion of the scion with the rootstock, it is necessary that the shield has a not very long lower part (0.8-1 cm) and the same or slightly longer upper part. Then the bud will be located closer to the bottom of the cut in the rootstock bark, and the graft will take root better. If the shield has a peephole Bottom part will be long, and the upper one will be short, the eye will be located at the upper transverse section of the rootstock bark, in conditions unfavorable for fusion.

Make a 4 cm long longitudinal cut in the rootstock bark to cut shallowly through the bark to the wood. Then a transverse section, which intersects the longitudinal one in its upper part. If the bark on the rootstock does not lag behind or lags behind poorly, it is better to postpone the grafting. You should have a straight T-shaped cut. This shape will make it easy to insert the shield with the bud and increase the tightness of its fit to the rootstock.

Use the bone of a budding knife to spread the edges of the T-shaped cut in the bark of the rootstock. The bark should easily separate from the trunk, exposing the damp wood.

Hold the cut out peephole by the leaf stalk and insert it into the pocket. Cut off the excess with a knife so that the cut is even and the bud is in maximum contact with the rootstock. Place the knife on the folded top edges and press on part of the eye. Then top part The bark of the graft will come into contact with the bark of the rootstock, and the eye itself will be pressed as close as possible to the wood.

Starting at the bottom of the cut bark, wrap the tape around the entire damaged part, even if the bark of the cut eye does not reach there. Apply the tape in a spiral, pulling it while tying, so that when it stretches, it springs and the tying is tight. Each turn should partially overlap the previous one. In this case, the tape must be slightly stretched so that the winding is tight. When you reach the bud, make a twist so that the bud remains outside. Then wrap it overlapping again until the top cut. Changing the direction of the winding, move from top to bottom, go around the kidney again and tie a knot at the bottom. The eye should not only be inserted behind the bark of the rootstock, but also pressed tightly against the wood and protected from external influences. Coat the parts not covered by the tape with garden varnish.

When the sprout appears, the winding can be removed and the branch cut off above the graft, leaving a small stump. It will become a support for supporting the young shoot until it gets stronger. Once the grafting site has completely fused with the bark of the rootstock, the stump can be removed. If after 2-3 weeks, when lightly pressed, the leaf petiole falls off, the grafting was successful. If it turns black and remains in place, the vaccination will have to be repeated.

Ask a question to Mikhail Chertok about growing apple trees .

It is based on the ability to protect its integrity, perhaps thanks to the cambium - an active substance that is located under the bark.

In this procedure, specially made cuts are placed on the scion (what we will graft on) and the rootstock (on which we will graft) so that the layers of the cambium are connected. Then they are pressed tightly against each other and given time to grow together.

Grafting fruit trees makes it possible to:

• preserve the value of the variety, which is lost during pollination;
• approximately halve the timing of the onset of fruiting;
• if you choose the right rootstock, you can grow a dwarf specimen, then they will ripen faster;
• you can grow varieties that are not adapted to your climatic conditions, but due to a rootstock with well-developed roots, the tree can become resistant to drought and not freeze in winter;
• It is easy to grow several varieties on one rootstock, that is, different fruits can be harvested from one;
• try it out new variety, and if it meets all the requirements, then allocate a place for planting a separate specimen;
• An excellent solution is to plant a pollinating variety;
• preserve the trunk that has been damaged by animals or sunburn;
• increase productivity and endurance;
• completely renovate the garden without large financial costs.

Did you know? The summer grafting method was invented and patented in Lithuania in the early 80s. The operation was carried out on a pear tree, and the result was a rootstock survival rate of 97%.

Preparation of cuttings and timing

The success of any summer procedure depends on the correctly selected scion and timing of the procedure. This is the period of maximum sap flow (second half of July - August), when the shoots grow and are not dormant.

Cuttings are taken from a healthy tree with good fruiting outside crowns with maximum sun exposure. Shoots should be annual with smooth bark and healthy foliage. Their length should be up to 40 cm, cut diameter - 6 cm. The main condition is that the scion must have two formed buds.

Vaccination methods

There are quite a lot of grafting methods, and in order to know how and when to graft fruit trees correctly, you need to take into account the age of the rootstock, the thickness of the branches, the timing of maximum sap flow, and also possess the necessary skills.

Each method has its own characteristics that need to be known and taken into account.

Important! Grafting is stressful for the tree, which becomes vulnerable to all kinds of bacteria. Therefore, you need to be sure that there are no plants nearby that are infected with any disease, otherwise the grafted tree may simply die.

Budding

Budding is a reliable method for propagating valuable varieties, in which it is possible to obtain greatest number seedlings, since one cutting produces several buds.

The presented method is popular and is used by many nurseries. It involves implanting a bud taken from a one-year-old branch of a healthy and varietal tree into the rootstock, which must have intact leaves and bark without damage.

The length of the cutting used should be 40 cm. There are two known methods of budding: so, if the bark comes off easily, then use a T-shaped cut, and if it’s bad, use a butt cut.

Types of budding:

By the bridge

To restore bark that has been damaged by the spring sun or eaten, it is necessary to summer vaccination bridge. It is suitable for both and other trees.

If the bark is partially damaged, then one bridge is used, but if it is damaged around the trunk or branch, then such a number of bridges (cuttings) are installed so that the distance between them is no more than 3 cm.

The cuttings grow together, connecting the separated areas of the bark, and provide nutrition to the damaged areas. The completed grafting leads to the expansion of the trunk, because both the lower and upper parts of the cutting go under the bark of the tree.
It is important that it springs a little after inserting into the slits, so its length should be a couple of centimeters larger than the desired size.

The vaccination itself is performed as follows:

1. We expand the edges of the wound to healthy tissue.
2. Bark cuts must be made below and above the damage site.
3. We make cuts at the ends of the workpieces, which should be in the same plane.
4. We insert the cuttings at one end into the cuts so that the cuts are directed towards the wood of the trunk.
5. We bend them in an arc and insert another cut under the bark.
6. We treat the grafting site well with garden varnish and wrap it with electrical tape or wide twine. To retain moisture and prevent the germination of “bridges,” we cover the top with plastic wrap.

Grafted bridges from cuttings generally quickly grow into the wood of a tree, saving it from death, since they become conductors nutrients and moisture.

Into the cleft

Figuring out how to properly vaccinate or any fruit tree in the summer into clefts, it should be said about the need to make cuts that will facilitate easier splitting of the rootstock branches into two parts. In this case, you need to know two rules:

• for a young tree, it is recommended to cut it at a distance of 40 cm from the trunk;
• for an old tree with thick branches, the cut can be made at a distance of 1 m from the trunk, but the thickness of the branch should be 5 cm.

If the branch is skeletal, it is possible and even necessary to make several cuts, leaving a distance between them so that the future branch has the correct shape.

On young tree you need to plant several cuttings on different branches, but there must be sufficient distance between them. The sequence of operations when performing the split procedure:

Important! To ensure good fixation of the cutting in the cleft, in its upper cut part it is necessary to cut out straight sections - hangers, which will be the clamps. With this grafting, it is necessary that the bark of the cutting and the hemp necessarily coincide.

In the end

Before the procedure is carried out, it is necessary to prepare the tree, which involves rejuvenation. Please note that the thickness of the cuttings should be no more than 10 cm.

Another important point: below the site of the future cut there should be a shoot that will provide nutrition. Grafting with cuttings into the open can be carried out in the summer, and 2 methods are used for this.

Angular method:

• Choose a branch 2 cm thick. The bark should be thin.
• Using a knife, we make two notches on the hemp, which should be parallel to each other and have a depth of at least 6 mm. In this case, place the knife at a distance of several centimeters from the edge, tilting it at an angle of 30°.
• We place the cutting in the cut so that it fits tightly and does not fall out. After this, we fill this place with the prepared garden varnish.
• The place of fastening must be rewound with electrical tape and protected from bacteria with plastic film.

• Using a knife at a distance of 20 cm from the base, we make oblique cuts, and one should be 1 cm longer than the other.
• We fix the cutting in the notch and fill it with garden varnish.
• We connect the grafting site with electrical tape or wide twine and cover it in the same way with polyethylene. You can use soft garden putty.

For further growth, one powerful, established shoot is left, which will later become a branch.