We had the joy of having Peter as our guest demostrator for the month of March. He give us so much information on basic grafting. He also commented that grafting is one technique in getting a tree up to show quality in a very short time (5-10 years).
Peter uses a technique of wrapping the scion in lab grade parafin wax strips. He explains that it helps in retain moisture in the scion and gives almost a 100% graft rate. (Masters skill vs student skill)
The picture above shows Peter cutting the scion into the two types. The long cut for the alignment to the graft tree cambium and the short cut which is the wedge toward the cut side of the graft tree.
Peter is cutting into the graft tree. He uses 3 cuts on the graft tree, he explains that the 3 cuts helps the scion contour better into the graft tree. Which in turn will have a better graft rate.
We laughed as Peter declares that we should not drive with one of these type of tree in an open seat on the freeway. How do you explain this one to the highway patrol?
We learned alot as a club from Peter. Thank you again Peter for being so generous in donating so many items to our club. We hope your teachings will help us all be better grafters! Hey we all got up to the end of this month to try grafting! Graft on!