Friend has a lemon that has gone back to rootstock. wants to know if new lemon can be grafted and what is the procedure.

ChrispenEvan said:

Friend has a lemon that has gone back to rootstock. wants to know if new lemon can be grafted and what is the procedure.

Sure can. Best to wait for spring now though. Citrus can be grafted in winter but it is a lot of work and a greater risk.

The surest method is by using a T bud in spring through the warmer months to as late as March if the weather holds.

Some prefer to slip the bud from the stick without and wood while there has also been success with micro buds.

It is vitally important that the budwood taken from the new lemon tree is in full robust health and preferable that the bark can be easily lifted on both the budwood and the rootstock before bothering to attempt the work.

roughbarked said:

ChrispenEvan said:

Friend has a lemon that has gone back to rootstock. wants to know if new lemon can be grafted and what is the procedure.

Sure can. Best to wait for spring now though. Citrus can be grafted in winter but it is a lot of work and a greater risk.

The surest method is by using a T bud in spring through the warmer months to as late as March if the weather holds.

Some prefer to slip the bud from the stick without and wood while there has also been success with micro buds.

It is vitally important that the budwood taken from the new lemon tree is in full robust health and preferable that the bark can be easily lifted on both the budwood and the rootstock before bothering to attempt the work.

ta roughie. have passed that info on.

I will point out that in the photo, there is no bud visible. This is due to the fact that in the instance of this photo I was infecting orchards with a dwarfing virus.
The virus came from a Valencia and mostly I was dwarfing navels and blood oranges but anyway the valencia was not wanted to be grafted on, only the virus that was part of it’s makeup.

I only used this photo because I didn’t have a photo of a T bud. I’ll have to remedy that. At least the photo does show the T bud cut.
You’ll notice in this photo that I’ve trimmed the piece of bark so that it fits.

You may notice that in the USA the T bud is performed in reverse or as we in downunder would call upside down. ⊥ https://www.treehelp.com/grafting-or-budding-citrus-trees/

I have a theory that this may well be more suited to where the plants are grafted in pots on a bench. There doesn’t seem to be any other reasoning, to me. It would also mean that you have to hold the bud stick upside down and cut the bud backwards. What it also means is that the rootstock is jalf ringbarked at the bottom of the grafted union which to my mind is half killing your new tree before it starts. Personal preference is to make the transverse cut at the top because you do want the rootstock to die, above the new bud. You don’t want it to die below.

please excuse typos. There is at least one in each post. in the first, and = any.
In the second, jalf = half.

You can also do it this way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b3EmyqkPE0

or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w051zyackM

Here’s an American doing a large inverted ⊥ bud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQgVFq-7kEs

I don’t leave the wood in unless it is a micro bud. I remove the bbud with its surrounding shield of bark similar to the patch bud shown in the first video.

I don’t condone the roughness of their work. I do appreciate how difficult it is to both graft and take a video. I’d also suggest that it is also difficult for anyone to get a camera in front of the grafter’s hands.

THew skill in learning how to pop the bark off the stick between youir fingers is well learned because there is no hacking at it with a kniofe involved, you simply make the cuts and grasp the bud between thumb and forefinger and squuze gently while pulling towards you. The bark should audibly pop away from the wood without any bruising. This is perfect budwood and a good test to see if the budwood will be good to use. If this is difficut to do, wont separate or tears and bruises, then toss the stick away and go look for better bud wood.

It is generally accepted that budding citrus in late summer early autumn than in spring because there is less work to be done in growing the trees on from the buds. Spring budding works more quickly and gives you a tree that year instead of waiting for next season to cut the rootstock back above the bud. It is trickier though to both slow and kill off the growth from all the rootstock shoots whilst at the same time expecting to grow the one shoot.

The Prime Facts: http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/136675/Reworking-citrus-trees.pdf