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- From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
- To: gardenwriters-on-gardening <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: RE: [gwl-g] grafted trees
- Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 09:24:28 -0600
At 09:37 PM 2/20/2005 -0500, you wrote:
I should add that my particular perspective at the moment centers on recommending/writing ordinances/suggestions for a community that is trying very hard to instill appreciation and cultivation of native trees, shrubs, forbs for wildlife corridors. This to me would mean seed stock, no grafting. I am familiar with the rationale for grafted fruit trees. However I have become aware of the practice of grafting oaks and maples, with a goal of speedier maturing and sale for landscaping purposes. I wonder how these oaks and maples fare in the long term. Do they still behave like oaks and maples, providing mast and viable seedlings? Are they in any way weaker? Is this just creativity for making money more quickly?Maryann,
About 5 years ago, I signed into the CRP(Conservation Reserve Program) a 100-ft riparian bufferstrip along the creek that forms the eastern border of my farm - it's a long, meandering strip, close to a mile long, about 7 acres total. This land had been in cultivation - corn and soybeans for years. This program was designed as a water-quality initiative for the targeted watershed my farm is located in. At the time, I was anticipating that at some point in time, the 'government' was going to mandate this practice, so I decided to be proactive - and get paid for doing so - as well as providing additional area to practice my horticultural hobbies.
In addition to maintaining a grassed buffer adjoining the creek, I've been planting a mix of oaks, northern pecan, hickories(shagbark & shellbark), walnut, and a few chestnuts. Most of these trees have been seedlings - many of which were grown from acorns collected from various white oak species(bur, swamp white, overcup, etc.) that had been selected for low-tannin acorns, or were seedlings of superior nut-producing northern pecan, hickory and black walnut.
But, I've also been planting some grafted selections of all these species, and intend to, over the next few years, as the seedlings reach sufficient size to survive/repel browsing & rubbing by deer, to graft a significant majority of the several hundred northern pecan seedlings over to named pecan and hickory cultivars.
I just finished, this weekend, transplanting some 2 & 3 yr-old grafts of about 30 different named hickory selections into the section of the bufferstrip closest to the farmstead. I've installed polyethylene tree shelters on all of these, as the deer love to browse the buds on young pecans & hickories.
Will these grafted specimens behave like their species? Yes, with the exception that nut size/quality will be a known entity, and I can realistically expect nut production to commence in about half the time I'd have to wait for a seedling to grow through its juvenile period, reach sexual maturity, and begin fruiting.
Strength/weakness? Well, for the first few years, there may be some degree of weakness at the graft union, but after they're established and growing well, they're no weaker than any transplanted seedling.
I'm rapidly running out of space in the orchard area near the house, so the next step is to start incorporating some of my grafted American persimmon selections, mayhaws, mulberries, and native crabs into the bufferstrip plantings - I will probably concentrate these near the wildlife foodplot areas, as I've done with the chestnuts and low-tannin oak selections.
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY
-
[gwl-g] grafted trees,
Maryann Whitman, 02/20/2005
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Re: [gwl-g] grafted trees,
Lon Rombough, 02/20/2005
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RE: [gwl-g] grafted trees,
Maryann Whitman, 02/20/2005
- RE: [gwl-g] grafted trees, Lucky Pittman, 02/21/2005
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RE: [gwl-g] grafted trees,
Maryann Whitman, 02/20/2005
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Re: [gwl-g] grafted trees,
Lon Rombough, 02/20/2005
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