North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[jhecksel@voyager.net]

> I attempted bridge grafting one of my trees this fall that was
> damaged by a deer, but I found it frustrating and none of
> my "bridges" took.  Frustrating as I found after I attached one end
> and then tried to attach the other that the first attachment would
> twist and move - obviously I was doing something wrong.

Not to brag, but I have been pretty lucky with bridge grafts.  Try
smaller diameter twigs to get away from the twisting problem.  I also
have vole damage this year.  I think it is because we had deep snow
cover for a long period of the year and the normal predators did not
thin them out.  I will try a couple of other things.  One of them will
be to split the twig length-wise to get it to lay flat against the
trunk of the damaged tree.  Long grafting strips can be cut from bike
inner tubes, negating the need for hammer-and-nails.

Another option worth considering is to plant a rootstock near the
damaged tree and to graft the top into the trunk.

I noticed that the trees that get partially girdled one year tend to
throw up more suckers in following years.  Probably due to growth
regulators not being able to translocate down from the top.  One of
God's ways of insuring survival of the tree.  Those suckers tend to
shield the trunk from bunnies.  I have a few trees where the trunk has
a strip of bark where the $%^&*8-( rabbit could not work its way
around the sucker.  If you are *really* lucky, the mice/bunnies/deer
will miss one of the suckers and you will have material in place for
future bridge grafts.

Good luck!





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