North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jwlehman@aol.com]

Regarding high or low grafting of Che, Chris Inhulson, Montezuma, GA wrote in the current issue of Southern Fruit Fellowship:

I have had the privilege of touring AJ Bullards fruit and flower planting on two occasions and both times I was impressed with his huge Che tree. On close inspection I saw that he had grafted the Che high on another member of the Moraceae family, the Osage orange, Maclura pomffera, also called Bois d'arc.
I was advised at the time that this Osage orange did not sucker and so would lend itself well to a rootstock for its cousin, the Che. Grafting high, three to five feet to be exact, was also important because of the prominent drooping habit of the resulting Che branches. Lastly I was advised that it was necessary to graft not only female, but also male varieties to reliably produce fruit.

Well, as stated, I was impressed ...yet not enough to do anything about grafting any trees of my own--the memories of the thorny suckers were simply too fresh...and besides, where was I going to find a graftable Osage orange?
I was advised at the time that this Osage orange did not sucker and so would lend itself well to a rootstock for its cousin, the Che. Grafting high, three to five feet to be exact, was also important because of the prominent drooping habit of the resulting Che branches. Lastly I was advised that it was necessary to graft not only female, but also male varieties to reliably produce fruit.

I was advised at the time that this Osage orange did not sucker and so would lend itself well to a rootstock for its cousin, the Che. Grafting high, three to five feet to be exact, was also important because of the prominent drooping habit of the resulting Che branches. Lastly I was advised that it was necessary to graft not only female, but also male varieties to reliably produce fruit.