North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lucky Pittman" <lpittman@murraystate.edu>]

Betsy,

I saw that Jerry Lehman weighed in  and mentioned ‘bleeding’ with regard to
nut tree understocks.   It can be a major issue. 

I’ve seen seasoned nut grafters advocate cutting off the rootstock and
waiting (sometimes several days) until they stop ‘bleeding’ , then grafting.


Have never tried that, but when doing bark grafts, I routinely do my own
modification of what I’ve seen described as the ‘Sap-stopper modification of
the Gray graft’. 

Essentially, instead of totally beheading the rootstock, you just cut about
¾ of the way through the stem and break the top over, leaving it attached to
the understock, to act as a ‘sap-drawer’ or ‘pressure-relief valve’, of
sorts.   Then you do your routine bark graft, and come back and snip off the
hanging top once the scion has callused in and begun growth. 

 

Lucky Pittman

Hopkinsville, KY