Orlando Bonsai » finished graft

Approach Graft

Paul Pikel — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:04:38 +0000

On the back side of this tree I pull a branch up and to the side to fill in an empty spot. The branch itself has done very well mu the un-natural movement of that branch has always bother me. To take care of this issue I decided to use an approach graft technique.

To start a carved a small notch in the trunk of the tree that the branch will fit into. It is about 1/8″ deep.

Finally the branch was slid into place and held with a push pin until the graft takes hold. The entire wound was sealed up with cut paste

This is the branch that I performed the graft on

After a quick root prune and a new pot (actually a very old pot) the tree has taken on an entirely new look. This little guy is ready to pop out so Spring must be on its way. Jan 2008

Share on Facebook

Re-wire little branches

Paul Pikel — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:39:06 +0000

I finally wired this tree out for the first time since it was grafted. What a mess it was. However I was able to sort it out pretty well. The efforts should pay off in a much better branch structure this year.

As I examined the top of this tree I realized that the graft on the top right side had been taken over by the tree and it was reverting back to its old foliage. No problem, I just need to do another thread graft later this year. I plan to take a shoot from the branch below and thread it through that mass at the top. This may actually work out better than the original plan. Jan 2008

Share on Facebook

We have seperation

Paul Pikel — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 21:29:47 +0000

Well the time had come to separate the trees. However not all the grafts did very well. The problem I encountered is the different rates of growth between the two trees. To illustrate take a look at these tow photos. Notice where the thread grafts exit the tree. Notice the build up of excess cambium. The crape myrtle was growing so fast that it started to form around the new branch. I don’t know if these grafts will take or not. Some look better than others. However in the spring we will know, and I’ll be sure to posts the results.

One good thing that I must point out is the increased thickness of the upper truck of the crape myrtle. It is amazing how much it increased in just a sort time. Dec 2004

Share on Facebook

Graft ready to cut

Paul Pikel — Sat, 21 Aug 2004 19:41:22 +0000

This image is about 4-5 months later. You can see that the thread graft took. The branch on the left is the source of the branch and is the same size as when the thread graft was started. On the right side is where the branch came out and is not grafted to the cambium on the right side. At this point I was able to clip off the branch on the left side and the branch continued to grow.

Share on Facebook

Growing out the grafts

Paul Pikel — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 21:23:58 +0000

April 2004 and the leaves have budded out. As you can see high up on the top branches are the normal Crape Myrtle leaves. Below are the much smaller grafted dwarf crape myrtle leaves. These trees are still joined as the grafts have not taken as of yet. Should not be long though.

Share on Facebook