Grafting sweet cherries in the summer with young green branches: what you can do, timing and care

Very often summer residents complain that, no matter how much they buy cherry seedlings, the trees do not grow well, after flowering the ovary crumbles, the berries cannot be tasted, and the plums and cherries that are cultivated in the same area give a good harvest. Cherry grafting helps to improve resistance to frost, strengthen immunity to fungal and bacterial diseases. As a rootstock, not only this type of stone fruit crop is suitable, but also other plants from the Pink family.

Method advantages

Although the procedure, in which the petioles from one tree are spliced to another, seems complicated, it is accessible even for beginner gardeners and gardeners. The advantages of vaccination include the ability to:

1. Get big fruits.
2. Significantly increase yields.
3. Strengthen resistance to diseases and adverse environmental conditions.

2 trees take part in the process. A graft in the form of a bud or petiole is attached to the plant. It is usually cut from a fertile but old crop and connected to another tree - a rootstock.

Vaccination helps to improve the taste of berries, move the ripening time. The procedure is resorted to when, for unknown reasons, the cherry does not bear fruit for a long time, the variety is not suitable for the local climate.

On a grafted tree, fruits appear after two years, and on a new tree planted on the site of a sawn old one, not earlier than after 6 years.

Timing

The graft grows well if the procedure is performed when the juice starts to flow and the air is heated to at least 5 °C. Cuttings are cut from autumn, if the winter was not cold, the branches take root in March.

Spring

Cherry can be grafted throughout the growing season, the main requirement is the absence of even small frosts. At the end of April, and in the south at the beginning of March, cuttings are pulled out of the cellar and soaked in the Kornevin preparation. They are spliced with a stock, resorting to any of the methods in the form:

• copulation;
• split;
• to the corner cut;
• for the bark.

In the spring, for grafting, you can use not only cuttings harvested in the fall, but also cut on the same day, but it is not always possible to get a positive result at such a time.

Summer

They also resort to grafting trees in July and August, but in the southern regions, and often in the middle lane, it is hot during this period, experienced gardeners recommend starting the procedure in early June, when the weather is comfortable.

Autumn

If for some reason they did not have time to graft cherries in spring or summer, this can be done in September, in the south - in October. The graft will still have time to take root before the onset of cold weather.

Which fruit trees can be grafted with cherries

Only cuttings of related horticultural crops are spliced. A good rootstock for a peach is an apricot, for a pear - an apple tree. Cherries are grafted onto cherries when it is necessary to preserve the variety, increase the size of the berries, and give zest to the fruits.

In other cases, I use cherry plum, plum, apricot for rootstock. A closer relative of the sweet cherry is the cherry. The best varieties for grafting are:

• Vladimirskaya;
• Gizella;
• Pika;
• Magalebskaya;
• Griot of Rossoshansky.

Shoots of bird cherry hybrids grow long and poorly. It is difficult to plant a cherry on a plum, but some growers succeed.

Before you start grafting a fruit tree, you need to prepare a tool. Be sure to purchase a sharp knife, secateurs, you will need a small hand saw. The shoots are fixed to the plant with electrical tape and tape.

Options for the procedure

Having decided which stock will be used for grafting next season, in November, when all the leaves are flying from the trees, cuttings are harvested. To do this, cut annual shoots having a diameter of at least 50 mm with one growth and several lateral buds.

The branches prepared for grafting are taken to the cellar, where they are placed in soil made of sand, peat, sawdust. If there is no basement, the cuttings are wrapped in a wet cloth, then in polyethylene and stored in the refrigerator.

Cherry is grafted with young green branches from summer to autumn, sometimes such shoots are used in spring, but not always successfully.

Simple copulation

Even novice gardeners can master the method in which the rootstock has the same diameter as the grafted shoot. On the sweet cherry, a smooth branch is selected, wiped with a damp cloth. With a sharp knife, they make an even cut at an angle of 35 degrees on it.

The stalk is prepared from a fertile stone fruit variety with 2 or 4 strong buds, retreating 10 mm from the lowest one, perform the same operation as on the rootstock. At a distance of 2 cm above the third kidney, another cut is made, but even.

In order for the shoots to grow together correctly, only a sharp knife should be used during work, otherwise their cambium will not match. The stalk is carefully connected to the rootstock to make a straight and even branch.

A strip cut from polyethylene 1 cm wide is wrapped around the grafting site with an overlap, making sure that the cuttings do not move even 1 mm, otherwise they will not be able to grow together. The upper cut on the sweet cherry is covered with var. This is done in order to prevent the kidney of the cutting from dying.

Improved copulation

In order for the shoot to take root faster, the procedure must be performed very quickly, otherwise the tree on the cut will dry out. Gardeners who have been grafting stone fruits for a long time are resorting to improved copulation. They split the places of cuts in the center into a third and into a stock, and on a handle. The resulting tongues contribute to a tighter connection of both grafted parts.

Cork method

Gardeners cut off the upper part of the rootstock with secateurs, this is done if it is much thicker than the harvested cutting.At the beginning of the growing season, the wood from the bark is easily removed with a sharp knife, the knots are cut off with a saw. After that, longitudinal cuts about 4 cm long are made on the rootstock and covered with polyethylene.

The stalk is applied to the puncture on the trunk of the plant and wrapped with tape or tape. The slice on the sweet cherry is treated with a special var.

Many gardeners use this particular method of grafting, since several shoots are planted to one rootstock, at least one of them still takes root, the plant is less injured.

Split

At the beginning of spring, when the buds have not yet blossomed, the stone fruit cultures have not woken up from hibernation, they resort to more sophisticated technology to plant cherries:

1. On a tree used as a rootstock, branches are cut down, leaving only a few pieces at the bottom, the trunk is shortened to a height of up to 50 cm.
2. Splits are made in the stump with a small ax and a prepared graft is inserted into each, the bottom of which is pointed like a wedge, taped to the plant with a ribbon.
3. Slices, the thickness of which should not exceed 50 mm, are covered with garden pitch.

This method helps to renew old trees, preserving the cherry variety. Graft only thin branches. It is better to resort to the procedure in March, in early April.

Semi split

With this technology, the sweet cherry is almost not damaged, a small part on the side is affected. For grafting a cutting:

1. The ax blade is inserted into the stump 30 mm deep, without reaching the opposite end, it is split.
2. The bottom edge of the shoot is cut off so that it looks like a wedge.
3. Wrapped with polyethylene in 3 layers.

The graft is tied with twine. With this method, even garden pitch is not needed.

Bridge Grafting

It happens that in winter, hares in search of food get to the garden and gnaw on the bark. To close the wounds in the trunk and renew the sweet cherry, they resort to the bridge grafting technology. It is best to do this when the juice starts to flow.

The cuttings are inserted so that one end is above the damage and the other is above it. Shoots are located in several places and cuts are made on the bark. The graft is fixed to the tree with a film, wrapped in burlap. The edges of the connection are treated with garden pitch. With this technology, grafting on cuttings does not leave a single bud.

Into the corner cut

If the branches that are used for grafting have a diameter of no more than 20 mm, slightly stepping back from the edge of the hemp, a cut is made with a knife to a depth of 6 millimeters. Parallel to the first, a second cut is made in the opposite direction at the same inclination of 30°.The lower end of the handle is ground on both sides so that it fits easily but tightly into the stock.

Inside cut

This grafting technology is within the power of experienced gardeners, since any operation with a knife and pruner must be performed very accurately.

First, 20 cm from the base of the cutting, make an incision so that one side is 10 mm shorter than the other. The shoot is given the shape of a wedge, fixed with plastic wrap, inserted into the incision on the rootstock.

When grafting a cutting to an old plant with a thick bark, the indentations are made not at an angle, but straight, where the branch is fixed, grinding it diagonally to make a blade.

Cherry grafting technology

If stone fruits grow in a suburban area or in the yard and you want to increase the area planted with fruit trees, you need to consider that cherries do not reproduce from the stone, but by grafting.

For the escape to take root correctly and quickly:

1. For the rootstock, choose a he althy stone fruit crop that gives a stable harvest.
2. A large number of cuttings of different types and maturation periods are not grown on a tree.
3. For grafting, strong branches are taken, which are located closer to the trunk.
4. The strapping is removed after a bark forms at the junction of the shoot.

In the first year, flowers are plucked on the grafted sweet cherry and the ovary that has appeared is removed. If this is not done, the tree will grow and develop poorly. As a stock, experienced gardeners recommend using cherry and cherry plum, which are well adapted to the local climate. After 4 years, the accustomed cutting can be used again for work.

In the spring, any method is suitable for grafting, from simple copulation to the most sophisticated technology, you can take both pre-harvested shoots and green branches.

To change the variety of cherries, they start regrafting. Such a procedure is in demand when the planted plant turned out to be barren, small and tasteless berries ripen on it.

As a rootstock, cherries or sweet cherries up to 10 years old are used. The process is resorted to in the spring, when frosts are no longer expected. Re-grafting with a kidney or eye is done even at the end of summer and is quite effective.

Caring for the tree after the procedure

If the cherry grafting is done correctly, just a few weeks later, fresh shoots begin to appear from the buds of the petiole, which grow together with the rootstock. It is necessary to ensure that the young bark on the tree is not gnawed by hares. To do this, the trunk and lower branches are wrapped for the winter with a dense cloth or needles.

After vaccination, it is necessary to carry out preventive measures to prevent the invasion of aphids, the appearance of other insects that feed on leaf sap. Trees are sprayed with insecticides every 3 weeks, Biotlin and Tanrek preparations are successfully used.

Escape does not take root if the cherry lacks nutrition. Branches and knots that grow on a rootstock below the grafted shoot must be cut off. If the bark splits during the procedure, damaged areas and wounds are treated with garden pitch.

It is necessary to monitor the soil moisture in the near-stem circle. After watering, the soil should be at least 30 cm wet.

So that the graft does not break from the wind, does not bend by birds, 2 months after vaccination, it is necessary to put a splint on it. It is made from rowan branches and tied to a support and a tree.

In August, pinch the top of the scion. The following spring, young shoots are pruned to form a crown, and after 2 years they are shortened by half a meter, branches that grow inside the trunk are removed.

After grafting cherry:

1. Becomes resistant to adverse climate conditions.
2. Gives a high yield.
3. Pleases with bigger and tastier berries.

To obtain such a result, it is necessary to adhere to the timing of the procedure, do not forget about the characteristics of each plant.

To transplant cherries after grafting, they dig them out along with a clod of earth. A pit 70 cm deep and wide has been prepared since autumn, filled with peat, humus, and fertilizer. The roots are carefully laid, the neck of the plant is left 8 centimeters above the soil surface. The soil is compacted and watered abundantly, the branches are slightly shortened. Cherries are tied to a peg on both sides.

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