Grafting technique for chestnuts and other nut trees is different from grafting fruit trees in several important ways. In this video, Michael explains how to successfully graft nut trees with more specialized requirements.
Great video. Looking at doing this for an Ornamental Chestnut, but I'm still unsure if i should graft or plant from seed...i think i will do both and see how they go!!
Interesting demo and info. Why don't you make a tongue in the cut - aka whip and tongue? Also, any particular advice on grafting a chinese variety onto a chinese nut seedling? One final question: Last year I grafted a c. sativa scion onto c. sativa seedling of around 3 inch diameter using the so-called Texas bark Inlay method. I noticed a lot of black fluid around the graft area. Then it died! What happened? Thanks.
The tongue isn't necessary and takes longer if you're grafting thousands of trees. Once healed, it's just as strong. Chinese chestnuts segregate into 4 different phenotypes, none of which are compatible with each other, so there is a higher rate of delayed graft incompatibility with Chinese. The best way around this would be to grow seedlings from the variety you want to graft, as a rootstock so they're as closely related as possible. Established chestnuts in the ground can have a lot of sap pressure in the spring, which can flood the graft union. The sap is slightly sweet and could have turned black from a mold growing on the sweet sap. Drilling a couple of holes in the trunk or making upward slashing cuts through the bark can act as sap release valves. On cutting off the top of the tree a week before you graft will tend to bleed out the sap, releasing pressure that could flood the graft union.
From this video I’m thinking grafting chestnuts onto a different nut tree must not work. Since you mentioned needing to graft onto a similar phenotype using a beech tree must never work. Is that accurate? If so, is there any possibility of spreading chestnuts through grafting? Since we apparently have no 😢 native chestnuts growing in east Texas, I’ll need new trees or nuts to sprout?
Do you have thoughts on grafting Chestnut scions onto Red Oak root stock? Any reason to avoid this? I live in the upper midwest and have a lot of established Red Oak and would like to introduce Chestnut.
I sincerely doubt that would be successful. There are incompatibility issues even within the different species and varieties of chestnut, which is why we use closely related seedlings as rootstocks.
Yes, oaks can be grafted onto other oaks, though success will be greatest if you stick with the same species for stock and scionwood. There may be some incompatibility issues if mixing different species.
They don't generally root from cuttings. Air layering can be done only on very new growth with girdling of the stem. We're starting to produce layered varieties using a similar technique to hazelnut layering in stool beds.
@@burntridgenursery591 I live in London, UK and my neighbour has a very good sweet chestnut tree. What's the best way to propagate that exact same tree?
Cut your dormant scionwood now, and seal in a tight closing plastic bag with a damp piece of paper inside. Refrigerate until the beginning of a warm period in spring - weather where you won't need a sweater or jacket.
That depends where you live. We start grafting chestnuts once the weather warms a bit. That's usually in April for greenhouses and May for outdoor field grafting and bench grafting.
No - in spite of the similar name, they are not closely related. Chestnuts must be grafted onto other chestnuts, and even so they are most compatible with seedlings of the same variety.
