I have had pretty good luck grafting fig cuttings this year. About a 80% success rate.
The grafts and cuttings were started on the same day. Approximately the first week of February.

My plan now is to push some growth on the grafted ones and air layer them. Just wanted put this out there to encourage others to try this method.

 The plants look very nice. Please give us some details on this success story.

What method have you used for grafting?

Was the rootstock  in the pot where it grew up last year or you grafted a bare root plant and had freshly transplanted it?

 Was the rootstock dormant?

 Where have you kept the pots after?

 And finally, what variety is the rootstock?

Very interesting.  I have the same questions here.  What information is out there concerning the best root stock for figs or is this a pretty new topic?  What are the benefits of using a different rootstock?

I'm very interested in your technique as well. I did some grafting this spring for the same reason (to air layer into individual plants later). I had also hoped to graft my UCD cuttings, but they still haven't arrived, and the trees I planned to graft onto have quite a bit of new foliage--does anyone know whether it's a problem to use a rootstock that has already leafed out?

Boris, TMC and Ken,

Rootstock - Celeste cuttings that I rooted in the spring of 2011. They were not given much attention and remained pretty small which worked out well for grafting. I placed them in the garage around mid November as they went dormant.
Once I ordered the cuttings from Jon I brought them inside the house and placed them near a south facing window. This was about a week before grafting. My thought was to bring it out of dormancy.

Graft - I used a wedge graft. Cut the scion at approximately 20 degrees. Cut a wedge on the root stock and push the scion in to where the cambium matches at least on one side. Then wrap tightly with parafilm.

Care - After grafting I placed them in a bin and create a tent out of plastic to keep the humidity in. I also place a lamp near by for light. It was placed near a south facing window. Every evening or so I would remove the cover and air-out the container. Sometimes I would spray some water. After about a few days the buds turn green and begin to swell. Progress seemed pretty slow.

After about a month and a half I brought them outside and gradually acclimated to sunlight. The nice thing with grafting is that you can fertilize the plant. I am trying to get some good growth while the weather is nice and not too hot. In a couple of months it will start to get very hot here in Texas and things will slow down considerably.  I am currently watering them with rain water followed by diluted MG. They seem to be responding nicely so far.

I did have a couple of failures. One graft seem to take off within a week but then I had to be out of town for a 4 days. I left the light off in my absence. When I got back that particular graft was failing. The rootstock had also started to produce another shoot from below the soil line. The combination of energy going to the new shoot plus lack of light and adequate air exchange probably did not help. Some of the other grafts also dropped a couple of leaves.

Ken, regarding grafting on to already leafed rootstock - I did graft a couple of scions I received after my Celeste leafed out. Progress seems slow. One failed, two are hanging in there. Part of the problem is that the branches I chose are shaded.
I went ahead and air layered these so that I can move then soon and get them a bit more light. My advise would be to go ahead and try. For grafting you need only a small piece of scion wood. I think it is good insurance for a 'rare' variety.

I hope I answered your questions. If not please ask.

I was planning on doing some grafting this year, but decided to wait until next year.  I have rooted cuttings of varieties that I want to graft and varieties that I want to use as rootstock.  My thought is it will allow for better comparison if the rootstock and the rooted cuttings are the same age.  I did, however, come across a few problems.

1. not all of the varieties that I wanted to graft onto the rootstock were available this year to compare to next year.
2. all of my trees had broken dormancy before cuttings arrived this year.  If the cuttings are late arriving next year, I may have to keep my rootstock dormant in the fridge.
   

I plan to use LSU Purple as my rootstock.  I also rooted some Celeste cuttings that I received from Frank that I will graft onto as well.  In my experience with LSU Purple (in containers) it seems to be the ideal rootstock.  It is a prolific rooter and does not sucker too much (if at all).  Also, if the graft fails, or the tree dies back, it's still a very good fig to have.  The varieties I plan to graft onto the rootstock are those that I have found to be hard to root and slow to grow.  It seems to me if the variety is one, it is the other as well.  Unfortunately, of the 5 varieties I had compiled on the list, I received only one (a single Black Madeira from UCD cutting) variety.  So I will have to use some of the other varieties that I have rooted this year.

~james

James,

I think I agree with you on the LSU purple. I just planted one in ground. I got it from EL in the spring of 2011. I potted it in a large pot last fall. By the time I took it out this evening I was able to pull the whole root ball intact. The roots of VDB and HC were no where as vigorous as LSU purple. I may have to air layer some of these just in case for next year!

Great info and pics Nana .

I have been considering grafting but did not feel confident enough to risk any of my plants . But after seeing your results I will be giving it a try .

Thanks ...... John

I think so far my success rate at propagating figs with grafting is greater than rooting cuttings. This is my second year rooting cuttings, first year for grafting.

What I like about grafting;
1. Need a smaller amount of scion wood
2. Water freely
3. Fertilize freely
4. Expose to full sun sooner
5. Faster growth partly due to above reasons.
6. No frustration with mold, checking for roots, rot, transfer ........baby sitting cuttings ....

Only thing is you have to be prepared ahead of time and have many root stock plants with different thicknesses to accommodate scions of different thicknesses.

Nana, I've only done a few, but I'm grafting onto branches of larger in-ground plants rather than using individual potted plants as rootsock. It seems to be working well so far, and when they're big enough I'll just air layer them--maybe leaving behind enough of a stub of the grafted variety that I can let it resprout and start over.

Ken, your grafts look awesome. Did you bark graft them?

One thing I noticed on mine was that the graft union does not seem as robust as say a pear graft union. Also spring winds have picked up here and I was afraid the scion portion may break off at the graft union. To prevent this I taped a stick as support with the lower portion of the stick taped to the root stock and the other end to the scion wood(used parafilm for this as well) You might want to consider something similar as your graft puts more growth/weight. I will post some pictures this weekend.

I'm not very knowledgeable about the various types of grafts, but the tutorial I followed (by Joe Real) referred to the method as "limb bark grafting."

Thanks for the info and congratulations on your success story. This is very useful to me. My mother-in-law has a tree with great figs, but I have had little luck rooting cuttings. I also happen to have come into posession of several trees of one (unknown) variety that seems to do very well in my neighborhood. It seems like I have some grafting to experiment with in the future. If I can air layer the smaller trunks on some of them and then use the rootstock it is a bonus.

Aaron,

Assuming your MIL can provide you a good number of cutting why not try several different methods to increase your odds of getting at least one plant?

Here are things that come to my mind;

1. Graft
2. Root in moss in a ziplock bag later transfer to cups .... then on to pots
3. Cut the leaves off and stick it in dirt and place in a shady place in the garden
4. Cut the leaves off and place in moss for about a week till the cut wound heals then stick in dirt
5. Cut the leaves off and place cuttings in barely damp paper towel in a ziplock bag and place in the fridge for a week or two( fool it into going dormant) Then try any of the methods above.

Nana,

Her tree provides a LOT of cuttings. It is about 15' tall and a very vigorous grower so it requires serious pruning in the fall so we can get it under the covers! This year I did try the "shotgun" method and I seem to be having success with a few. I hadn't attempted grafting or air layering so those are my next challenges. A couple of family members would really like pieces of this tree to grow in for themselves so I am looking for the most efficient way to supply them all and learn something new along the way.

I'm sure we've all seen those 4-in-1 apple trees around. Has anyone tried something similar with figs? I'm thinking getting a couple of varieties on the same rootstock could be a good space saving tecnique for city gardeners like myself.

Aaron, if you're looking for sizable plants, quickly, with guaranteed success, you might consider air layering.

Thanks Ken. I am planning to try air layering this year also and I have already selected a couple of victims. My brother-in-law tried it two years ago and had gotten some root growth, but I think he lopped it off a little early and it died. I'll try my best to be a little more patient than he was.

Aaron,

Ken had a very good point. Air layering is probably the easiest way to propagate figs. I assumed your MIL did not live near by so did not mention it. If you have access to the trees then I would forget about all other methods and just air layer a few branches. If you have not done it before a little reading may help.

Here are some things you will learn from reading or experience;
1. A wounded or wounded and healed area tends to root better.
2. Not to let the medium go dry
3. Keep the medium shaded if exposed to sun - use foil to shade and reflect heat
4. Provide shade and humidity(plastic tend with some ventilation) when you sever the air layer from the mother plant and plant in a pot. Gradually remove the tent and then gradually acclimate to sun.
5. Limit the number of leaves(You can remove). The small root system will not be able to support all the leaves. You may loose a lot of moisture from too many leaves.


I cannot recall a single fig air layer that failed for me. Also, in my experience air layers seem to root better in the spring time when plants are actively growing. Depending on your climate another advantage to start air layering early in the season is that it is easier to transition it to growing on its own roots when it is not too hot.

Thanks again. I have been reading a lot about the process in various places, but you seem to have nailed all of the vital points in a concise way that even my addled brain can remember. Luckily my MIL lives only a block from me. Some of the branches are well shaded and will make good candidates. I'm just waiting for the last chance of frost to pass (supposed to dip to 35 tonight) and I think I'll get to it.

All of this info sounds great, and something that I'll have to attempt. The questions I have are can you put cold hardy root stock grafted with something that's sensitive to the cold? Or would the graft die as soon as it freezes? Would a type that has problems surviving because of fmv, maybe more suited on a healthy root stock?



luke

I'm not an expert--hopefully others will chime in with information based on actual experience rather than just putting 2 and 2 together, but I believe a cold-sensitive variety grafted onto cold-hardy rootstock would be just as severely damaged by the cold as it would be if it were growing on its very own roots.

Here are a couple of pictures of the support sticks I attached to prevent breakage at the graft union. Spring time winds have picked up around here the last week or so. There is also a close up picture of the graft union.

I believe that if you grafted a cold sensitive scion unto a very vigorus very cold hardy tree the graft would freeze and die the first winter. IMHO

Some where I've read that the virus takes some time to infect new growth. Maybe if you bud grafted unto a vigorous non infected tree you might be able to get rid of FMV.

Here are a couple more that I grafted. These cuttings were received later and grafted later than the ones I posted earlier. Also I ran out of potted rootstock so I  grafted them onto an in-ground tree.

Initially when I grafted them the rootstock tree was just leafing out. After a couple of weeks the canopy totally shaded the grafts. I was concerned that the lack of light might affect the graft so decided to air-layer them at the same time. I started with 3 grafts but one failed.

Yesterday I removed them and potted up earlier than I had planned(the roots showed up pretty fast). Now I will keep my fingers crossed!

Aaron, I added a couple of picture on how I handle the air-layers.