I have given up on my "Wild One" fig tree ever fruiting.  I call the tree that name only because I took cuttings from a wild fig in a vacant lot.  It's been 4 years now.  I have a few cuttings I'm trying to root, and I really want those varieties to make it, so I'll sacrifice ONE bud of each variety and graft it onto Wild One, not to make a Frankenfig, but just to get a sprout I can airlayer and grow on it's own as a back-up to losing the cuttings.

Wild One is in partial shade and has grown out of her container.  She has both old wood and new wood.  The cuttings are all dormant, so OLD wood.  Do I graft the bud to OLD or NEW wood, or does it matter?

Wild One is in full growth mode.  Just no figs.

I appreciate all your wisdom here.  Thanks!

Suzi

Edited to state that I have a brand new grafting knife AND Budding tape.

Suzi,

With your new tooling and plenty of root stock/scions this is an ideal opportunity to practice your 'budding'
All combinations are possible..You will find people suggesting their best matches and these could well be far apart.

-You may, through spring and summer try 'chip budding'  with green buds on the wild 'one year' wood, or
-same method using scion buds from the fridge, or

Change your system from 'chip' to 'T budding' with similar scions/stock
Some prefer at this time of the season to select the inverted 'T' for better control of the eventual sap flooding. If you suspect this to occur feel free to gash the root stock an inch or so under the point of the budding

Another possibility (it works!) is to perform 'T budding' green-on-green, i.e.,
this season's buds on the Wild green wood.
(*)
Things to have in mind,
- Very sharp knife
- Flat cuts (chip budding)
- Cambium contact is a must
- Do budding early morning,  avoiding sun exposure

(*) you may try later in the season (Aug/Sept) -  patch budding which is quite efficient

Good luck

Francisco
Portugal

Thanks Francisco!  I'll check for you tube videos for the methods you mentioned so I do things right!  Knife better be sharp!  Brand new!

Suzi

Suzi,

These are good 'hands on' tutorials I keep for reference
language may be a problem but it helps just following the procedures.

Nice videos!  Now I need to put this to reality!  Thanks Francisco!

Suzi

See here.

The best time to T-bud is when the bark is slipping (it is loose). Chip budding can be done when the bark is not slipping because you are only matching up the cambium layer, just like any other technique. Graft old wood to mold wood. After the graft heals, you will need to bend over the original plant to make mthe grafted bud more dominant and likely to grow.

Thanks Jon.  I'm a little confused, but what else is new.  I looked at the link.  Question remains.  I have old wood cuttings with dormant buds.  Do I graft on old or new wood?  I understand the "how.", but not the when.

Suzi

I had great success with dormant chip grafts on old wood when the rootstock was growing with that spring gusto, but I never really tried onto new green growth.  If you are a rookie, and your scion wood is precious, I recommend trying a few grafts of the rootstock onto itself to get the hang of it, indcluding the wrapping with rubber bands/budding tape.  But it really is simple

 

brackishfigger, Gonna try!  TY

Suzi

Hi Desertdance,
It is normally old wood bud to old wood branch.
You can do it just the month before bud-break (March-April here ) OR in August.
Good luck !