I did a bunch of fig grafts last year onto my mature(ish) trees. Most of the grafts are alive, or at least not obviously dead. A few are just starting to turn the buds green. But there are two that I am very excited about that are pushing very early.

First: Jason's Unknown Black Ischia. Got this one from dfoster25 (thanks!) and it is pushing great! The new growth is very red. I have another cutting that I am rooting and it has a little red tinge, but not this vibrant. This one is grafted to my Panache.

 

Second: Ronde de Bordeaux. This is a chuckle (mostly for me) because I grafted this RdB onto my VdB (yuk, yuk). I am surprised it took because it is such an ugly bud graft. But it is definitely pushing!

Congrats! Grafting is always fun (especially when successful).
There are quite a few posts here on this topic.
Good luck with the babies!

Thanks greenfig! Yeah, I have had lots of grafting success (and lots more failures). I have seen the posts on the fig grafting and most notably the Frankenfig, which seemed to be mostly built by chip budding.

Awesome job Starch! I would LOVE to try my hand at grafting this year too.. I feel all kinds of mad scientist thoughts coming on now lol! Can you recommend any good threads or videos that explain the "how to's" and what not? I'm also wondering when would be a good time to give grafting a try? Are we too early just yet? Anyways.. Just want to say you did a great job and have inspired me :)

I think you did a great job. I am still in the early novice stage of just trying to get cuttings to root, but grafting looks like it would be interesting and fun. One step at a time!!

It's always a joy reading about grafting figs. Thanks

Very cool stuff.

Thanks Mario!

Definitely Jamie!

You should definitely pick up:
- Grafting knife (I have Victorinox) that is beveled on one edge for clean straight cuts
- Either Parafilm or Buddy Tape to wrap the scion to prevent desiccation before the graft union heals
- Grafting Tape. I like the green florist tape. It is just a little bit stretchy and you can pull the graft union tight but the stretchiness prevents it from being too tight
- Some sort of label to mark the graft (I just use a sharpie to write on the Parafilm. Then after the graft takes I will use something more permanent to ID it)

Definitely practice with common varieties first (nothing rare) so that you get the hang of it. Your first grafts will be maybe a 50% take rate. But as you get good at making straight cuts on the rootstock and the scion, get good at matching calipers and lining up the cambium, etc. you will get 80%+ take rates. Just keep practicing to get the feel for it.

Have fun!

Starch, your graft looks great! This will b a new venture for me.

Thanks Smyfigs!

Grafting is one skill I have not tried.  Every year I say I try and I forget!  I applaud those who have mastered this craft!  One day I will make an attempt to start grafting.  Great job Starch!  Are your trees indoors for the winter?

Thanks Dennis! Nope trees are all outdoors. The low in my yard this was winter was 27 F.

Can you give some specifics on how you performed the cleft graft? This seems like a really good option for those of us that have relatively mature trees. Personally, I have a few Brown Turkeys that have a ~2" trunk I would like to cut down to about 3-4" above the soil line and cleft graft in some different varieties.

Hey Nate!

So cleft grafting is done when your rootstock (doesn't have to be a trunk, could be a branch) and scion are the same diameter. In this case you cut / decapitate the rootstock and then on the face of the cut end, take your grafting knife down the center (so that looking at the cut end you will have two semi-circles) about 1" or so. This is the 'cleft' that you will be grafting into. Then on the scion, take your pruners and cut off the bottom 1/8" so that you are working with only fresh wood. Then slice off two angled pieces (each one on opposite sides) so that the back of the scion tapers down to a point. This cut is also ~1" long. This 'wedge' on the scion inserts into the 'cleft' on the rootstock. And this is where it is important for the scions to be the same diameter. Because you are making cambium contact between the rootstock and scion on all of these cut surfaces (you will be making cambium contact along 4 lines). If for some reason you misjudged the diameters but already make the cuts, then push the scion to one side of the rootstock so that you have cambium contact along two lines. Then wrap the joint with grafting tape (I like the green florist tape, slightly stretchy) to compress the rootstock flaps against the scion.

NOTE: for best results make your cuts as straight / flat as possible. If your cuts are 'wavy', then there won't be good cambium contact and the graft won't heal).
NOTE: wrap your scion with parafilm / buddy tape before hand to prevent dessication while graft heals.
NOTE: NEVER touch the exposed cambium with your bare hands. Skin oils are phytotoxic and will prevent graft healing. So make your cut and hold the scion somewhere above the cut surface when you place onto roostock.

In cases where you don't have a diameter match (i.e. 2" dia rootstock and 1/4" dia scion), then you have to do a different approach. You could do a veneer graft. In this case you make a single cut on the scion (nice and flat and straight). Then you make a matching cut on the rootstock. You are trying to make it the same width as the cut on the scion. But here is the trick: The scion is a smaller diameter. So you make a deeper cut on the scion and you make a shallow cut on the rootstock to get the same width. Be mindful of this. If you do this right, then the exposed cambium on the rootsock and scion line up on both sides of the cut (contact along two lines). If it doesn't, then bias the scion onto the rootstock so that you have contact only along one line. Then wrap with grafting tape to hold scion in place on root stock.

Another option for diameter mismatch is chip budding. And for figs, I like this much better than a veneer graft (veneer graft works better for mangoes and avocados). Because with your scion, there are likely 3+ fig buds and this gives you 3 chances for a grafting take, instead of just one. So cut your buds off the scion, leave a bit of bark all around the bud. If you are good at this you can pick up the bud without touching the cambium and postion it (takes lots of practice). But if you are trying it for the first time, wear some sterile latex gloves in case you touch the exposed cambium. Then make a cut on the roostock to match the bud shape. Hold the bud to the rootstock and wrap. The other advantage to this approach is that you could select a height on the trunk where you want your buds to take. Then chip bud semi-equally along the circumference (i.e. spaced roughly 120 deg apart). This way, if they all take, you will have a tree with the cultivar you want (you could remove anything above the grafts after the grafts take) that is now topworked with three future desired-cultivar scaffold branch locations.

I will try to take some picture of other fig grafts on my trees so you can see some more examples.

Excellent detail! Thanks very much!

No problem Nate!

Here are some more fig graft pics as promised

CdDB onto an Ischia rootsock. You can see the buds are swelling but have not yet broken through

 

RdB onto Celeste

 

Figo Branca chip bud onto Panache (trunk painted white)

 

unk Carini chip bud onto Black Jack

 

Mare de Deu cleft graft onto Black Jack

 

Mary Lane chip bud onto Black Jack

 

Here's a suggestion I picked up while trimming scions at Prusch Park.  Once the graft takes, paint a big stripe all the way around the branch.  That way you'll know where the new variety starts.

Nice idea! I was just labeling them with tree tags after the graft takes. But a painted branch would make it very obvious. Thanks for the tip!

good stuff starch! I plan on doing the same very soon here. What month did you do the graft? 

I plan on grafting a lot of varieties onto one tree.

Thanks raimeiken! I did most of them last October, and then I did a few more last week.