Like many of you I read with interest a previous post on the subject of grafting. There was also a photo of a fig grafted onto a brown turkey root stock. Is there any advantage to this? What I mean is can you graft a 'non localized' fig onto a rootstock of a variety that is established in an area and have better success with the plant? Here in north Texas Brown Turkey trees are very common, but I would like to grow one or two black figs. Any point in grafting the more 'exotic' variety onto the brown turkey? Thanks to all.

One advantage of grafting the more exotic variety onto the Brown Turkey root stock is that the sion cutting, although probably expensive, would be far cheaper than purchasing an entire exotic fig tree.

winston61,
There are no conclusive studies of grafting for colder climates. In mild climates the advantages are clear:
1. Multiple varieties on one rootstock with space economy.
2. Grafting less vigorous varieties on more vigorous ones.
3. Grafting scion that is otherwise notoriously difficult to root.
4. Grafting on nematode resistant rootstock in areas with nematodes.
5. Grafting on rootstock more suitable to a certain kind of soil.
6. Grafting a superior variety on an established inferior variety and taking advantage of the established root system.

I have mostly 7B zone winters alternating with 8A or even 8B like this year. Therefore 7B is the weakest link in the chain, and I should be cautious about freezing. To save space, I will try to graft multiple varieties on one tree by grafting only close to the ground so I could later cover the graft union with mulch. this way I am hoping to save a segment of the graft in case a severe freeze destroys the shoot above the mulch layer.

Also I have some extra fig plants rooted last year. Those will be grafted just above the root-ball with recently obtained scion and will be planted into the ground with the union below the soil line.

I hope this will clarify some of your inquiries and will help you to make decisions about grafting.

winston61,
One of the reasons for grafting can be seen in the following Post:
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1273958366&postcount=28

The entire Topic is:
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/2012-Cutting-progress-so-far-..%28Grafting-Vs.-Rooting%29-5809075

I am in total agreement with Boris. One of my reason is also to possibly produce a healthier, more productive tree, by using the healthiest possible rootstock to boost the growth of the scion. Also by using an established rootstock, you may get a harvest 1-2 years earlier, depending on the variety.

The same positive benefits that apply to other fruit tree grafting should apply to Figs. The dwarfing aspect is one that I personally would avoid, by using only healthy prolific varieties as root stock and pruning to maintain a smaller size (fig trees benefit from pruning) if required.

Pete and Boris, I agree that grafting has been shown by Nana and others to be an advantage for jump starting growth of a new scion and getting fruit faster since you are using established roots.  However, I haven't yet seen direct evidence that if you graft a non-vigorous variety onto a vigorous rootstock that you will gain a long-term/permanent growth advantage compared to the non-vigorous variety on its own roots.  I would be great if that were true, and it may be, but has anyone actually demonstrated this?  I know people are trying it now so it will be interesting to see what they find.

Rewton,
I do not know either the answer to the vigor question. To be on the safe side, I would take as a rule to graft only on healthy and vigorous plants. This way will be easy to determine the guilty part in case the scion does not grow properly. There is a lot to experiment with grafting fig trees. In other species the rootstock as a fact can determine the size of the mature tree, time of fruit ripening, vigor, disease resistance, fruit quality etc.

Winston,

It looks like Boris and Pete have done a great job of covering most reasons for grafting figs. 

The one other reason I thought of is this. You need less material to get a whole new tree started by using grafting. If you have a treasured variety and very limited material to work with, you can increase your odds of success by dividing the scion into a number of smaller pieces. In my personal opinion, grafting fig scion is easier than getting a cutting to root. This is based on my personal experience and others may not have had the same results.

I haven't fully tested this out yet, but I have a strong hunch that we could successfully graft a piece of scion and place an air-layer on the root stock, below the graft, at the same time. My theory is that you should be able to remove that air-layer, with the new graft (and new rootstock) attached and pot it up by the end of the same season. Thus establishing a fully autonomous tree in one season while still leaving the rootstock mostly in tact. The hope being that the rootstock will be fully ready for grafting again by the following season.

I'm also one of those guys who's currently experimenting with "less vigorous" scion being grafted onto "more vigorous" rootstocks. To date, I had been using whatever tree I had available as roostock. In the future I plan to use just one or two varieties that seem to do exceptionally well in my local conditions.

I have one unknown variety, for example, that is both a vigorous grower and seems to be cold hardy to boot. The starts I have of this one also came from one of the largest trees I've found in my zone. This tells me at least two things. One: It is cold hardy at least to some degree. Two: It has enough vigor to rebound to great heights even if it may have been killed back in one season or another. I plan to propagate this one as much as possible in order to acquire several well established rootstock to work with.

I look forward to sharing those results as time goes by.

Sorry for rambling on in your thread Winston :-/ .