If you have plans to do some grafting this season, now it's time to start.
From the dormant trees and shrubs select the good scions of the desired variety, cut to size, pack in a shoe box or plastic bag and put in the fridge at around  35 to 40ºF. The cuttings you bought or got from friends should also be placed in the fridge

You may as well locate a known,  good root stock and do similarly.
Kept for approx one month in the fridge all this fresh dormant wood will have sufficient time to stratify and gain momentum for a  a vigorous awakening .

By the end of February... early March, (best for my zone), the scions may be taken from the fridge and and cleft, saddle, w&tongue, Xip grafted on grounded root stocks of your choice.

Or, using those root stock sticks kept in the fridge, you may 'side graft' short, single buds from  the stored scions and cuttings. These assembles tied up  cambium to cambium  using good quality elastic budding tape, with or without rooting hormones are then put to root
Correctly done, the rate of success is quite high.
From, say, a five bud cutting you may generate 4 or 5 new trees.. as many as the good buds from the cutting.
See this video. It comes from the Far East, and deals with blue berries.
But it also works nicely with figs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp8Hqw4-Byw

Fig side grafts rooting  last spring on 1 lit re plastic cups and  almost dry mix perlite/coco (20-80)
dry coir , only perlite was lightly sprayed.

 
 
See this additional clip where the same grafting method is used on ground freshly pruned blueberry shrubs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNzB5r3g4Xo


Good luck
Francisco
Portugal (equiv. to zone 11)

Thank you for posting this timely reminder, Francisco. I acquired some Pluot and Plum scions today at the scion exchange, and will graft them to my old plum tree in a few weeks. I may graft a few figs as well.

Thank you Francisco. This is very well appreciated.

Thank you Francisco. I will propagate Violeta by grafting soon, if they are not damaged by cold weather.

Hiroshi

Thank you all for your kind words.

Hiroshi,
Hope Violeta will survive your winters. Grafting it to a robust stock prior to put it to root is a very wise move as it is a bit stubborn  on popping out its own roots.

Francisco
Portugal

Oh my now grafting! The learning just keeps going! Having a blast with all this. Thx again for all the great info. ;-)

I have a 9 Ft tall 5 years old in ground fig tree, it has 6-8 branches from ground, Can I  "U" grafting with other good fig cuttings on one branch? will it work?

What type of graft is "U" GRAFT ?

[QUOTE=ricky]I have a 9 Ft tall 5 years old in ground fig tree, it has 6-8 branches from ground, Can I  "U" grafting with other good fig cuttings on one branch? will it work?[/QUOTE]

Yes certainly , it will work!
If you could show  pictures of the tree and to tell us approx diameters of those branches..it would help to suggest most advisable methods of grafting. Depending on your climate believe you could start coming March after the rigors of winter have gone .. Am also curious about the U grafts.

See these clips (with and without any sophistication) same method on both -CLEFT GRAFTS-
to be done by the end of winter in more temperate zones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpgbpbewU3E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5vorqi7X3c

Francisco
Portugal

Using omega cutting tool, omega or U graft.

 

  Если вы хотите, чтобы проверить: 1. Инструменты для прививки. 2. Его мастерство. 3. Качество приобретенных черенков. Затем сделать все прививки в зимние месяцы.

Thanks for all the advice, Francisco.

I plan to do a lot of grafts this spring in adult trees but i am also going to try you method of grafting directly into a rootstock cutting.

ricky,
You certainly can graft several varieties on the branches of an adult tree. Last spring i grafted 5 varieties into the same tree.

 

Hello Fransico.
The  method of grafting shown in your second video is used in Tunisia.



Jamel.

Francisco. Here is my first attempt from the video. Going to water root it. White ischia for root stock genovese nero on top. Cuttings have been in fridge for two months ( root stock ) while the Genovese nero was in fridge but took it out two weeks ago and rooted it. Just cut top of and put back in roiting media. So no big deal if it fails still have the rest of it rooting. :)

Francisco,
Thanks for this great and timely grafting info!

Will be collecting some cherry, plum and nut tomorrow for some spring grafting.

Watched that 1st video thanks to Richie suggestion will watch rest later.

I would love to try this method since some figs are very difficult to root.
Wonder what success rate would be with figs?  

 

Fresh out the fridge just like the first video he posted. The guy doesn't speak during video just shows you and had some English words here and there. Worth the time to watch it. Its a short video.

Thank you all for looking at those clips and commenting

Richie
Tell us if the growth seen on the scion on your picture was already there when you did the job.
The scion must always be dormant and to break out a week or two after the grafting job
Did you pinch all root stock buds ?
Is there a dormant bud under the tape ?

Notes:
It is common practice to
-Neutralize all buds on root stock stick to concentrate  all 'fig watts' on the single scion bud
-The scion single bud must be well dormant at the time of grafting or just showing a shade of green and slightly inflated.. otherwise it will not take properly and could  fail.

Pino,

Fresh dormant sticks of both scion and stock taken now and put in the fridge for 30/60 days or more will get enough cold for an easy and fast break out after the graft.
Carefully align or slightly cross the cambiums
Have used dry coco coir mixed (80/20) with moisted perlite on that 1 Lit re plastic cup
Use good quality budding tape (agl.. -expensive!)- over the graft -ONE single pass over the bud is enough- to facilitate breaking the new shoot
Cup wrapped in black plastic on the sides and an inverted smaller transparent cup as humidity chamber
Wonder if Lolita bag system (much cheaper) would work OK here. Will soon try.

Francisco
Portugal

I pinched all the green buds off of root stock that has been in fridge for two months. The scion was dormant but took it out of fridge two weeks ago and started the rooting process. I then cut the top off and used it for the scion. Should i cut the new growth off. The new growth was on scion before i used it for the new graft

[QUOTE=figpig_66]I pinched all the green buds off of root stock that has been in fridge for two months. The scion was dormant but took it out of fridge two weeks ago and started the rooting process. I then cut the top off and used it for the scion. Should i cut the new growth off. The new growth was on scion before i used it for the new graft [/QUOTE]

Richie,
If I understand this correctly you have cut the top of the cutting to be your scion,  with a bud already growing and under the tape you have just the graft junction and no other bud.
You may then have a problem there.. Use your imagination and find a way to maintain this graft under a sort of humidity chamber (plastic bag), inverted transparent cup, etc.. to try and keep that growth alive
It may prove to be difficult to save it .. at least you try
This method calls for scions with a dormant single bud to be kept under the tape.
Good luck

Francisco
Portrugal

Thanks Francisco. I followed your directions better this time lol. I do appreciate your time to share with us. It takes a few trys but i think i got it now. gere is a pic of i DOUBLE Graft i did on November 1st. Its strawberry verte & Maltese beauty on a green ischia root stock

Oh my and now for me the $$55,000 question, is which scions are hard to root and would have a better chance as a graft?  And who makes a better root stock?  Am I correct that Daisy's IBT's I have that are fast rooters are good root stock?  As for slow rooters, is it a matter of researching the forum, as opposed to the "having to have cuttings fail to root" method of learning?  This is great, I feel like it is preparing for the Olympics.  Wow, first rooting up 50+ varieties and now I am thinking about trying grafting.   Crazy exciting!  A little freaked out in AZ!  ;-)

Hi Richie

Congratulations! I am sure you do feel good now!!
Great!
Keep exercising. If you have plans for more grafting, by the end of February, early March is an ideal time to start (in the more temperate climates) to make them.
Scions cut early/mid January and kept in the fridge to graft on ground trees using these methods:

Chip budding
Whip&tongue
Cleft
Saddle

YouTube has plenty of good clips, hands'on, you could follow. Bear in mind  (Cleanliness+Sharp knife+firm hand).
Remember,  Cambiums must be at a very slight angle (crossing each other) to warrant success!
Also it pays to use a good tape and wax whenever required

Good luck
Francisco
Portugal

Oh. So at a slight angle it always touchs together instead of trying to get a perfect alignment . Awsome tip. Explains why some work some dont. This will help the odds of success. Richie from louisiana

Yes Richie 'cross cambiums'
'cambium alignment' is a dream ... it's very very difficult to achieve. many attempts result in failures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ReeuSPGh4

Watch this clip (method not for figs!) and listen to what the fellow  says about the subject of 'X cambiums'
It looks impossible! if he tries to align.. How ??
Then, making cambiums to cross somewhere... it always takes!!

Francisco
Portugal

Thanks again. Very excited to try this in morning.

Haya,

Also in chip budding, the grafter crosses cambium layers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1HSOy-3JGU
1:05 - 1:45

Hiroshi

Thank you Hiroshi for this nice video.

A good example on chip budding figs, can be seen on page 53 of this 'Grafting Manual' edited by the Gov. of Catalonia. (the Land of Mr. Montserrat Pons)

http://www.caib.es/sacmicrofront/archivopub.do?ctrl=MCRST65ZI94415&id=94415

Francisco
Portugal

Thank you Francisco. On page 53, the grafter adjusts cambium layers at the lower left, and crosses cambium layers at the upper right.

Sorry for that the following explanation may be an irrelevant. As for the cut-grafting method, we can adjust cambium layers of scion wood and rootstock. In the following picture, film (thick line) is inserted to insulate the scion wood from the rootstock.  Sample is rose.
(日本園芸協会, Plant breeding, p. 70, ）

A, B and C: film is inserted
D: tongue is removed
E: control group

Comparing A and C, adjusting cambium layers at the bottom of the scion wood is important.

Very interesting Hiroshi, thanks for posting this!

Hirochi

Thank you for your sketches highlighting the critical areas of the side grafts
I know you use with great success this system on rooting your cuttings.
What are your preferred fig root stocks for that purpose ?

Francisco
Portugal

Hello Timo,

Nice to meet you.
I will post propagation of Violeta soon if Violeta survives the cold weather in Japan.

==========
Hello Francisco,

The following varieties are reported to be resistant to Ceratocystis canker:
Black Ischia
Negronne

The following varieties are reported to continue growing due to their strong vigor, even if they are infected with root-knot-nematoda:
Zidi
King

I want to use Alma as rootstock because Alma is immune to fig mosaic disease. I do not have to worry about the growth of the root system.

I usually use unattractive varieties as rootstocks to change their varieties.

Hiroshi

[QUOTE=Jodi]
...and now for me the $$55,000 question, is which scions are hard to root and would have a better chance as a graft?
[/QUOTE]

      Jodi,

         As a newly minted follower of figs, I too was concerned about the high cost of certain cuttings, and having to ultimately add them as expensive additions to the compost pile when rooting them failed.   So, I posed this same  question to three highly respected fig gurus this week.  

Here's their assessment: 

    Their will always be an individual cutting that flies against the norm, but for the most part, most of the high dollar, in-demand cultivars right now, are shy rooters and very hesitant growers once rooted, as their foundation (root ball) is very spindly.  These problem-child cultivars include  Black Madeira, Hative d' Argentueil, Galicia Negra, and Maltese Falcon.


[QUOTE] And who makes a better root stock?  Am I correct that Daisy's IBT's I have that are fast rooters are good root stock? [/QUOTE]


    Both Brown Turkey and Calif/Improved Brown Turkey are indeed good hosts.  In addition, Atreano and Strawberry Verte are wonderful figs in their own right, and they too make good root-stock.  Lastly, Desert King and Mission are easily found and are robust growers.


Blue