Pino, 

I'd like to hear Troy's thoughts on this (why he grafted so far from the node) but I have found from grafting other fruit trees that if you are trying to do a cleft graft and graft too close to the bud / node, the grains of the wood start to curve around the bud and it is harder to get a nice straight run to match up the cambium layers.  I haven't tried grafting figs yet but wouldn't imagine that they would be any different.  I don't know if I explained that well, hopefully you followed my description.

John

To be honest, I didn't think much about where I placed the roots. However, it is harder to cut around the node and it would be more difficult to peel back the bark. I can try both in the future. I'll see how this batch works.

Aaron, that's an interesting video, it gives me an idea for my brown turkey fig. I just have to find more cuttings after the ground thaws.

Yeah. That was some root graft. Almost a root stock graft or was it a root stock graft? Very interesting.

___________________
Rick Lakewood WA Zone 8

Man, I thought I had heavy clay soil, wow. You could build your own planters with that stuff in the video.

Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it.

Very interesting stuff.  Going to do some root pruning in a few days.  I think I'll try some of this.  Don't you need a special knife?

Well golly ! I just stopped to look at this forum...Saw the root graft thread and joined so I can see results :-) I have done quit a bit of grafting and air layering . But not to much root grafting. I got some Sour Sup I can give this try on soon and some other tropicals i can play with.  Just for a thought. This action could increase your out put by probably 3 times maybe more.  one seed producing lots or roots rather than one seed per graft

Unlike most knives, grafting knives only have an edge on one side of the blade -- so there are left handed and right handed grafting knives so that the sharp edge is on the proper side for how you would cut.  However, many people use exacto knives or even single edge razors and claim good results.  Personally, I prefer a grafting knife, especially if you are trying to cleft graft onto bigger branches -- it is nice to have a beefier blade to make that split for the cleft.  Might not be such a big deal if grafting roots onto a scion though ...

John

Here's the update... Four of the 6 cuttings are starting to bud at day 6. Here's a photo of one of them. All of them are buried up to the graft, so the only moisture the cutting would be getting other than the roots would be from the humidity in the air. This makes me think the roots are working.
As far as tools, I'm afraid I used a rusty exacto knife that was still sharp. I will eventually get a grafting knife, but maybe I'll ask for it as a birthday gift since for some odd reason my family says I'm hard to shop for (they could get me a fig cutting and I'd be happy).

Danny,
I'm thinking that the grafting method that places the root against the cambium might be more successful. I forgot to mention that the first one that I did with the small cutting using wedge grafting is showing no signs of growth. Granted it is still pretty early and it was a very thin scion and root. If I had more roots to mess with, I would experiment with very short pieces of cutting to see if I could get away with only using a terminal bud and one internode. I also might try just using one or 2 wedge grafts only to see if that method can be successful. Good luck!

At some point will you need to cut the wrapping around the graft to prevent girdling?

Good results so far.  Is that the only one budding?

You guys have done some excellent work in the area of root grafting!  Troy, you and Grasa get a gold star!  Keep up the good work!  I have some tissue culture Hirts "Blue Ischias" that I will be using soon to play around with.  I was going to throw the trees away.  Instead, I opted to use the roots to graft onto some cuttings I got in the fridge.  The pictures you guys posted speaks volumes and helps me alot!

thanks,

Thanks for the update Troy. Dennis is absolutely right. You started a trend. I already found root donors from my inground trees and will start playing around as soon as the weather warms up a bit. I hope the foot is getting better!

Pino, I'm going to probably score the tape when I repot them this spring. Since I'm still experimenting, I'll probably take the tape off of one completely to see how they scarred.

I'm glad people are trying this! I'm really happy that Grasas did this 3 years ago and documented the process because there is very little information out there regarding root grafting. I don't think Grasas has been on for a few months. If he would sign in, he could probably answer all these questions. I'm glad people are liking the posts though. I'm really excited about the process. I think it might be the propagation technique for the impatient.

I have lots of oversize figs and roots available and now I have a couple of very dear fig cuttings.
My record with rooting cuttings is not great so I would love to try grafting.

I found new roots growing on them all! The reason I'm hoping this proves to be successful is what's happening to my already rooted cuttings. I think that I'm in the clear and then suddenly they wilt and die. It happened 1st to my lyndhurst white, then I found rotting on almost all of my cuttings and was fourced to cut off the rot and wait again for them to root. My Kathleen black had a beautiful root system and suddenly rotted and wilted. I know that it's not related to over-watering because I have not touched them and Have allowed them to go dry. I think that the batch of Pete Moss must've had some bacteria in it. So as the count of lost figs continues, I am more motivated to find something that works better for me. I will only use perlite in the future, and I'm going to try root grafting on older cuttings today.

Looking good!
Hope they work out for you.

New grafts. I took pictures of how I root grafted 1 to 2 node cuttings using an older cutting. I got 4 possible plants off of one 8 inch cutting. I used smaller prices of root and used 2 methods. I also did one on the node rather than the internode.

Nicely illustrated!

It looks like you cut the root as you would a regular scion for a cleft and other grafts?
Do you need to ensure the cambium of the root is in contact with the cambium of scion?


 

I am trying to save the wilted trees. I root grafted the on the cambium after I cut the rooted cutting above the soil line. I left one cutting with leaves as a test, but cut off the new growth on the other 2.

Joe, I'm not getting too exact. I just shave the roots into a wedge and stick them in under the bark. Today's cuttings were also pretty dirty from the soil. No sterilization either. I am limited in my mobility so I'm being rather sloppy. We'll see if it matters.

I have  some cuttings that are green but won't root or grow. 
I am going to try a root graft and see if anything happens...LOL

Good luck! Post pictures, I didn't think about the green ones.