I though it about time I updated how the grafts I did back in November were taking. If you look back at THIS post you can see the whole process of how I started this graft.
The graft is beginning to take.
A week or so ago I had to do a demonstration on approach grafting for a local club so I took this tree in as an example and also placed some new grafts onto other areas of its trunk. It was a strange night as we had an earthquake in the middle of my talk. It was a small quake in world standards (5.4 on the Richter scale) but it was the first I had felt. The building shook, doors rattled but it only lasted for about 30 seconds and the talk soon continued. It certainly added an interesting break in the night.
Now that the earth has stopped shaking and im not in front of a meeting group I am able to see how the graft is doing a bit more closely. The graft has begun to take but I think that I will leave it attached to the host branch for at least part of this growing season (ie. next spring). You can see in the above photo that the section after the graft is beginning to grow thicker than the host branch on the other side of the graft. This is a good sign that the grafted branch is beginning to take nutrients from the main trunk. Once it becomes a little thicker I think the union will be much more solid and I will be able to remove the host section of the branch.
I will be doing a whole lot more grafts on this trunk this coming spring so I can begin to build the framework of the branch structure. It really is an easy almost foolproof technique that allows you to get branches where you want quickly. If you have a tree that could benefit from a new branch, give it a go.
Just a small side note, I will be pretty busy for the next few weeks as Hirotoshi Saito is coming to Melbourne to run workshops with various clubs over the next week and a half. I hope to attend as many sessions as possible so will not have a lot of time to update the blog. Hopefully once the workshops are over i will have a bunch of photos from the events to share. For those interested in Hiro’s visit have a look HERE (information about the BSV workshops/ demo and the Ballarat sessions are available in the links section of that page.)
Nichigo Bonsai 
4 comments
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June 30, 2012 at 10:38 PM
Scott Roxburgh
Do you have any pics of the new grafts? Doing it this time of year is fine, I would have thought closer to Spring?
July 1, 2012 at 12:56 PM
bonsaijapan
Approach grafting is probably idealy done early in spring but as this was done as part of a demonstration to explain the technique it was done now. I dont think there will be any issues with any of the grafts even though they have been done a little early. Bud grafts/ side grafting is a tecnique where timing seems to be much more important where as approach grafting is far more forgiving.
July 15, 2012 at 4:23 PM
japanesepots
Why don’t you start weakening the host branch? This is a technique I learned from Japanese apprentices that seems to shorten the time a bit. By making incisions at strategic points on the original branch, it supplies less nutrients to the graft, forcing it to take nutrients from the trunk/union. It sounds good in theory and has worked well for me. Hope your workshops are going well!
August 19, 2013 at 8:03 AM
Root grafting | Nichigo Bonsai
[…] The basic idea is that you cut a vertical channel in the trunk where you would like some new roots. You then insert a seedling into the channel and adjust it until the seedling’s roots are at the same level as the existing nebari. Then you fix the seedling into the channel (I used big map pins), seal it all up with cut paste and let it grow. Soon enough the seedling will thicken and fuse with the trunk. Cut off the top of the newly grafted seedling and you have new roots where there were previously none. For a better breakdown of the general theory see these two posts. Post 1, Post 2. […]