Grafting JBP

[misfit11]

I won this Black Pine at a REBS demo raffle quite a few years ago (2012 or so). Bill Castellon did the demo. It was purchased from John Muraka as pre-bonsai material. It wasn't that terrific of material to begin with and it's just been in my collection due to the fact that I don't have any other JBP bonsai. The lower branches are very leggy and it was always thought that grafting would be required to make it a better tree. I finally got around to grafting it today. I'm not a pro grafter by any stretch of the imagination but I figured since this wasn't Grade A quality material, it would give me a chance to work on my technique. I'd done some grafting previously with Kathy Shaner and later with my teacher, Ivan Lukrich but it's been a while. Yesterday I went to pick up my Blue Atlas Cedar that Jim Gremel was grafting for me and he gave me lesson on his technique. I decided to do somewhat of a hybrid of what I've learned from the three above teachers.

First, I began by selecting a scion. I chose those that were the extension of last year's candles. The base of the scions were about an 1/8 of an inch thick. Next, I made a cut on one side of the scion that was to be placed on the inside of the graft site. This is a shallow angled cut. I cut again on the other side. This is a steeper angle and will be for the outside of the graft site. Notice in the picture that you can see the green cambium exposed.

 

[misfit11]

Next, I made a cut into the branch where I wanted to place the graft. Then I inserted the scion into the cut in such a way as to attempt to line up the cambium. Next, I wrapped the graft with Parafilm grafting tape tightly so it would hold it in place an keep it from drying out. Then the graft was wrapped with fine gauge wire to further hold it tightly in place and prevent the tree from pushing it out.

 

[misfit11]

Finally, I placed these bags over the grafts to maintain moisture. When I had done grafting before, we wrapped the scions with Parafilm to keep them moist. I think I like this method better. The bags allow you to put some water in them to maintain humidity. Lastly, the bags were covered with foil to keep them shaded and reflect heat.

 

[misfit11]

After the graft work I reported the tree in this Sarah Rayner pot that I had. I think the tree does have potential, especially if the grafts take and I can get some growth in closer to the trunk. Obviously, the branches will need to be brought down and styled but that won't happen until next year probably. Additionally, I probably won't be doing much decandling this year.

Like I said, I'm definitely not any master at this or with JBP in general. If you have any comments or suggestions I'd love to hear them. If @Adair M or @Brian Van Fleet would chime in, that would be great!

 

[Adair M]

I generally don’t repot and graft the same year. I choose one or the other. Hopefully it will work out for you.

 

[misfit11]

I generally don’t repot and graft the same year. I choose one or the other. Hopefully it will work out for you.

Yeah. I thought the same thing. It hadn't been repotted in like 8 years so I figured it was overdue. I didn't even do a HBR. I just reduced the rootball and trimmed the edge roots. This gave it a bit of room to stretch out into some fresh soil.

 

[misfit11]

So only one of my grafts from last year took. I decided I do some more today. Rather than doing the bag method, I thought I'd try the Parafilm "joint" method on this tree. I did six scions on the branches and one on the lower trunk. The thinking behind this one is to hopefully get a sacrifice branch down there to thicken up the base. This tree has very little going for it in the way of character so maybe if I can create a fat base, then I'll be less inclined to sell this thing.

If nothing else, I've practiced my grafting techniques....



The graft at the base of the trunk. I put it in the back so that if it does take, I can hide the chop scar down the road.