grafting premna for smaller leaves

[sam]

have had this stock premna material of unknown variety for a couple of years. rough work was done on the trunk in the past, but for the most part the tree has been left to grow. unfortunately the foliage is large, rather floppy and does not reduce (like microphylla or serratifolia) when pruned.

today, branches were cut back to stubs and about 30 scions of small leaf premna (serratifolia) were grafted onto the stump. basically rebuilding a new tree from scratch. with luck the grafts will take , after which the tree will be left to grow unrestrained to acquire branch thickness, taper and ramification before styling. the new foliage will be a dark glossy green, with the capability to reduce in size to a grain of rice. sharing some pictures.

bare stump before grafts. places where new scions will be grafted

best wishes, sam

 

[sam]

massive premna of the same variety. the next grafting project. superior trunk stock with unruly looking, large, soft textured foliage with serrated leaf margins. foliage will not reduce in size when pruned.


grafted stump - front, closeup and back views. rebuilding the future tree from scratch

best wishes, sam

 

[stacy allen muse]

sam, I have to say that you have some very nice trees... I don't know very much about premna, but I would have to agree with getting rid of the over size leaves, in exchange for grain size leaves... nice, I will have to keep an eye out, and see if I can get my hands on one of these. Thanks for posting!!!

 

[sam]

thanks stacey

best wishes, sam

 

[octoberust]

Awesome looking material! I hope all of the newly grafted branches take, as both will make really stunning trees!

 

[sam]

thanks.

best wishes, sam

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

What a fascinating process! Thank you so much for sharing this, Sam.

A few questions I have:

1. I have no experience yet with grafts. This seems like an unnecessary question, but against better judgement I will ask anyway: Any leaves that sprout below the grafts will be of the stock species, correct? Is there any way for leaves from the grafted species to sprout below the location of the union? *Edit: In retrospect perhaps this question shouldn't have been asked. Everywhere I look seems to say that the leaves from those grafted scions will only sprout beyond the point of union. It seemed like a good question at first but soon I realized how illogical it was. ;-p

2. How long does it take this species to complete the graft? Would it help if you kept one or two leaves on the scions to keep it alive, or does that not matter? Does it solely depend on the species?

This tree has a beautiful trunk line and I'm looking forward to see how it progresses.

 

[sam]

thanks for the input axxon> truth be known my grafting experience is limited to OJT. premna grow/recover very quickly so I expect results in 3-6 months. time will tell. I did one growing in the ground about 2.5 months ago, wrapped the grafted stump in saran wrap. the scions are green and healthy looking inside the mini rainforest and I think I can see little green things growing (maybe this is my imagination). Itll be interesting to see how many grafts take.

best wishes, sam