Seedling grafts

[Woocash]

Hi guys, I was looking at a mature scots pine upon the hill, one that I have coveted the base of for a while now, and it got me thinking about grafting in general and the use of seedlings instead of scions. If say, one were to drill a hole and thread the roots of a new seedling inside could the host provide the necessary nutrients in this manner? Has anyone tried it? Not just on pines or conifers, but any species. Thanks.

I have only a few scots pine seedlings that germinated this year, but plenty of mugo and JBP seedlings available so would these work grafted to scots pine rootstock?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

You mean that the roots of the seedling would be your point of attachment? Or more like thread grafting?
I think neither will work, but only because I've never seen it or read about it.

I have a scots pine that I grafted with some seedlings that I've cut to scions. Not sure if that's working, the seedlings are tiny compared to the cuts I've made. I can graft junipers but I found pines to be different.

I believe approach grafting with seedlings could work. Because they attach to the cambium layer with a high surface area contact. In thread grafting, that's not always the case.

 

[Dav4]

You can use a potted seedling to approach graft a branch with the plan of eventually separating the branch from the parent once the graft has taken... placing the roots of a seedling inside a drilled hole with the hopes of a successful graft forming won't work.

 

[Woocash]

You mean that the roots of the seedling would be your point of attachment? Or more like thread grafting?
I think neither will work, but only because I've never seen it or read about it.

I have a scots pine that I grafted with some seedlings that I've cut to scions. Not sure if that's working, the seedlings are tiny compared to the cuts I've made. I can graft junipers but I found pines to be different.

I believe approach grafting with seedlings could work. Because they attach to the cambium layer with a high surface area contact. In thread grafting, that's not always the case.

No like Dav4 says, placing the roots inside a drilled hole. Using the host as a plant pot. I've never read about it either but I just wondered if it was one of those lesser known techniques or if anyone thought it could work.

I suspect approach grafting would be most successful on the tree I have in mind, but I think I'll have to start experimenting with different techniques.

 

[Woocash]

You can use a potted seedling to approach graft a branch with the plan of eventually separating the branch from the parent once the graft has taken... placing the roots of a seedling inside a drilled hole with the hopes of a successful graft forming won't work.

I suspect you're right that it wont work, but why don't you think it would? Drainage? Lack of growing medium? What if some sphagnum were gently placed in with the roots to absorb some sap, for example?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I think it's because the sap of a pine is far from being water.
Sap dries, solidifies and forms a barrier to protect tissue. Roots should grow fast, and should differentiate into different types of tissue before melting together. I think the time window is too small for this to work.
The things with approach grafts is that we can open up similar cambium tissue and connect it, without killing both plants.
Scraping a root open would not only take surgeon-like precision and sterility, it would also be very hard to handle and hard to keep alive.

For science sake, I'd say: give it a go!
For your own sake, I'd say to keep the seedlings and use them to get scions from.

 

[Dav4]

I suspect you're right that it wont work, but why don't you think it would? Drainage? Lack of growing medium? What if some sphagnum were gently placed in with the roots to absorb some sap, for example?

Roots are designed to provide support and provide water for transpiration as well as nutrients to meet metabolic demands. They're designed to grow into the soil/potting medium with certain amounts of oxygen, water and nutrients present to meet these demands... which would be impossible to meet if they were confined in hole drilled into a woody branch or trunk. Even with sphagnum added, I suspect the roots would desiccate within a few days unless they were watered continuously... and then I suspect the roots would rot due to poor oxygen exchange... pure conjecture on my part, but there you go .

edit... or they'd be smothered by sap as wire guy so aptly pointed out... .

 

[Woocash]

How about drilling all the way through, for drainage and oxygen exchange, maybe stuff the hole with sphagnum etc? Either way I think I’ll give a few methods a go for ships and giggles. I’ve got a good amount of seedlings so a couple of experiments here and there wont go amiss.