Thread Grafting a Japanese Black Pine

[alpineart]

Here are some quick tutorals of a thread graft on a pine . More detailed topic on Alpinearts blog
Host ,

SANY0041.JPG

Donor .

SANY0042.JPG

Staws placed onto the candles

SANY0048.JPG

Drilling the trunk .

SANY0050.JPG

Compressing the new young needles by rolling between the finger and thumb
Insert the straw .

SANY0053.JPG

Using pliers to draw the straw through

SANY0055.JPG

Candle inserted note the gap between the end of the candle and the straw to prevent damage from the pliers

SANY0057.JPG

Remove the straw .

SANY0060.JPG

Onto the second thread .

SANY0061.JPG

Both set and ready to seal ,

SANY0064.JPG

also showing the re-set failed inarch graft which was dislodged during the 120kph gale force winds last week .
Sealed and ready to be sent back to the benches

SANY0066.JPG

Showing the doner secured to the new host

SANY0067.JPG

.
This method using a straw was discussed with "Taffy" on another forum about a decade ago along with "The Hacker" and Myself also discussing another method using foil . By far the straw is definately a winner over the foil with less likely hood of snapping the candle .

Cheers Alpineart

[Watto]

Alpine - another treasure I will put into the memory bank, thanks.
Watto

[anttal63]

Here are some quick tutorals of a thread graft on a pine . This method using a straw was discussed with "Taffy" on another forum about a decade ago along with "The Hacker" and Myself also discussing another method using foil . By far the straw is definately a winner over the foil with less likely hood of snapping the candle . Cheers Alpineart

Hi Alpine thanks for sharing this one !!! but the million dollar question, seeing as this has been discussed over the last decade, is have any of you had success with this technique as yet ??? has anybody out there that anyone knows of been successful with it ???

[The Specimen]

Thanks Alpine for sharing.. always learning and always appreciate the pics ^^

[alpineart]

Hi Watto , can only wait and see as i used foil before and to much damage was done as far as snapping candles

Hi Anttal63 , many things have been discussed over the last couple of decades . The method i used was aluminium foil and candle breakage was the problem on the Nigra's as the candles are much shorter and stiffer than JBP's so i gave up . This host tree and all my JBP's including the donor are from Shibui Nursery , i have only had JBP'S for a couple of years now . All my black pines are European . Personally this is the first JBP tree worthy of the thread graft as the inarch grafts failed on this one , yet i had success with 50 inarch grafts on my other 3m high JBP's.

Give it 2 seasons and i will definitely have an answer , success or failure . The reason i have tried it here is i'm definitely not happy with the results of inarching as they tend to swell out of control in both vertical and horizontal grafts or become dislodged wasting 1-2 years work . I have had better results by carving deep into the hardwood to embed the inarch , however these too over time may very well swell to an unsightly union , this particular one was embedded deep yet dislodged even witha wire over the union . Big winds big movement .

Plenty of info on inarching , but no printed info on the swelling factors at the union as a result of the graft . I anticipate these too may swell as they fill the hole as per thread grafts on Maples , but hey somebody has to start somewhere if a result is to be had .

Surely somewhere a guru has done it , most tell of the inarch techniques in their books or are all their pine tree's perfectly grown in the Northern Hemisphere

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

Hi The Specimen , mate always trying and always learning myself . I was told by a Guru you can't layer a Norway spruce , obviously they never tried .Spent 4 years trying to layer a chameaparis , stll growing above the layer and still trying to get some roots out of it . Never give up , just take break and when the material presents itself try again .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

This is progressing nicely . In need of a re-pot for the donor tree it was a bit tricky as the roots had penetrated the bottom of the 200mm donor pot come root over rock trainer .

P1070761.JPG

With very little room and the threads are tight so there is not a great deal of up or down movement to play with . It took a bit of an effort to slip pot this into a bigger pot

P1070759.JPG

but it's all over bar the growing for another season .

The thread is tight on the exit and loose on the entry so things are looking good for fusing on the outer exit

P1070760.JPG

they are immediately above and below the inarch graft. New buds are forming at the end of each thread which is another good sign . I have left the inarch graft on however after seeing the results on my other JBP's it will be removed in due course .

Cheers Alpineart

[daiviet_nguyen]

Hi Alpineart,

I missed this one altogether!

Very very interesting post. What I found most useful is the straws wrapping around the candles.

I have no plans to do anything like this with black pines in the immediate future, but I have been thinking about it: how not to damage young needles as going through the hole. This solves it perfectly.

-- I have good success with trident maples using this thread grafting method. But I have not done any pines.

Thank you Alpineart.

Best regards.

[alpineart]

Hi Daiviet. mate i have done numerous deciduous species and most take very easy , Prunus , Malus ,Acer and the likes . I remember as a teenager working part time in a nursery and orchard the old chaps would thread graft anything and everything they could get there hands on just for the experience of showing me how things could be done using different methods .

A lot of grafts were simple inarch , cleft or bud grafts . Nowadays most graft are plain butt ugly at the union , mass production has taken over .I have a Scots Pine here that is very clean and precise at the graft but haven't been able to track down the producer as its one of the best grafts i have ever seen.

My main concern here was the thread would swell at the entry point like a tourniquet and die off , this hasn't happened . The donor tree is a bit of a pain being so large but at the time it was the only JBP that had suitable candles .The roots penetrated the main pot hence the re-pot of the donor tree has left even less room to move or adjust .

I hope to be able to severe the threads at the end of this season or the root over rock donor might have to loose the rock for the next re-pot .It's getting to the stage where the threads will be kinked or damaged at the entry point and it will be all over and 2 seasons wasted .

Cheers . Alpine

[dansai]

Hi Alpine

How's this Thread Graft going? Any luck?

[Neli]

I would like to know too.

[alpineart]

Hi dansai and Neli , both the host and the donor are alive and kicking considering the extreme heat during Summer that claimed numerous other Black Pines in my collection .

I haven't check on any of my layers or grafts for some time but I will do an update on it ASAP , been busy planting rocks , no after care required .

Cheers . Alpine

[Neli]

[Brian Bishop]

G'Day Alpineart,
Very informative .
Thanks for posting the process using the straws.
Cheers..........Brian

[alpineart]

[quote="Brian Bishop"]G'Day Alpineart,
Very informative .
Thanks for posting the process using the straws.
Cheers..........Brian[/quote

Hi Brian , mate i hope you get some use out of the topic .

Cheers Alpine