Spring is a hot season for gardeners, who in autumn want to harvest a good harvest. It is with the onset of heat that they begin to carry out key procedures for caring for the garden: pruning, sprinkling , whitewashing and inoculation.
What is the inoculation of trees?
Despite the name, this agrotechnical device is not related to either diseases or vaccination. In gardening, grafting refers to the transfer to one tree of a part (kidney, cuttings, tap) of the other for intergrowth and fruiting. In this case, the tree to which it is planted is called a stock, the underground part refers to it, and the grafted part is a graft to which the part of the tree that is above the root system and the base of the stump belongs.
Also, a re-vaccination procedure is selected, in which the graft is attached to the crown. In this case, the whole of the above-ground part of the tree located below the site of vaccination can be referred to the stock.
As a rule, inoculation of stone and fruit trees is done in the spring for the following reasons:
- reproduction with preservation of qualities of a grade - is necessary, therefore as reproduction by seeds does not give such possibility;
- if you want to grow a certain variety, you can not buy seedlings - then you can multiply the already existing tree;
- if a few years after the fruiting the gardener realizes that the fruits do not meet the expectations, but to uproot the old and plant the new tree is too troublesome and expensive - it will take 5-6 years for the new tree to start to bear fruit. And with the inoculation of trees in spring fruiting can be achieved maximum after 3-4 years;
- the possibility of correcting mechanical damage to the tree brought by frosts or rodents, as well as natural defects of the trunk or crown - curvature, one-sidedness;
- the ability to grow dwarf trees on low growing stock.
Features of inoculation of garden trees in spring
For the inoculation of fruit trees in spring, age is not critical, but it should be borne in mind that trees older than 10 years should be vaccinated and re-vaccinated gradually - a period of 2-3 years. As for the stone fruit, it must be taken into account that their life time is much shorter, because the trees undergo no more than 8-10 years of age.
Cuttings or eyes for grafting harvested from autumn, cutting off annual shoots, which can be stored throughout the winter in a dark and cool room. Especially suitable for propagation of shoots, which grow freely on unshaded branches from the south side.
The stock and the graft should be selected from closely related varieties with the same maturity of the harvest, then the incidence of incompatibility is minimized. During the vaccination procedure, you should do everything quickly - to avoid getting the infection in the stock. Also it is necessary to ensure the purity of hands and garden tools, and cuttings and cuts need to be coated with garden wax for disinfection. The surfaces of the slices must be perfectly even,
Methods of grafting fruit trees in spring
There are two main ways of spring grafting of trees:
- grafting is carried out with the aid of an enlarged kidney. The kidneys are harvested in the period of complete rest of the tree - in the middle of winter and stored until the spring in the refrigerator. There are several types of budding: the T-shaped, the window, the ring, the double flap, the butt;
- copulation - inoculation with a cut, carried out in the application, in a cleft, behind the cortex.