Cleft Grafting

	Grafting Camellias
	Illustrated guide to a traditional way to propagate camellias
(c) 2004 Mississippi Gulf Coast Camellia Society
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Grafting has been recommend as a way to propagate camellia japonicas since at least the 1830s. There are a number of reasons why grafting is popular--one of the most important reasons is that sasanqua root (or under) stock is usually more disease resistant than japonica and other root stock.

The method described below is how grafts are typically done along the gulf coast using relatively small understock and is called cleft grafting after the way in which a split is made in the understock. You should know that the Mississippi Gulf Coast Camellia Society grafts about 100 plants a year for its own use and our success rate it typically above eighty percent. What failures we do have mostly occur during the acclimatization and after care period.

3. Using the coping saw cut off the top of the sasanqua understock about 1 1/4 inches above ground giving the cut a slight angle to allow water runoff. Use the disposable knife to clean up rough edges. See photo.

4. Using the disposable knife fashion a "scion" out of a branch of the camellia to be grafted onto the understock. The scion should come from the prior years growth and have at least two growth buds and only two leaves (remove any additional leaves). The two leaves will need to be cut in half cross-wise to reduce water transpiration (and also to later fit under the Styrofoam cup). The over-all length of the scion will be about two inches. Taper the stem of the scion into a "V" or wedge. The tapering cut will be about 1 inch long and toward the end be about the thickness of a toothpick. See photo.

5. Using the hammer (or mallet) and a sharp old butcher knife, carefully split the understock downward across its diameter from high end to low end allowing the split to extend downward toward the base of the plant about 1 inch. (If you have followed earlier suggestions the split will stop about 1/4 inch above soil-level.) See photo.

6. Use the flat-head screwdriver as a wedge to open the split in the understock slightly with out damaging the outer bark. (i.e. the screwdriver will be pushed down into the center of split in the understock and then twisted ever-so slightly).

7. With the screwdriver still in one hand keeping the split open, use your other hand to insert the scion into the split in the understock so that the green layers beneath the bark of the each plant touch. See photo. The best way to do this is to angle the scion slightly so that the two green layers only touch at one point -- DO NOT try to make them touch all along the split.

9. If the scion is loose in the split in the understock, wrap and tie a cut rubber band around the split to hold the scion in place. Where the scion joins the understock is called the graft union.

10. Our goal now is to build a temporary "green house" around the graft. Immediately around the graft-union in this green house will be a handful of perlite held in place by a cylinder fashioned from a plastic cup. Over the graft as a whole will be a 32 oz Styrofoam cup.

11. Measure down from the drinking rim of a soft plastic cup about 1 1/2 inches (you may want to measure more exactly--see below) and using a knife or scissors cut the cup in to so that you have now have a 1 1/2 inch long cylinder with sloping sides.

12. Place the cup-cylinder over the graft so that the old drinking-rim is rests on the soil. The top of the cylinder should be slightly higher than the graft union.

13. Fill the cylinder with a handful or two of perlite so that the graft union is completely surrounded by perlite held in place by the cylinder.

14. Prepare a solution of water and captan fungicide (follow instruction of fungicide label as to proportions) and drench the exposed scion and perlite-covered graft union. See photo.

15. Fit a 32 oz Styrofoam cup over the entire graft so that its rim rests on the soil and pack sand around the rim to hold the cup in place. (Notice that it will usually be necessary to tilt the scion inward and clip the leaves for the Styrofoam cup to fit.) If the graft was on to a potted understock set the graft OUT OF DOORS in a protected area where wind and animals are unlikely to overturn the Styrofoam cup. See photo.

16. Without disturbing the Styrofoam cup, water the graft once a week. AVOID THE TEMPTATION TO PEEK UNDER THE CUP UNTIL APRIL.

17. Around April 1-15 and perhaps as much as a month later it will be time to begin acclimating a successful graft to unprotected conditions.

18. On a preferably overcast humid day in early April begin checking for signs of new leaf growth by briefly lifting the Styrofoam cup and taking a peek. If you notice new spring growth, it is time to begin the acclimation process. Acclimation will take several weeks, and involves nothing more than pinching a small hole in the Styrofoam cup and enlarging the hole every few days so that at the end of a couple of weeks the top couple of inches of the Styrofoam covering have been completely removed (don't remove the whole cup) and new growth is probably beginning to grow beyond the old Styrofoam.

19. The initial hole in the cup should be made on the cup's top north edge (so that direct sunlight does not fall on the plant too soon) and be about the size produced by sticking a pencil into the cup. A day or two later, if the plant does not show signs of wilting, increase the diameter of the hole slightly and continue expanding the hole every few days. (If at any time there is wilt, re-cover or partly re-cover the hole and allow the graft to recover.)

20. If you have begun opening the hole around April 15, the camellia graft should be acclimated by May 1, and probably around June 15 it should be out of its "intensive care" phase where it needs regular watching. Keep watering the plant weekly. A light fertilizing in July may be in order.

21. Many growers find it helpful to keep the filled remnants of the Styrofoam cup around the graft-union through the first winter. If you happen to have removed the cup, be sure to mulch that first winter to protect the graft-union from freeze damage.

Grafting Camellias