Grafting

It was a nice cloudy day, so we took a chance to see if it isn’t too late in the season to graft the “right” kind of pistachio scions onto a tree that went corrupt last year. We had planted some new pistachio trees but one of them died then came back from its root stock, which isn’t like anything we had seen before. We cut off most of the growth, leaving a “nursery branch,” which is one of its native branches, to provide food.

From our established pistachio trees we cut a couple of twigs (scions) to graft on. I didn’t have a grafting knife, so I had to make one from an old cheese cutting knife. It wasn’t ideal, but the blade was nice and flat. We had some plastic wrapping tape and Tree Seal, an emulsified asphalt, so we were ready to roll!

Cut and peel the outer bark.

Slide the scion in nice and snug.

Wrap tightly, then seal the cut ends with Tree Seal.

Protect from hot sun with paper bags.

Meanwhile, we’re hoping it isn’t too late in the season do the same to some orange trees that were killed by snow and frost years back. They, too, reverted to root stock and produce some of the ghastliest excuses for fruit we’ve ever seen. We hope to graft on some navel orange twigs and see what happens.

Would you eat one of these? I tried, but they are so sour and dry and seedy I quit. Let’s hope navel orange grafts take hold.