Without looking at link in general the idea is to gradually over a period of years bury the base of the scion so that it has an opportunity to sprout its own roots, the grafting being done merely as a way to reproduce the plant. In some instances the rootstock is conferring benefits that would be defeated if the scion got onto its own roots later. However, with Japanese maples and dwarf and slow-growing conifers most of the time it would probably be better if the scion was able to get its own roots going at some point. An example of exception would be root rot prone Lawson cypress cultivars grafted onto arborvitae rootstocks. And not all kinds will be able to generate much, if any of their own roots even if in long-term contact with the soil.

I have never heard of burying the understock of a grafted conifer, either slowly or otherwise. I would think that would equate to planting too deep (burying the root flare). Those cells (on the understock) just aren't meant to be underground. If you did manage to do it slow enough to somehow acclimate it to being underground, by the time you reached the graft it would be too old to root from there and you'd have to go higher. Is this a ploy from the straight species folks to get rid of grafted conifers? ;-)

tj

Not really, grafting is the only way to propagate some species. An example would be Abies nebrodensis.

osprey

As far as I know, I'd never bury a plant any deeper than how it is in the pot. Sure, an inch won't likely ... hurt, but it's not common practice by any means to do otherwise.

Just don't do it. You'll rot the plant trying/fighting the natural situation. Believe tsugajunkie and myself. That's not the right thing to do.

Dax

Settling of planting holes has resulted in plants ending up deeper on their own, leading to observation that some grafted items make their own roots after this happens.

I am the eighth generation of my family doing this and I have probably grafted nearly a million plants myself. Of course this is well over 40 years I have been doing this. Back in the 50's and 60's we use to graft approx. 3-4 hundred thousand BELGIAN AZALEA a year not to mention the deciduous and conifers of approx. 80,000 to 140,000 a year. There were times that I recall at least 800 grafts an hour passing over the grafting bench. Now that I am by myself I have tamed down quite a bit and only produce between 10,000 and 20,000 a year.

Just a passing remark, this was and still is all hand handled, no machines and also remember that this rootstock before, during, and after grafting has probably been handled at least 10 times.

As for the family business there has to be probably nearing 10 million grafts maybe more, and in my short time being with my grandfather and father we had always buried the union.

Yes David the beauty of burring the union, is the fact that it is never seen. I must stress that I am one of a few growers still using a rose pot. These are shallow pots thereby allowing the chance to bury the graft. The whole for which the plant is planted or the pot for transplanting need only be approx. 7" deep. The deeper pots will not allow for the union to be planted below the surface.

I like to if at all possible to grow my rootstock in a pot for at least 1 1/2 years before grafting. This allows me to buy a smaller rootstock so that planting in a shallow pot without cutting roots possible. They can mature from 1/16" to 3/16" which I find Ideal for grafting and the pot ball is solid.

Dave

first.... either do it the way the seller tells you to .. or don't complain when it doesn't work out ... make sense???

i do NOT do it this way .. but i have read about this method ... 6 of this.. half dozen of another ....

on the one hand .. trunks are developed to be above the soil level .... as noted above.. one of the reasons we don't put soil above the root flare .... on the other hand.. one might argue that the bud union is the new root flare ...

how i do it ... on fresh or second year grafts ... as noted by dax.. i plant at the same level as the pot ... and i leave the banding [rubber or whatever] there an extra year ... and any remaining portion of the understock that was not trimmed prior to shipment.. i leave there ... a little extra power and insurance .. i do NOT allow the upper rootstock to flush out vigorously ... either knocking off the buds.. or pruning then as soon as they elongate ...

if the responder is dave.. of the nursery ... and his pedigree indicates that they have been doing this for a century .. who are we to argue that it is improper....

i am positive.. for every reference you find on the web.. you will find the opposite opinion if you look hard enough ...

though there are a bunch of conifer that do root ... and therefore are usually the cheaper ones.. since there is less labor involved in replication ... i would find it hard to believe that that many others would eventually root at the bud union .... or else they would all be cheaper to duplicate by rooting rather than grafting .... but that is just gut reaction...

finally .. perhaps soil type could be an issue .... in my super well drained sand... i might be able to bury things a lot deeper than others .... the trunk would just never suffocate or get water logged... in fact.... i can barely get dead tree stumps to rot.. due to the lack of water ...

on the other hand ... someone in heavy, sticky clay ... may kill a tree very quickly .. because of the retained ambient moisture ... how it is done in pots is irrelevant... because potting medium is engineered to such variables ....

again ... i am not stating fact in this particular regard.. i am throwing out some variables.. and looking to the soil scientists among us for comment...

good luck

ken

It seems that I hit on a touchy subject. Dave just posted on the DG maples forum that he would not plant any plant union below the surface if it is above 2 1/2" from the crown of the root. That gives me a good guideline, I think two of my JM's might be candidates when it comes time to repot. Since they were inexpensive they might be the sacrificial lambs for me to try this, and they will be only 3 years old when I repot in 2009.

I might try it with a few of the conifers, although thinking about it, generally the branches would hide the graft so it is not so much an aesthetic concern? I'll just have to wait and see what arrives in April and May. Winter stinks.

Thanks everyone for the great comments!

Elizabeth

I wouldn't plunge any of them below the surface of the soil at planting. If you want to see if some of the scions might make their own roots, cover put soil around them gradually, over a period of years, in small increments. Some kinds will be more likely than others to respond - maybe few of the ones you have will. And this would be tried only with those grafted at or near the ground, not those up on a trunk of sufficient height that the roots and crown of the stock would have to be buried deeply enough to be likely to fail.

The only time I heard of this is when we were grafting apples onto semidwarf root stock. The instructor told us that if we plant above the graft line, the scion will create roots and become full sized, whereas planting w/surface below the graft line will allow the semidwarf roots to determine the size of the tree.

Clearly I'm the complete idiot, whereas you're just an idiot.

Or so it would seem, judging from this.

Except if you were an idiot, you wouldn't ask.

I did order a few grafts from Dave's Nursery and I'm going to try it with one of the one-year grafts. Most of the others are high grafted so it would not work.

Elizabeth

With the high grafts there was some reason for doing them high, same as with a broadleaf tree you wouldn't plant high grafts low - it would defeat the purpose of the high graft even if not likely to kill the tree (if the rootstock got buried over a comparatively short period of time).

With a conifer presumably the high graft was done to get a lollipop tree. And as mentioned above, with a broadleaf tree it might be to dwarf the scion, or to raise it above a soil-borne hazard like nematodes.