First time poster!

Hi, I live in Southern California and have a wonderful Moro Blood Orange tree i planted about 10 year ago into the ground. It was a Dwarf but no longer!

Anyway, we love this tree and are facing moving from the property. I would love to take it with us but think it has grown just too big to do so.

I am an advanced gardner, camellia grower and propagate many of my plants, however I have never done a citrus tree graft or budding.

My question is, to take this with me in place of digging up this tree, can I graft some branches onto existing citrus stock.....? And what stock should I get, how young/old? And where is a good place to purchase....

Thanks, Jeff

You can go to Home Depot and buy the Citripots (4"x4"x16" rectangular pot), or to your local nursery. These are cheap, less than $12. Select the orange types with good stems and showing vigor. These are excellent to graft to, and very quickly too. This is by far the most convenient if someone is in a hurry, and for sure you will already have an extra cultivar in there. Most Citripots are on standard or semi-dwarfing rootstocks, and these trees grow much quicker than those in the 5-gallon pots if you plant them inground at the same time.

But if you want long term cheaper solution, you can talk to store manager of local nurseries in your area and you might be able to get rootstocks on the cheap. There are also rootstocks available from http://www.citrustreesource.com/pricing/

But usually, these less than $1 rootstock seedlings are not ready for grafting once you get them. But they can be grafted if you know more advanced micrografting techniques.

T-budding would be my most preferred method on smaller citrus trees.

I'd still go with buying a citripot from HD to quicky transfer and propagate a souvenir DNA from the existing tree. It is the quickest and most convenient, and for that, you pay some money for it.

thanx, so if i get a citripot i just graft my cuttings into the stock.....?

Bud unto the vigorous branch that is between 1/4" to 3/8" diameter. So find a citripot that has one branch of that size. Do not graft unto the stock, as it is a lot older and will have a hard time sprouting. Budding unto a vigorous branch is more successful and you will have better growth.