Hi everyone. I'm new to citrus growing and to the forum. I've been reading everything with great interest.

I currently have a 5in1 citrus fruit cocktail tree in a large pot. Its about 4 feet tall. The lime portion is doing well and I've already harvested some of them. The Honey mandarin has many small fruits that are a little smaller than a pea. The navel and valencia portion have lost ALL of the flowers and small pinpoint fruits and I don't know why. And the tangelo has very few small fruits also a little smaller than a pea. Since this is my first year having the tree, I'm assuming it might be a little young and hopefully it will come back next year with a vengeance.

Other than the falling fruitlings(?), my main area of concern is in trying to graft to it. Using JoeReal's tutorial, I've tried to graft meyer lemons, taroccos, sanguinellas and a few others with no success. At first I didn't have parafilm tape so I used plumbers teflon tape and rubber bands. None of them took. I then bought some parafilm tape and tried again. Still no luck. I used both T-budding and bark grafting and the bark appeared to be slipping. Unfortunately, since this is my only citrus tree I did not want to cut off too many branches for some of the bark grafting so I just bark grafted onto the side of a branch without cutting the top off.

BTW, my sources of scions are from a friends other newly purchased potted citrus trees and since I can't butcher his trees too much I'm left with mostly current growth of branches to use, most of them still a little triangular.

I live in a condo in Southern California, near Long Beach/LA and have no ground to plant into. I also have an avocado, guava, papaya, fuji apple and mango tree. All dwarfs.

Any tips to help me with my grafts would be appreciated. Thanks.

It is normal for citrus to drop 98-99% of all flowers and fruit. A tree will only keep what it can support and it does most of that dropping between bloom and June. During that period, it is important to reduce water stress (not too much--not too little).

As for the grafting, I have had success doing bark grafts like you did, but none of them have grown well--I have several that are 2-3 yrs old and less than 6 inches long. On the other hand, I have a toothpick size bark graft on the end of a pencil size sprout that is now over 4 ft tall and producing fruit--that graft was put on in the fall of 07--I posted a picture of it on the forum. Here is a link to that pic--http://citrus.forumup.org/viewtopic.php?t=2190&mforum=citrus

Key factors in sucessful grafting are minimizing the time the cut surfaces are exposed, keeping everything sterile and the temperature. I try to insert buds in less than 10 seconds after they are cut, avoid contact with cut surfaces. I have done 100s of grafts (not as many as some here) and my success rate has improved from about 60% to about 80%. Budding does not work well when high temps reach the 90s, but I have had some success with bark grafts during mid summer (using foil to protect graft from sun).

Practice is helpful to increase speed--you can do that on anything.

From the description of your tree and your grafting I suspect that you are having a problem seeing "slipping bark". It can be hard to identify for a person that has not a lot of experience with rootstocks. An old friend of mine made a remark to me once and I have found that its as true as true can be. He said "When you press your knife into the bark of rootstock and you open the bark and the bud slips in and appears to have a little light coat under it ...that appears to be slick like petroleum jelly then the bark is truly slipping. When bark is slipping like that if you use good budwood, good bud removal and quick insertion them the only thing left is a good tape job.....and that is not hard to come by. When bark is truly slipping as I have described above 3 wraps with tape is all one needs.... I opine that the bark graft is a little more difficult. I tried quite a few times using various techniques with bark grafting citrus. I have finally settled on the way the way the tutorial done in this place. I have found that a good tape wrap and good seal is paramount...also I have found that most of the bark grafts and cleft grafts that I do on citrus take longer to show evidence of a "take". They leaf out slower ...but you can watch and the scion will ramain green...and that means its alive.................
Instead of bark grafting you may want to wait till fall and when the bark slips put a bud on the limb and do a real good tape job.....leave it till the spring....you will know that it has taken if its still green in the spring. Then cut the end of the limb off and force the bud much as you would a bud on the side of rootstock. That works for me when I am budding in the tops and on the ends of limbs to grow budwood fast.....
Welcome to this place and I wish you the best...I am sure that someone in here has some ideas to pass on to you that will be of value...David

Last year I too missed all my bark grafts. I forsake Bark graft. It only took on chesnut but as the welding is only at the down side of the graft the next year a storm broke every grafts.
I now use chip-budding. It is much more easier and quick. You don't have to cut the branchs and you can try until it takes.
No need for the bark to be sleeping and you can do it all year round.

Sylvain.

I tried a good many bark grafts before I had any success--most failures were because I was trying to put a clementine on a satsuma--which supposedly does not work.

Since then I have had much more success with it. I recently did half a dozen on my neighbors tree--several are already growing--one has grown over 6 inches. I did one T-bud--it took but has not started since I tried to force it.

The thing I like most about bark grafting is that you can use small twigs--something you can get from any tree. For the best success with T-budding, you need nice round pencil size scion wood--harder to get from a young tree.

I asked Joe in a post about what factors in grafting lead to the best growth--to boil it down--the primary factor is vigorous limbs --stock and scion.

Skeet,

You can add an exception. I've now got a fruiting Miyagawa Satsuma branch that was T-budded unto Algerian Clementine.

Joe

I unwrapped a few more that I did about three weeks ago and they were dark and dry, obviously did not take. I don't have much room left to do any more grafts so I may have to wait until next year or redo it on some branches that failed. But knowing me, I may try a few more if I can find some bark slipping. I'm assuming my scions are too young but I'll read some more and hopefully figure out what I can do differently.

Did you look at the bark graft I posted the link to--you can't get much younger wood than that!

You don't have to use a new limb to re-try the bark graft--I just did a re-do on the one that failed on my neighbors tree--on the same limb. I just cut off about 1 inch and did a new one on the same limb.

David's point about bark slipping may be a good point. When I do them the bark is so loose I litterally use the scion to open the cut bark. I barely open the corners of the cut bark on the stock and then push the scion down into the stock limb.

With toothpick size scions, I cut a bevel that is usually only about 3/4 of an inch long--maybe a little less--the bigger the scion--the longer the bevel.

One other trick that may help--I wrap the top of the scion before I cut the bevel--down to just above where the bevel starts--that way you don't have to put any pressure on the graft joint to wrap the top.

Yes, Skeeter, I saw your link. I also did inlay bark grafts but they didn't take. One difference I noticed was how loose yours were taped. I usually try to tape mine as tight as I can. Does loose or tight wrapping make a difference?

With Bark grafts, I try to wrap the bottom pretty tight, but with the top, the main purpose is to keep the scion from drying out. I also try to be very careful not to move the scion when I wrap it so I don't disturb the graft joint.

I have done about 4 or 5 inlaid bark grafts--all of them took, but I don't do them anymore because of how little growth they produce. They almost always bloom and most have carried fruit, but there is not a one of them that is over 6 inches long (after 2 growing seasons). With a couple I even cut the remainder of the limb off, but even that has not improved the growth.

Thanks for the advice. My main objective is to get as many different varieties onto one tree since my space is limited. My main tree is a 5in1 that I got at a nursery last year. Since inlaid bark grafting doesn't seem to be the best choice for me, even if they did take, I think T-budding will be my best option.

Also, the trip is also about 20 minutes from cutting the scions/buds until I get home and another 10 or so minutes trying to figure out where to graft them. I usually put the scions in a zip lock bag with a little bit of cold water for the trip. Is there a better way?

Since the current source of my scions/T-buds are my friends newly bought dwarf trees, how well will T-buds from current growth flushes or triangular limbs work?

T-budding is very difficult with new growth (triangular wood) It works best with 2nd or 3rd growth wood that is close to round--about pencil size.

That is why I like the bark grafting where I can use toothpick size new growth wood.

NOT disagreeing with Skeeter. Angular wood can be a pain in the posterior if one chooses to let it be. But.........................When good 3nd or 3rd growth round wood is not available one does what he has to do and uses what he has available.

I have found that...........If one uses some finesse and care when budding he can use angular wood with success.....One will need to take care when removing the bud. Since the wood is not round it will be high rather than wide. So when one removes a bud he needs to remove it with as much meat on the bud as possible in order to get the flattest surface possible on the underside of the bud. Also this gives a little more nutrient rich material for the bud to use while recovering from the budding shock and grafting to the rootstock. Also one needs to make his verticle cut as short as possible and make the horizontal cut at the very top of the verticle cut. This allows one to slip the bud in with maximum surface contact of bud and rootstock cambium.. It also disturbes the existing bark very little . Next the tape job will need to put the most pressure directly down on the high part of the angular wood so that it presses straight down on the bud to the rootstock.....because a high bud when wrapped with tap has a tendency to slip to the pressure side of the wrap....if this happens the bud will not take.

Not advocating the use of angular wood. Especially for a person not well schooled in the grafting process. I would rather work with good 2nd growth wood that is round and full of pregnant buds just waiting for a chance to burst forth...but that is not what is available all the time and in all places.

Just stating that when one had to make do with what he has .......angular wood can be used with success...........................David

Thanks again for all the advice. For my triangular buds I think I was slicing them off too thin. That's probably why they didn't take. I think I am going to try a few different methods to see which works best for me. That will depend on what I have and what is available to me. I don't have any pencil sized scions and I can only butcher my friends trees so much before its whittled down to nothing. After that, I'm not sure...but I'm going to keep trying until I can get at least one bud to take.