Budding Oranges

Categories: Fruit Growing

My first attempt at budding, I cut 20 buds and immediately inserted in

stock of Mexican sour orange "Amataca." I left bands on them for ten

days at which time about half seemed to have "stuck," but after a few

days the bark curled away and the buds dried up and died. I then tried

again, but left the bands on for thirteen days and lightly tied strings

around below the bud to prevent the bark from curling, and also put

g afting wax in the cut and over the bud. These appeared fresh and green

at time of taking off the bands, but three weeks later I found them

rotted. The grafting wax used was made of beeswax, resin, olive oil and

a small amount of lard to soften it. Do you think that the action of the

lard on the buds would cause them to rot?



Consider first whether the buds which you use are sufficiently

developed; that is, a sufficient amount of hardness and maturity

attained by the twig from which you took these buds. Second, use a waxed

band, drawing it quite tightly around the bark, above and below the bud,

covering the bud itself without too much pressure for several days, then

loosening the band somewhat, but carefully replacing over all but the

bud point. It is necessary to exclude the air sufficiently, but not

wholly. The use of a soft fat like olive oil or lard is not desirable.

If you use oil at all for the purpose of softening, linseed oil, as used

by painters, is safer because of its disposition to dry without so much

penetration. Having used olive oil and lard together you had too much

soft fatty material.