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Wed, May 26, 10 at 12:27
| I possess a tiny (no lie, perhaps three inches high) Austrailian finger lime. I am in Texas so cannot have a bigger one sent to me, and as I planted the seed about three years ago and it seems to grow about an inch a year I am somwhat put out. I want more. So, I have been trying grafting. Micro-grafting (done with citrus)
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/imagemal/www/Publications/journals/91.pdf Done for various reasons, but mine is micro because a) my scion is absurdly small and b) my rootstocks are seedling grapefruit, not too big either. I have some liquid root stimulater (Roots) which might be too old. I have no wax, and no official grafting tape and I lack funds or patience to get any (I am stuck at home watching a sick dog who attempted to eat a chicken through a wire fence. Don't worry, the chicken is fine, but biting through a wire fence is bad for the gums and the veneous system of a canine. Much blood ensued.) One thing I do have (like my dog) is my mouth, and in it is some Wrigley's Zing sugerfree gum. I cut the top off of a hapless grapefruit seedling (with an alcohol sterilized folding knife I got at a garage sale) gently eased the bark open with the end of the nailfile, and after cutting my finger lime bit off of the tiny tree with a likewise sterilized blade I cut the bark back, making a wedge shape, and put it cambium to cambium between the bark and the wood. Then I put some rooting hormone on the join,and took some of the gum out of my mouth and wrapped it around it all. Ta Da!!! I repeated this with another grapefruit seedling and put two australian finger lime cuttings in it. Both treelets are outside under the shade of a white five gallon bucket on a deck in the sun. These may fail because the rooting hormone is old, or the scion is weak, or the grapefruit seedlings are just too taxonomically removed from australian finger lime, or of germs in the bubble gum, or because bubble gum is no substitute for grafting wax and tape. Or because I am just incompetent. Or, they might take. Check next week for the next exciting adventure in Drasaid's Bubble Gum Bonsai Chronicles. comments? derision? outright scorn? What do you all think? No finger lime bits unless you come here to get them. They are too small not to dry out en route, folks. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| What an adventure LOL! I hope chicken & dog are fine now. Only question (or comment) is that if the tree is in a little pot, get it into the ground instead because it'll grow a lot faster. Let us know what happens! |
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| the gum got moldy and so did the scion wood. So those are gone. . . I have tried again with some rubber bands. I suspect now it may be that grapefruit seedlings are just the wrong sort of rootstock. I was hoping the grapefruit would make for some banana sized finger limes, but no. |
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