Anyone know when to graft a citrus tree?

I had a Harvey lemon die this year (least cold hardy of my trees) but the flying dragon root stock is still alive and well. I figure I should use the root stock for something so I'm thinking of grafting a myers lemon on it. Can you graft trees this time of year? My citrus trees are all putting out new leaves right now and I have plenty of growing time left till it gets cold or should I wait till early spring and try to catch a myers lemon just as it starts making new buds?

As I understand it, you just use a small branch with new buds on it, cut a T in the root stock, put budded branch in hole, tape then once started cut off the root stock so the graft takes over. That about right??

Anyone one have an exotic citrus I can get a cutting from? LOL> I might look around and see if anyone has something more exciting than a myers lemon.

Found this:

http://www.treehelp.com/trees/citrus/propagation-by-grafting.asp

and this in which it is said all year round - even has a picture:

http://johnpanza.googlepages.com/refinementsingrafting

If you have an extra Meyers Lemon .. just throw it over my fence please.

X

Thank you, I think my trees were grafted by using the cleft method and I think I may try that. Seems like it would work to me. Who knows I've never tried it before. Looks like I need a donor tree now.

Sorry I wouldn't have any extras. I may grow some sanbokan grapefruits from seed next year and I'm pretty sure those will come true from seed.

I just love lemons and use them a lot and they are so darn expensive!

X

I've got Ponkan and Orlando tangelos, Sambokan Sweet Lemon (I know it is a grapefruit but that's what Ned called it), Red Flame Grapefruit, some kind of Lime and a variegated Eureka Lemon which produces striped fruits with pink flesh.

Whatcha want to try??? I have to deliver a mess of plants to Bluffton in the next week or so and could drop a branch or two off.

BTW, the USDA folks did find some of those nasty citrus psyllids on HHI.

I have the same sanbokan from Ned, would recommend that one to folks a little colder than myself.
Lime will get killed off.
Variegated eureka lemon, hmmmm. Think that would be cold hardy enough for me?? I'm thinking that will end up like the harvey lemon experiment.
Ponkan is basically a tangerine?
What does the Orlando tangelo taste like?
Red flame grapefruit, Loree just voted for that one.

Right now it looks like the Red flame is in the lead, I have tangerines etc but no grapefruity type trees.
Ponkan looks like it comes true from seeds, any chance you can save me some seeds?

Can you start a citrus tree from a cutting?

Thanks for the offer Alice.

I am speaking to a garden club in Bluffton on Monday morning so I could drop cuttings off in early afternoon. Interestingly, the flame grapefruit is still small but loaded with fruit. There were so many I had to thin it and the ones I left are already turning color. Smaller than normal size fruit but I attribute that to the size of the tree which is only about 3" tall.

You can grow citrus from a cutting but some cultivars are grown only fro their fruit and do not have healthy roots and the idea for using certain rootstock is to insure that the plant will have good strong roots. That is one reason to graft, here is another. Citrus fruit on mature growth which takes many years. Only once the right hormones are distributed to all the branches can it flower. When you grow a citrus from seed you have to wait all those years until it goes through citrus puberty before it begins to flower. Therefore grafting a branch that has already achieved that goal lessens the time you have to wait for flowers.

Interesting thing about the varigated lemon. I used to have it in a pot in an area that got water but generally it was forgortten and in way too much shade. Last year I moved it up on the deck in full sun, regularly water and feed it and while it used to fruit all the time it is barren this year. Go figure.

Hmmmm on the eureka, I do know citrus will grow in shade but will fruit less relative to the amount of sun they get. Maybe your lemon was to happy and wanted to grow which if you load them up on fertilizer that maybe what happened. More growth tends to equal less fruit.

Growing from seed is always slower and in the case of flowering/fruiting trees it's usually not worth the wait. If you're growing something for the flowers and it takes 7-10 years to mature then it's not worth the wait. (Silk floss tree Chorisia speciosa as an example) Of course if it's really exotic then that's different, only problem is what you consider exotic is probably a weed somewhere in the world you just have to figure where exactly. It's like that guy who was all impressed with his sweet gum tree? I could have sent him a truck load of sweet gums just pick a size. LOL. I have one right now that just started growing in a good place so I didn't get rid of it, 4 or 5 years old from seed and it's at 12ft tall maybe more like 15ft. Any ways I noticed on Ned's web site that the Calamondin Orange and meyers lemons are on their own roots so if he's selling them on their own roots they must do alright around here without grafting. I don't mind a good experiment worst thing that can happen is it fails.

BTW remember where I live? I'll be around Monday afternoon.

Only sort of, I remember where to turn off 278 but that's about it. Dmail me the rest of the directions.